During Act 3 Don John once again deceives Claudio about Hero’s love interests and tells him of her cheating. Don John tells Claudio that Hero is ‘every man’s Hero’. Another lie spun because of Don John’s sheer spitefulness, Claudio has been tricked and told another untruth that coincides with the idea of nothing meaning ‘non-existence’.
There are two more deceptions that link with the meaning of non existence. Friar Francis suggests that Leonato ‘let [Hero] awhile be secretly kept in, and publish it that she is dead indeed’. Because this is once again untrue, when the characters participate and trick Claudio and other members of the court, this is another deception that links to the possible meaning.
Finally, there is one last deception that emphasises the meaning of non-existence and more literally this time as it refers to a person rather than an emotion. It is created by Leonato and Antonio in Act 5 Scene 1 when Leonato says’ And since you could not be my son-in-law, Be yet my nephew; my brother hath a daughter.’ The plan is for Hero to play the part of Antonio’s daughter who does not really exist and because she does not so, then this is definitely coinciding with the title’s possible meaning in the word nothing of ‘non-existence’.
‘Lack of Importance’ is the second meaning of Nothing given in the Longman Dictionary and although it may not have as much relevance to the plot as Non-existence, it does still have some meaning through Hero, Don John and Dogberry.
Hero has a distinct lack of speech in the play when she is around the men in the plot and this is especially shown through her only line in Act 1 of ‘My cousin means Signor Benedick of Padua’. It is possible that the reason Hero does not say much is because she feels that she lacks importance. In her wedding scene in Act 4 Leonato answers for Claudio whenever the Friar asks a question, and this may also intimidate Hero because it would appear that her father likes to be in control.
As well as Hero feeling that she lacks importance, Claudio may also feel it from the wedding scene because of the way Leonato steps in and answers ‘I dare make his answer, none’ when asked about inward impediments. Although the characters may not actually lack importance, especially to the plot of the play, they may feel that they lack importance within their own life and around the people surrounding their life.
Don John also shows signs of feeling unimportant at the middle of Act 1 Scene 1 by being quiet whilst the others talk around him. When he is spoken to by Leonato, part of his response is ‘I am not of very many words’ which we see later in the text when talking to Borachio and Conrade is not true. This shows that he is probably uncomfortable talking around people who have the same, or higher status than himself, but finds it easier to talk to people lower than himself where he feels important over them.
Act 3 Scene 5 sees Dogberry and Verges trying to tell Leonato that Claudio and Hero have been set up, but because Leonato is busy getting ready for their marriage, he ignores Dogberry and tells him to ‘Take the examination himself’. The role of taking an examination without Leonato, could make Dogberry feel more important because he has been given an extra role, but because of the way he was dismissed and ignored when he had an important message to give, this shows he has a lack of importance.
In Shakespeare’s time it is possible that the Nothing was actually Noting, which means to eavesdrop and take note. This meaning definitely coincides with the plot of the play as there is a lot of eavesdropping where the characters take note of what is said and this later leads to the deceptions.
The first time eavesdropping is heard about within the play is in Act 1 Scene 3 when Borachio approaches Don John with news of Claudio and Hero’s wedding plans. Don John takes note of these plans and then uses it to his advantage to try and break up the marriage plans the night before the wedding. However, later in the play, in Act 3, Don John’s plan backfires when Seacoal and the watchmen eavesdrop and take note, just as Borachio did, on a conversation between Borachio and Conrade. This shows that although Don John was able to make a plan with the notes that were taken by Borachio when he listened in, the plan failed because Borachio let others listen into him.
The Beatrice and Benedick plot is full of noting as the couple overhear their friends discussing love and they take notice of what they are saying, and then later act upon it. These notes that have been taken by Benedick and Beatrice are shown in their monologues after hearing the other’s love confessed through friends.
As Benedick’s monologue comes first, his noting is also revealed first and not only reveals he has paid attention to what his friends have said about Beatrice, but he also reveals that he has listened to Beatrice in previous conversations about marriage. The first of these is shown through his words of ‘they say too: that she will rather die than give any sign of affection’. This shows that Benedick was listening to his friend because he is quoting them. However, it also shows that he has listened to Beatrice because he says ‘too’ after they say, showing that he knows Beatrice has also said that in the past.
As Hero and Ursula talk about Benedick’s ‘love’ for Beatrice, she also pays attention and takes note but unlike Benedick, she keeps it to herself until they have gone, and even then she does not say very much. However what she does say of ‘And Benedick, love on, I will requite thee’, it shows that she has taken note of what has been said and will also act upon it by returning the love to Benedick that he has for her.
Ron Daniels, a British Play Director who has directed Much Ado About Nothing, believes that the Nothing in the title is about falsity and disguises. His theory links to the plot in many ways as people pretend to be something they are not and it is also the common factor in all four plots of Beatrice and Benedick, Hero and Claudio, Don John ruining people’s lives, and Hero pretending to be dead.
In the Beatrice and Benedick plot it is suggested that maybe they do actually love actually from before the play starts but hide from it until they think that the other loves them too. Hiding their love from one another is suggested through a conversation Beatrice has with others in the court, whilst Benedick is there, and she says ‘he lent [his heart] me a while’. This gives the impression that they were in some form of a relationship before the play begins, but it has also been long over.
Falsity is shown in the Hero and Claudio plot because Claudio cannot ask Hero to marry him himself, he has to get Don Pedro to ask for him, and in doing this he is hiding himself away and using a false identity of himself at the masque to woo her.
Don John uses falsity in the masque as a weapon to hurt others, but he does not use his own falsity, he uses the falsity of Claudio pretending to be Benedick to hurt Claudio. Don John also uses falsity with Margaret pretending to be Hero to intentionally hurt Claudio.
In the last plot of Hero’s fake death, the falsity is not only of a death that does not really occur and Hero hiding because of it, but also Antonio’s daughter. Hero plays the part of Antonio’s daughter to trick Claudio into marrying her, and because Claudio does not know it is Hero, another falsity has occurred.
These falsities all link together and they form a common factor that is continued throughout the play and especially within each individual plot. However is this true for the other four possible meanings of Nothing within the context of the play? The lack of existence is only present in three of the four plots, leaving the Hero and Claudio plot out because their love is existence and although their marriage does not happen, it is because of Don John that plans are not followed through. Lack of Importance does not occur much within the play at all, although it does exist in at least two of the plots. Hero has a certain lack of importance around her father, and so does Claudio, but also Dogberry has a certain lack of importance, also around Leonato but as part of the Don John plot. Eavesdropping also occurs several times within the plots, but once again is not in all four of the main plots, but only in three. Hero pretending to die and then pretend to be her uncles daughter seems to leave eavesdropping out and means that the only of the four meanings carried through all four plots in the play, is Ron Daniels’ theory of falsity and disguise.
I think that Shakespeare was very clever with the wording of this title and leaves it open to several possible meanings, and maybe even more than those that I have explored here. However, I also think that the title of Much Ado About Nothing can be interpreted very simply as ‘Making something out of Nothing’ which also links to the four plots, especially with the theme of deception. Even so, no-one will know the real reason behind Shakespeare’s reasons for this title, and what he really intended it to mean, but we can also make guesses and assumptions, but we can also always be wrong.
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English Literature Coursework
