Much Ado About Nothing E-Book

William Shakespeare

• Herausgeber: Cheapest Books
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 116

Beschreibung

Much Ado About Nothing, comedy in five acts by William Shakespeare, written probably in 1598–99 and printed in a quarto edition from the author's own manuscript in 1600. The play takes an ancient theme—that of a woman falsely accused of unfaithfulness—to brilliant comedic heights.Shakespeare used as his main source for the Claudio-Hero plot a story from Matteo Bandello's Novelle (1554–73); he also may have consulted Ludovico Ariosto's Orlando furioso and Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. The Beatrice-Benedick plot is essentially Shakespeare's own, though he must have had in mind his own story of wife taming in The Taming of the Shrew.Leonato, a kindly, respectable nobleman, lives in the idyllic Italian town of Messina. Leonato shares his house with his lovely young daughter, Hero, his playful, clever niece, Beatrice, and his elderly brother, Antonio (who is Beatrice's father). As the play begins, Leonato prepares to welcome some friends home from a war. The friends include Don Pedro, a prince who is a close friend of Leonato, and two fellow soldiers:Claudio, a well-respected young nobleman, and Benedick, a clever man who constantly makes witty jokes, often at the expense of his friends. Don John, Don Pedro's illegitimate brother, is part of the crowd as well. Don John is sullen and bitter, and makes trouble for the others.When the soldiers arrive at Leonato's home, Claudio quickly falls in love with Hero. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice resume the war of witty insults that they have carried on with each other in the past. Claudio and Hero pledge their love to one another and decide to be married. To pass the time in the week before the wedding, the lovers and their friends decide to play a game. They want to get Beatrice and Benedick, who are clearly meant for each other, to stop arguing and fall in love. Their tricks prove successful, and Beatrice and Benedick soon fall secretly in love with each other.

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Much Ado About Nothing

William Shakespeare

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Table of Contents

About Author:

Act I

SCENE I.

Before LEONATO'S house.

SCENE II.

A room in LEONATO's house.

SCENE III.

The same.

Act II

SCENE I.

A hall in LEONATO'S house.

SCENE II.

The same.

SCENE III.

LEONATO'S orchard.

Act III

SCENE I.

LEONATO'S garden.

SCENE II.

A room in LEONATO'S house

SCENE III.

A street.

SCENE IV.

HERO's apartment.

SCENE V.

Another room in LEONATO'S house.

Act IV

SCENE I.

A church.

SCENE II.

A prison.

Act V

SCENE I.

Before LEONATO'S house.

SCENE II.

LEONATO'S garden.

SCENE III.

A church.

SCENE IV.

A room in LEONATO'S house.

About Author:

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard").

His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623 two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's. Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century.

The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakes-peare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

Other Books of Shakespeare:

·         Romeo and Juliet (1597)

·         Hamlet (1599)

·         Macbeth (1606)

·         A Midsummer Night's Dream (1596)

·         Julius Caesar (1599)

·         Othello (1603)

·         The Merchant of Venice (1598)

·         King Lear (1606)

·         The Taming of the Shrew (1594)

·         The Comedy of Errors (1594)

Act I

SCENE I.

Before LEONATO'S house.

Enter LEONATO, HERO,

And BEATRICE, with aMessenger

LEONATO

I learn in this letter that Don Peter of Arragoncomes this night to Messina.

Messenger

He is very near by this: he was not three leagues offwhen I left him.

LEONATO

How many gentlemen have you lost in this action?

Messenger

But few of any sort, and none of name.

LEONATO

A victory is twice itself when the achiever bringshome full numbers. I find here that Don Peter hathbestowed much honour on a young Florentine calledClaudio.

Messenger

Much deserved on his part and equally rememberedbyDon Pedro: he hath borne himself beyond thepromise of his age, doing, in the figure of a lamb,the feats of a lion: he hath indeed betterbettered expectation than you must expect of me totell you how.

LEONATO

He hath an uncle here in Messina will be very muchglad of it.

Messenger

I have already delivered him letters, and thereappears much joy in him; even so much that joy couldnot show itself modest enough without a badge ofbitterness.

LEONATO

Did he break out into tears?

Messenger

In great measure.

LEONATO

A kind overflow of kindness: there are no facestruer than those that are so washed. How muchbetter is it toweep at joy than to joy at weeping!

BEATRICE

I pray you, is Signior Mountanto returned from thewars or no?

Messenger

I know none of that name, lady: there was none suchin the army of any sort.

LEONATO

What is he that you ask for, niece?

HERO

My cousin means Signior Benedick of Padua.

Messenger

O, he's returned; and as pleasant as ever he was.

BEATRICE

He set up his bills here in Messina and challengedCupid at the flight; and my uncle's fool, readingthe challenge, subscribed for Cupid, and challengedhim at the bird-bolt. I pray you, how many hath hekilled and eaten in these wars? But how many hathhe killed?

Forindeed I promised to eat all of his killing.

LEONATO

Faith, niece, you tax Signior Benedick too much;but he'll be meet with you, I doubt it not.

Messenger

He hath done good service, lady, in these wars.

BEATRICE

You had musty victual, and he hath holp to eat it:he is a very valiant trencherman; he hath anexcellent stomach.

Messenger

And a good soldier too, lady.

BEATRICE

And a good soldier to a lady: but what is he to alord?

Messenger

A lord to a lord, a man to a man; stuffed with allhonourable virtues.

BEATRICE

It is so, indeed; he is no less than a stuffed man:but for the stuffing,—well, we are all mortal.

LEONATO

You must not, sir, mistake my niece. There is akind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her:they never meet but there's a skirmish of witbetween them.

BEATRICE

Alas! he gets nothing by that. In our lastconflict four of his five wits went halting off, andnow is the whole man governed with one: so that ifhe have wit enough to keep himself warm, let himbear it for a difference between himself and hishorse; for it is all the wealth that he hath left,to be known a reasonable creature. Who is hiscompanion now? He hath every month a new sworn brother.

Messenger

Is't possible?

BEATRICE

Very easily possible: he wears his faith but asthe fashion of his hat; it ever changes with thenext block.

Messenger

I see, lady, the gentleman is not in your books.

BEATRICE

No; an he were, I would burn my study. But, I prayyou, who is his companion? Is there no youngsquarer now that will make a voyage with him to the devil?

Messenger

He is most in the company of the right nobleClaudio.

BEATRICE

O Lord, he will hang upon him like a disease: heis sooner caught than the pestilence, and the takerruns presently mad. God help the noble Claudio! Ifhe have caught the Benedick, it will cost him athousand pound ere a' be cured.

Messenger

I will hold friends with you, lady.

BEATRICE

Do, good friend.

LEONATO

You will never run mad, niece.

BEATRICE

No, not till a hot January.

Messenger

Don Pedro is approached.

Enter DON PEDRO, DON JOHN,

CLAUDIO, BENEDICK, and BALTHASAR

DON PEDRO

Good Signior Leonato, you are come to meet yourtrouble: the fashion of the world is to avoidcost, and you encounter it.

LEONATO

Never came trouble to my house in the likeness ofyour grace: for trouble being gone, comfort shouldremain; but when you depart from me, sorrow abidesand happiness takes his leave.

DON PEDRO

You embrace your charge too willingly. I think thisis your daughter.

LEONATO

Her mother hath many times told me so.

BENEDICK

Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her?

LEONATO

Signior Benedick, no; for then were you a child.

DON PEDRO

You have it full, Benedick: we may guess by thiswhat you are, being a man. Truly, the lady fathersherself. Behappy, lady; for you are like anhonourable father.

BENEDICK

If Signior Leonato be her father, she would nothave his head on her shoulders for all Messina, aslike him as she is.

BEATRICE

I wonder that you will still be talking, SigniorBenedick: nobody marks you.

BENEDICK

What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?

BEATRICE

Is it possible disdain should die while she hathsuch meet food to feed it as Signior Benedick?Courtesy itself must convert to disdain, if you comein her presence.

BENEDICK

Then is courtesy a turncoat. But it is certain Iam loved of all ladies, only you excepted: and Iwould I could find in my heart that I had not a hardheart; for, truly, I love none.

BEATRICE

A dear happiness to women: they would else havebeen troubled with a pernicious suitor. I thank Godand my cold blood, I am of your humour for that: Ihad rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a manswear he loves me.

BENEDICK

God keep your ladyship still in that mind! so somegentleman or other shall 'scape a predestinatescratched face.

BEATRICE

Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere sucha face as yours were.

BENEDICK

Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.

BEATRICE

A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.

BENEDICK

I would my horse had the speed of your tongue, andso good a continuer. But keep your way, i' God'sname; I have done.

BEATRICE

You always end with a jade's trick: I know you of old.

DON PEDRO

That is the sum of all, Leonato. Signior Claudioand Signior Benedick, my dear friend Leonato hathinvited you all. I tell him we shall stay here atthe least a month; and he heartily prays someoccasion may detain us longer. I dare swear he is nohypocrite, but prays from his heart.

LEONATO

If you swear, my lord, you shall not be forsworn.

To DON JOHN

Let me bid you welcome, my lord: being reconciled tothe prince your brother, I owe you all duty.

DON JOHN

I thank you: I am not of many words, but I thankyou.

LEONATO

Please it your grace lead on?

DON PEDRO

Your hand, Leonato; we will go together.

Exeunt all except BENEDICK and CLAUDIO

CLAUDIO

Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato?

BENEDICK

I noted her not; but I looked on her.

CLAUDIO

Is she not a modest young lady?

BENEDICK

Do you question me, as an honest man should do, formy simple true judgment; or would you have me speakafter my custom, as being a professed tyrant to their sex?

CLAUDIO

No; I pray thee speak in sober judgment.

BENEDICK

Why, i' faith, methinks she's too low for a highpraise, too brown for a fair praise and too littlefor a great praise: only this commendation I canafford her, that were she other than she is, shewere unhandsome; and being no other but as she is, Ido not like her.

CLAUDIO

Thou thinkest I am in sport: I pray thee tell metruly how thou likest her.

BENEDICK

Would you buy her, that you inquire after her?

CLAUDIO

Can the world buy such a jewel?

BENEDICK

Yea, and a case to put it into. But speak you thiswith a sad brow? or do you play the flouting Jack,to tell us Cupid is a good hare-finder and Vulcan arare carpenter? Come, in what key shall a man takeyou, to go in the song?

CLAUDIO

In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever Ilooked on.

BENEDICK

I can see yet without spectacles and I see no suchmatter: there's her cousin, an she were notpossessed with a fury, exceeds her as much in beautyas the first of May doth the last of December. But Ihope you have no intent to turn husband, have you?

CLAUDIO

I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn thecontrary, if Hero would be my wife.

BENEDICK

Is't come to this? In faith, hath not the worldone man but he will wear his cap with suspicion?Shall I never see a bachelor of three-score again?Go to, i' faith; an thou wilt needs thrust thy neckinto a yoke, wear the print of it and sigh awaySundays. Look Don Pedro is returned to seek you.

Re-enter DON PEDRO

DON PEDRO

What secret hath held you here, that you followednot to Leonato's?

BENEDICK

I would your grace would constrain me to tell.

DON PEDRO

I charge thee on thy allegiance.

BENEDICK

You hear, Count Claudio: I can be secret as a dumbman; I would have you think so; but, on myallegiance, mark you this, on my allegiance. He isin love. With who? now that is your grace's part.Mark how short his answer is;—With Hero, Leonato'sshort daughter.

CLAUDIO

If this were so, so were it uttered.

BENEDICK

Like the old tale, my lord: 'it is not so, nor'twas not so, but, indeed, God forbid it should beso.'

CLAUDIO

If my passion change not shortly, God forbid itshould be otherwise.

DON PEDRO

Amen, if you love her; for the lady is very well worthy.

CLAUDIO

You speak this to fetch me in, my lord.

DON PEDRO