Context
Context should inform, but should never dominate, your analysis of the text. Any comments on contextual factors must always be linked to the themes in the play. When exploring the context in which Much Ado About Nothing was written, you should consider:
- the contexts in which the text is set
- the contexts in which the text is received
- its literary context (genre)
Exam Tip
Shakespeare wrote Much Ado About Nothing in the 1590s. While Much Ado About Nothing carries a mark of its time, you should try to consider what the text has to say about people, human nature, gender roles etc., and recognise these as universal themes, which are just as relevant today.
For example, if you were to write about gender roles and hypocrisy in the Elizabethan period, you may also wish to consider today’s society and consider how much has (or has not) changed.
Each of the topics below links directly to Shakespeare’s ideas in Much Ado About Nothing: