Much Ado About Nothing: Key Quotations (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Key Quotations

Remember, the assessment objectives explicitly state that you should be able to “use textual references, including quotations”. This means summarising, paraphrasing, referencing single words and referencing plot events are all as valid as direct quotations in demonstrating that you understand the text. It is important to remember that you can evidence your knowledge of the text in these two equally valid ways: both through references to it and direct quotations from it. 

Overall, you should aim to secure a strong knowledge of the text, rather than rehearsed quotations, as this will enable you to respond to the question. It is the quality of your knowledge of the text which will enable you to select references effectively.

If you are going to revise quotations, the best way is to group them by character or theme. Below you will find definitions and analysis of the best quotations, arranged by the following themes:

• Love

• Gender Roles and Attitudes

• Deception

• Honour and Virtue

• Wordplay

Love

Love is a prevalent theme in Much Ado About Nothing, with the relationship between Claudio and Hero being a key plot driver, and the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick providing much of the comedy and wit in the play.

“I had rather hear a dog bark at a crow than hear a man say he loves me." - Beatrice, Act I Scene I

Meaning and context

• This quote appears in Act 1, Scene 1, when Beatrice and Benedick first exchange insults

Analysis

• Here, Shakespeare demonstrates Beatrice’s attitude towards love and marriage

• She would rather be subjected to a repeatedly annoying sound than bear the annoyance of a man declaring his love to her

• The audience are aware that Beatrice and Benedick are known to each other

• Their insults continue, establishing that their wit is equal and they are actually well suited

“Sweet, Hero, now thy image doth appear in the rare semblance that I loved it first." - Claudio, Act V, Scene I

Meaning and context

• At the end of the play, Claudio learns the truth about Hero when Borachio confesses to the treachery

Analysis

• He is essentially saying that her image has returned to the beautiful one he experienced when he first met her, now she is proved as innocent again

• This suggests Claudio’s love for Hero is perhaps not as true as it could be, as it is dependent on Hero’s reputation and the image that others have of her

• This further reinforces the idea of Hero as an object to be looked upon rather than heard

“It it prove so, then loving goes by haps; Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps" - Hero, Act III, Scene 1

Meaning and context

• This line is spoken by Hero to Ursula while tricking Beatrice into believing that Benedick loves her

Analysis

• The first clause relates to Hero and Claudio, and the second to Beatrice and Benedick, who are tricked into revealing their love for each other

• However, the line is also ironic, as Claudio is tricked at the end into believing that Hero is actually Leonato’s niece

Gender Roles and Attitudes

Much Ado About Nothing both reinforces and challenges traditional gender roles in its presentation of the female characters and male attitudes towards women.

“Oh God! That I were a man, I would eat his heart in the marketplace." - Beatrice, Act IV, Scene I

Meaning and context

• This line is exclaimed by Beatrice when Claudio publicly shames Hero at the altar, accusing her of being unfaithful

Analysis

• Here, Shakespeare acknowledges the limitations of Beatrice’s gender, as she is unable to tackle Claudio’s accusations as a man would if another man’s honour had been called into question

• She wishes that she were entitled to the qualities that men are not only allowed to have, but are celebrated for, such as the ability to take revenge

• Because she is a woman, she has to ask Benedick to do this on her behalf

“Well, niece, I trust you will be ruled by your father." - Antonio

"Yes, faith, it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say 'Father, as it pleases you.'" - Beatrice, Act II, Scene I

Meaning and context

• Antonio, Hero’s uncle, reminds Hero that she is to obey her father and agree when she is proposed to by Don Pedro

Analysis

• Antonio mistakenly believes that it is Don Pedro who means to propose for himself, rather than on behalf of Claudio

• However, as Hero embodies the Elizabethan feminine ideal, her duty is to obey her father without question and marry

• It does not actually seem to matter to Leonato whether it is Don Pedro or Claudio whom she marries

• Beatrice reinforces this by confirming that this is her cousin’s role – to do as her father pleases, but this is not a role she wishes for herself

"Adam's sons are my brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in my kindred." - Beatrice, Act II, Scene I

Meaning and context

• This quote is part of Beatrice’s response to Leonato wishing that she would one day be married

Analysis

• Here, Beatrice is saying that we are all born of Adam and Eve and, therefore, made of the same earth and dust

• Unusually, the character is commenting that men and women are born equal, challenging the prevailing gender associations and stereotypes of the day

• Beatrice is also acknowledging that, in marriage, men have more power, but because she thinks herself equal, she refuses to marry and have to be subservient to someone whom she regards as on an equal power footing to herself

Deception

Deception and disguise are tools used for both good and bad in Much Ado About Nothing, with both the tragic elements and the happy ending coming about through trickery.

“Sign no more, ladies, sigh no more,

Men were deceivers ever.

One foot in sea and one on shore, 

To one thing constant never."

- Balthasar, Act II, Scene III

Meaning and context

• This song is sung by Balthasar just before Don Pedro and Claudio’s conversation about Beatrice loving Benedick, which they engineer to be deliberately overheard by Benedick himself

Analysis

• This suggests that men’s very nature mean that they cannot be constant or faithful

• It is a sign of hypocrisy that it is deemed acceptable for men to sleep with women before marriage (or even within marriage), but not for women to sleep around before marriage

• The song suggests that this is just the way things are, so they should just put up with it

• It is also ironic, as in this scene Claudio and Don Pedro are engaged in the act of deceiving Benedick

Paired Quotation:

“I cannot hide what I am." - Don John

"Yes, but you must not make the full show of this till you may do it without controlment." - Conrad, Act I, Scene III

Meaning and context

• In this quote, Don John is admitting that he is a villain and that he despises Don Pedro, but Conrad advises him to hide this rather than being open about it until he can control his emotions

Analysis

• Don John’s line may have a double meaning, as he is Don Pedro’s illegitimate half-brother

• In Shakespeare’s time, illegitimate children lacked status and were thought of as inferior or evil

• Therefore, Don John is saying he must be a villain by nature of his birth, which everyone is aware of so why hide it

• However, he is advised that he could make more mischief by pretending to be a friend to Don Pedro and Claudio, and then going behind their backs

Honour and Virtue

Shame and dishonour, or the fear of it, is a central theme in Much Ado About Nothing, as it drives much of the action in the play

“Give not this rotten orange to your friend. She's but the sign and semblance of her honour." - Claudio, Act IV, Scene I

Meaning and context

• This line is uttered as Claudio rejects Hero at the altar and hands her back to Leonato

Analysis

• Claudio’s turn of language reflects just how much dishonour is bestowed upon a young woman believed to have been unfaithful to her betrothed, as he describes her as “rotten”, as in gone off or bad

• It reveals that Hero’s honour and worth is dependent on appearance, but appearances can be deceiving

“One Hero died defied, but I do live. And surely as I live, I am a maid." - Hero

"The former Hero! Hero that is dead!" - Don Pedro

"She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived" - Leonato, Act V, Scene IV

Meaning and context

• Hero has just revealed herself to Claudio at the altar to be alive 

Analysis

• The former Hero here is the one who Claudio fell in love with – the Hero that was innocent, pure and a virgin

• Leonato reveals that she died metaphorically while her honour had been called into question

• This is reinforced by Leonato also wishing her dead at the altar when he also believed that she had been unfaithful

• Once her innocence had been established, she was deemed worthy to “live” again

Wordplay

The pun of the play is that a lot happens due to nothing actually happening. Hero was not really unfaithful to Claudio, and Beatrice and Benedick did not really speak of their love for each other.

“There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and her. They never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them." - Leonato, Act !, Scene I

Meaning and context

• Here, Leonato is giving the messenger some context that explains why Beatrice is speaking so confusingly of Benedick at the start of the play

Analysis

• This line sets up the extended metaphor of love being compared to war throughout the play

• Beatrice and Benedick’s teasing and insults are compared to military skirmishes, each digging a little at each other

• It also sets up Beatrice and Benedick as equals, foreshadowing their eventual union

“There's a double meaning in that." - Benedick, Act II, Scene III

Meaning and context

• Benedick has just eavesdropped on Claudio and Don Pedro’s conversation and believes that Beatrice loves him. Beatrice then appears and calls him in for dinner

Analysis

• This is ironic as the play is full of double meaning and puns

• It is also comic, as all Beatrice has done is to be sent to ask Benedick to come in for dinner, which is quite a straightforward request

• Benedick reads things into this that are not there

“Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things and, to conclude, they are lying knaves." - Dogberry, Act V, Scene I

Meaning and context

• In the final act, Dogberry brings Borachio and Conrad to Leonato, Claudio and Don Pedro to confess to their deceit with Hero

• They have only confessed to one crime, but Dogberry lists many, which are all essentially the same (they have lied to ruin Hero’s reputation)

Analysis

• This is an example of Dogberry’s misuse of language to make himself seem important and refined

• He is actually doing a noble thing by bringing Borachio and Conrad to confess their crimes, but the honour of his actions is undermined by his confusing language

• He is, therefore, a source of mockery, rather than respect