![]() ![]() Despite the shoddy evidence, Claudio overreacts and calls off the wedding. It is about imbuing something or someone with mental and emotional energy.īut what if one’s noting is caused by nothing, as the pun implies? What happens if someone gets wrapped up in a misunderstanding or false information? In the play, the malicious Don John tricks Claudio into believing that Hero is unfaithful. Benedick’s distinction suggests that noting is about more than just seeing what is there. Falling in love with Hero at first sight, Claudio asks, “Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signor Leonato?” to which his friend responds, “I noted her not, but I looked on her” (1.1.159–60). In the world of comedy, this often involves setting your heart on a romantic interest, perhaps while feigning disinterest. Scholars also point out that the title is a pun on “noting”-in other words, paying close attention. But the sexual reference does not really help us better understand Much Ado about Nothing. Since Shakespeare’s plays are full of bawdy humor, this pun probably crossed his mind at least once. Some readers may know that “nothing” was slang for female genitalia in Shakespeare’s time. Let us turn to the playful title of Shakespeare’s comedy. Onstage, there is much ado about nothing. ![]() Theatre shows that nothingness can actually be a powerful magnet for the human mind, enticing us to fill in the blanks. Shakespeare is able to conjure striking mental pictures through language, transforming “this wooden O” into a bloody battlefield or an enchanted forest at night. Yet the theatre thrives in this illusory, insubstantial world. In that sense, they’re nothing, just figments of our imaginations. Or, we can dream up things like fairies and unicorns, but they don’t exist in the same way that our material reality does. We’re anxious that we’ve achieved nothing today. When people lose their sense of self-worth, they feel like nobodies. But if that is the case, then how did anything come to exist in the first place? If all existence comes from nothing, like some creation myths or versions of the Big Bang theory suggest, what caused this change from nothingness to being? Such perplexing questions fascinate some and evoke existential dread in others.Īlternatively, “nothing” could imply a value judgment-that something has no worth or substance. When Cordelia refuses to vow filial love at the beginning of King Lear, Lear admonishes her: “Nothing will come of nothing” (1.1.99). Why do things exist rather than not exist? What distinguishes existence from nonexistence? Are ideas things? What about numbers or words? Meditating on nothingness has also provoked human beings to question the origins of the world. ![]() Even if we cannot empirically observe nothingness (since we must first exist to think about these things), it has been a fundamental tool in the history of ideas. Philosophers have obsessed over the concept of nothing, from ancient Greeks and Buddhists to modern thinkers such as Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre. How does Shakespeare get us to think about nothing in these plays? But I want to offer an odd idea that could bring these two titles together: that “nothing” can be a powerful theme, even an occasion for exciting drama. At a glance, these celebrated plays seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum: one is a vibrant romantic comedy while the other is one of Shakespeare’s most cataclysmic tragedies. ![]() In our 2022 season, the Illinois Shakespeare Festival will present two Shakespeare plays in repertory: Much Ado about Nothing and King Lear. ![]()
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