The Importance Of Meaning In Much Ado About Nothing

I was always told to never judge a book by its cover, but does this still apply when the title gives away the conflict of the story? The play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is a humorous production about the consequences of eavesdropping. Traditionally, if you want to know what books are about, you look at the blurb on the back of the book or on the inside of the front cover. This is not the case for Much Ado About Nothing, as all you need to know before reading if simply within the title.

Shakespeare was a playwright during the Elizabethan England Era, which was very different time than how we live now for many reasons, even the pronunciation of words! During the Elizabethan Era, the word nothing would have been pronounced “noting”. This is very ironic once you take into account that the definition of noting is “to notice or pay particular attention to (something)” (Dictionary.com). Throughout the play, characters

According to Cliffnotes, a website used to help students understand literature, during Shakespeare’s time the word, “"thing" and "nothing" were slang words for referring to a sexual organ; thus phrases with the word "nothing" sometimes had sexual or erotic connotations”. If this is truly the case, it is very safe to say that Shakespeare was using this slang a pun in the title. The main issue in the play is that Claudio has been tricked into thinking that Hero has had sexual relationships with another man while she was engaged to him. Hero is not the only female that the play revolves around. Benedick spends much of the play pondering and fretting over his love for Beatrice. The word ado simply means fuss, so if we substitute the old words for modern ones, we could be left with the title Much Fuss About Women (I’m keeping it PG). This alternate title fits the play very well, as two major conflicts come from mens uncertainty about