Much Ado About Nothing | Quotes

Benedick is dismayed by Claudio's rash decision to marry Hero. For someone who does not believe in marriage, it's hard for Benedick to understand why one of his closest friends is suddenly obsessed with it.

Shakespeare isn't going for subtlety in Much Ado About Nothing. Don John literally proclaims himself a villain in his first major scene. This lets the audience know there isn't anything more to his character than the desire to create chaos.

Don Pedro believes he's something of an expert in love and feels he and his friends can make better matches than Cupid. Don Pedro's self-importance on this topic is in direct contrast to his unmarried status throughout the play.

Claudio is encouraging Leonato's made-up story about how Beatrice is desperately in love with Benedick, who is listening on the other side of the hedge. If the story is good enough, Benedick will believe it.

In a conversation with himself, Benedick rationalizes his sudden interest in marriage by pointing out decisions made in one's youth are not binding.

Don John tries to prevent the marriage of Claudio and Hero by appealing to Claudio's ego. He knows the fastest way to break up the happy couple is to tell Claudio Hero isn't good enough for him.

Dogberry is notorious for malapropisms, or mixing up words that sound alike but mean very different things, often to humorous effect. In this instance he mixes up auspicious, which means "favorable or successful," with the word he really means, suspicious. Dogberry is trying to sound more important and upper class than he actually is, which only serves to make him look foolish.

Leonato is worried only about himself, not his daughter, when Hero is accused of sleeping with an unknown man. In Elizabethan England an unmarried woman's virtue (namely her virginity) was considered to be the responsibility of her father. If Hero were unchaste, Leonato's reputation would be ruined as well.

Beatrice feels helpless when her cousin is accused of sleeping with a man outside of wedlock. As a woman she has no recourse against Claudio. Her desire to be a man in this situation illustrates how very little power women had during the Elizabethan era.

Dogberry is seriously offended when Conrade calls him an ass, and he wants to make sure everyone remembers it when it's time for Conrade's punishment. Instead, Dogberry's reminders just reinforce the idea he is, indeed, an ass.

Borachio points out that Don Pedro's and Claudio's combined intelligence was no match for the witless Dogberry and Verges, who managed to clear Hero's name without even trying. The low-class, foolish Dogberry has somehow outsmarted the prince.

Though Borachio confessed to being the mastermind of the plan behind Hero's slander, Leonato thinks Claudio and Don Pedro should take an equal share of the blame. They were the ones who believed the untrustworthy Don John, and they were the ones who publicly shamed Hero in the church. He thinks her "death" is more their fault than anyone else's, conveniently forgetting his own role in her shame.

Benedick and Beatrice continue their merry war of words even after acknowledging their love for one another. Their attempts to conform to the standards of traditional courtship seem false as they try to repress the wit that brought them together in the first place.

During their first wedding ceremony, Claudio gives Hero no opportunity to defend herself against his slanderous claims. At their second wedding ceremony, she rebukes him (in the nicest way possible) for not believing her in the first place.

Though Beatrice and Benedick protest they're no more than friends, the sonnets they wrote to each other confirm they truly do love one another. Neither likes the idea of being in love, but they can't control how they feel.