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“Are our eyes our own?” What does “Much Ado About Nothing” have to say about false appearances and misapprehension?

The title of the play itself gives us an idea of what the play could be about before even studying it, as in Elizabethan times the word nothing was pronounced noting, which means observing. This could just be a coincidence but I think Shakespeare was hiding a message to the audience – Keep an eye out for everything.
In life there are so many misunderstandings that people shouldn’t always be judged on their first appearances, as these can be deceiving and lead to all sorts of problems. This is what the whole play is based around, people seeing incidents and taking them the wrong way, or being tricked into taking them the wrong way. In the 1993 film version, Balthasar’s song, ‘men were deceivers ever’ is put at the beginning (although it is sung by Beatrice) and I think it is put here to set the scene and tone of the play, which it accomplishes very well. I think in Elizabethan times Shakespeare meant this to show how almost all men deceive you in the play, as then, all ...

Posted by: Jack Drewes

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