Much Ado About Nothing (Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages)

331 Pages·2010·4.14 MB·English

by  Harold Bloom

Bloom’s Shakespeare Through the Ages
All’s Well That Ends Well
Antony and Cleopatra
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Hamlet
Henry IV (Part I)
Henry V
Julius Caesar
King Lear
Macbeth
The Merchant of Venice
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Much Ado about Nothing
Othello
Richard III
Romeo and Juliet
The Sonnets
The Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Twelfth Night
The Winter’s Tale

Bloom’s Shakespeare Through the Ages
MuCH AD O
AbO u T NOT H I Ng
Edited and with an introduction by
Harold bloom
Sterling Professor of the Humanities
Yale university
Volume Editor
Michael g. Cornelius
Bloom’s Shakespeare Through the Ages: Much Ado about Nothing
Copyright © 2010 by Infobase Publishing
Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
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For more information contact:
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Much ado about nothing / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom ; volume
editor, Michael G. Cornelius.
p. cm.—(Bloom’s Shakespeare through the ages)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60413-706-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4381-3203-7 (e-book) 1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616. Much ado
about nothing. I. Bloom, Harold. II. Cornelius, Michael G.
PR2828.M82 2010
822.3'3—dc22
2009043771
Bloom’s Literary Criticism books are available at special discounts when purchased in
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Cover design by Ben Peterson
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Cover printed by IBT Global, Inc., Troy NY
Book printed and bound by IBT Global, Inc., Troy NY
Date printed: March 2010
Printed in the United States of America
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C
ontents
q
Series Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Volume Introduction by Harold Bloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xi
Biography of William Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Summary of Much Ado about Nothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Key Passages in Much Ado about Nothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
List of Characters in Much Ado about Nothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
CriTiCiSM Through The AgeS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
t
Much Ado about Nothing in the Seventeenth
and Eighteenth Centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
1600—William Shakespeare. Much adoe about nothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
1640—Leonard Digges. From Poems: Written by
Wil. Shakespeare, Gent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
1662—Thomas Fuller. From The History of the Worthies of England . . .45
1664—Margaret Cavendish. From Sociable Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
1673—William Davenant. From The Law Against Lovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
1691—gerard Langbaine. From An Account of the English
Dramatick Poets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
1710—Nicholas Rowe. From “Some Account of the Life &c.
of Mr. William Shakespear” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
1710—Charles gildon. “The Argument of Much Ado About Nothing”
from The Works of Mr. William Shakespear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
1733—William Warburton. From the notes to Lewis Theobald’s The
Works of Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
1737—James Miller. From The Universal Passion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
vi Contents
1748—Peter Whalley. From An Enquiry into the Learning of
Shakespeare, with Remarks on Several Passages of his Plays. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
1754—Charlotte Lennox. From Shakespear Illustrated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
1757—Arthur Murphy. From the London Chronicle: or Universal
Evening Post . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
1795—Charles Dibdin. From A Complete History of the Stage . . . . . . . . .61
t
Much Ado about Nothing in the Nineteenth Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63
1806–09—Elizabeth Inchbald. From The British Theatre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65
1809—August Wilhelm Schlegel. From Lectures on Dramatic
Art and Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
1817—William Hazlitt. From Characters of Shakespear’s Plays . . . . . . . . .67
1818—Samuel Taylor Coleridge. From Lectures and Notes
on Shakspere . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
1832—Anna brownell Jameson. From Characteristics of Women . . . . . .72
1838—Thomas Campbell. From The Dramatic Works of William
Shakespeare. With Remarks on His Life by Thomas Campbell . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
1839—Hermann ulrici. From Shakespeare’s Dramatic Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
1849—g. g. gervinus. From Shakespeare Commentaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
1850—Mary Cowden Clarke. “On Shakspeare’s Individuality
in His Characters: Shakspeare’s Lovers” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
1851—Hartley Coleridge. From Essays and Marginalia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
1859—Henrietta Lee Palmer. “beatrice” and “Hero” from
The Stratford Gallery; or the Shakespeare Sisterhood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
1862—F. Kreyssig. From Vorlesungen ueber Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
1866—E. W. Sievers. From William Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
1868—Henry giles. From Human Life of Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
1873—Roderich benedix. From Die Shakespearomanie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
1877—F. J. Furnivall. From the introduction to The Leopold Shakespeare 101
1880—Algernon Swinburne. From A Study of Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . .102
1884—Heinrich bulthaupt. From Dramaturgie der Classiker . . . . . . . .103
Contents vii
1885—Helena Faucit, Lady Martin. From On Some of Shakespeare’s
Female Characters: By One Who Has Impersonated Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
1885—W. Oechelhäuser. From Einführungen in
Shakespeare’s Bühnen-Dramen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
1890—W. Wetz. From Shakespeare von Standpunkte
der vergleeichenden Literatur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119
1891—Andrew Lang. From Harper’s Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
1891—grace Latham. From “Julia, Silvia, Hero and Viola” . . . . . . . . .124
1896—Frederick S. boas. From Shakespeare and His Predecessors . . .125
1899—Horace Howard (H.H.) Furness. From the preface
to the New Variorum edition of Much Ado About Nothing . . . . . . . . . . .130
t
Much Ado about Nothing in the Twentieth
and Twenty-first Centuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
1906—Charlotte Porter. Introduction to Much Adoe About Nothing 160
1946—W. H. Auden. “Much Ado About Nothing” from Lectures on
Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
1959—graham Storey. “The Success of Much Ado About Nothing”
from More Talking of Shakespeare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
1964—Marvin Felheim. “Comic Realism in Much Ado
About Nothing” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194
1973—Carl Dennis. “Wit and Wisdom in Much Ado
About Nothing” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
1986—Carol Cook. “‘The Sign and Semblance of Her Honour’:
Reading gender Difference in Much Ado about Nothing” . . . . . . . . . . . .221
1999—Nova Myhill. “Spectatorship in/of Much Ado About Nothing” . .250
2000—Maurice Hunt. “The Reclamation of Language in
Much Ado About Nothing” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .305
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .307

s i
eries ntroduCtion
q
Shakespeare Through the Ages presents not the most current of Shakespeare
criticism, but the best of Shakespeare criticism, from the seventeenth century
to today. In the process, each volume also charts the flow over time of criti-
cal discussion of a particular play. Other useful and fascinating collections of
historical Shakespearean criticism exist, but no collection that we know of
contains such a range of commentary on each of Shakespeare’s greatest plays
and at the same time emphasizes the greatest critics in our literary tradition:
from John Dryden in the seventeenth century, to Samuel Johnson in the eigh-
teenth century, to William Hazlitt and Samuel Coleridge in the nineteenth
century, to A. C. bradley and William Empson in the twentieth century, to
the most perceptive critics of our own day. This canon of Shakespearean criti-
cism emphasizes aesthetic rather than political or social analysis.
Some of the pieces included here are full-length essays; others are excerpts
designed to present a key point. Much (but not all) of the earliest criticism
consists only of brief mentions of specific plays. In addition to the classics of
criticism, some pieces of mainly historical importance have been included, often
to provide background for important reactions from future critics.
These volumes are intended for students, particularly those just beginning
their explorations of Shakespeare. We have therefore also included basic
materials designed to provide a solid grounding in each play: a biography of
Shakespeare, a synopsis of the play, a list of characters, and an explication of
key passages. In addition, each selection of the criticism of a particular century
begins with an introductory essay discussing the general nature of that century’s
commentary and the particular issues and controversies addressed by critics
presented in the volume.
Shakespeare was “not of an age, but for all time,” but much Shakespeare
criticism is decidedly for its own age, of lasting importance only to the scholar
who wrote it. Students today read the criticism most readily available to them,
which means essays printed in recent books and journals, especially those journals
made available on the Internet. Older criticism is too often buried in out-of-print
books on forgotten shelves of libraries or in defunct periodicals. Therefore, many
students, particularly younger students, have no way of knowing that some of the
most profound criticism of Shakespeare’s plays was written decades or centuries
ix