MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING KEY QUOTES

Beatrice quote related to love in Act 1

“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me”

Beatrice quote related to love in Act 3

“Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand”

“Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand” analysis

switch to blank verse (romantic)=change to feelings for Benedick, metaphor of taming wild bird (bird=free), willingly vunerable (not hiding heartbreak behind banter)

“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me” analysis

“dog bark at a crow” repeated horrible sound (negative attitude towards love and marriage), have equal wit so are well suited

Claudio quote related to love

“Sweet Hero, now they image doth appear in the rare semblance that I loved it first”

“Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear in the rare semblance that I loved it first” analysis

loves her again now she is proved as innocent (his “love” dependent on her reputation), Hero=object not to be heard

Hero quote related to love

“If it prove so, then loving goes by haps; Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps”

“If it prove so, then loving goes by haps, Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps” analysis

“Some Cupid kills with arrows” Hero + Claudio (ironic- Claudio tricked into thinking Hero is Leonato’s niece), “some with traps” Beatrice + Benedick tricked into revealing love for eachother, love = calculated strategy instead of a natural occurence

Beatrice quote related to gender

“O God that I were a man, I would eat his heart in the marketplace”

“O God that I were a man, I would eat his heart in the marketplace” analysis

wish she were able to take revenge and be celebrated for it like a man would, violence contrasts passive expectation of women, has to ask Benedick to fight Claudio (after he shames Hero) on her behalf

Antonio quote related to gender

“Well, niece, I trust you will ruled by your father”

“Well ,niece, I trust you will be ruled by your father” analysis

duty to obey father and agree to marrying Don Pedro, “ruled” father is authority+no choice

Beatrice quotes related to gender

“my cousin’s duty to make curtsy and say ‘Father, as it pleases you’” “Npt till God make men of some other mettle than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a piece of valiant dust”

“my cousin’s duty to make curtsy and say ‘Father, as it pleases you’” analysis

sarcasm, doesn’t want to have a role like Hero’s where she must follow orders, role of women to please men

“Not till God make men of some other mettle than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be overmastered with a valiant piece of dust” analysis

biblical creation story (all mankind made of dust-equate women with men), “other mettle than earth” never have husband bc impossible to not be made from earth, “piece of valiant dust” flippant attitude towards men

Balthasar quote related to deception

“Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea, and one on shore”

“Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea, and one on shore” analyis

Men’s nature=unfaithful, hypocrisy (men can sleep with women before and during marriage but women can’t), irony (Claudio+Don Pedro deceiving Benedick in scene)

Quote related to things not being as they seem

“doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion”

“doing in the figure of a lamb the feats of a lion”

“feats of a lion” Don Pedro is brave in battle, not as frail and old as he seems

Claudio quote related to honour

“Give not this rotten orange to your friend. She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour”

“Give not this rotten orange to your friend. She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour” analysis

Claudio says this when he rejects Hero at the altar (gives her back to Leonato), “rotten” shame to any unfaithful woman, Hero’s worth dependent on appearance (but looks can be deceiving)

Leonato quote related to honour

“She died ,my lord, but whiles her slander liv’d”

“She died ,my lord, but whiles her slander liv’d” analysis

died metaphorically when honour in question (Leonato also wished her dead at the altar), once proved innocent she was worthy to “live” again

Leonato quote related to love=war wordplay

“There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them”

“There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them”

“merry war” extended metaphor of love=war, “skirmish of wit” teasing compared to military clashes, foreshadows eventual union

Benedick quote related to wordplay

“There’s a double meaning in that”

“There’s a double meaning in that” analysis

believes Beatrice loves him + she calls him for dinner, comical bc he is reading into nothing (simple request of dinner)