Cambridge Unive rsit y Pre ss 978-0-521-53250-1 - Much Ado ...assets.cambridge.org/97805215/32501/frontmatter/9780521532501… · Shakespeare, William Much ado about nothing. (The

T H E N E W C A M B R I D G E S H A K E S P E A R E

general editor

Brian Gibbons

associate general editor

A. R. Braunmuller, University of California, Los Angeles

From the publication of the first volumes in 1984 the General Editor of the New CambridgeShakespeare was Philip Brockbank and the Associate General Editors were Brian Gibbons andRobin Hood. From 1990 to 1994 the General Editor was Brian Gibbons and the AssociateGeneral Editors were A. R. Braunmuller and Robin Hood.

M U C H A D O A B O U T N O T H I N G

Much Ado has always been popular on the stage. This edition pays especial attention to thehistory and range of theatrical interpretation, in which the most famous actors, from the timeof Garrick to the present, have appeared as the sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice. A fullcommentary includes annotation of the many sexual jokes in the play that have been obscuredby the complexity of Elizabethan language.

For this updated edition Angela Stock has added a new section to the Introduction in whichshe reviews the romantic and the darker, more cynical aspects of the play in the light oflate twentieth-century stage, film and critical interpretations. She also tackles the interestingquestion of Beatrice’s proper age and the critical fortunes of Hero and Claudio in terms of theplay’s interest in sexuality and misogyny, eavesdropping and deception.

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T H E N E W C A M B R I D G E S H A K E S P E A R E

All’s Well That Ends Well, edited by Russell FraserAntony and Cleopatra, edited by David BevingtonAs You Like It, edited by Michael HattawayThe Comedy of Errors, edited by T. S. DorschCoriolanus, edited by Lee BlissCymbeline, edited by Martin ButlerHamlet, edited by Philip EdwardsJulius Caesar, edited by Marvin SpevackKing Edward III, edited by Giorgio MelchioriThe First Part of King Henry IV, edited by Herbert Weil and Judith WeilThe Second Part of King Henry IV, edited by Giorgio MelchioriKing Henry V, edited by Andrew GurrThe First Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael HattawayThe Second Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael HattawayThe Third Part of King Henry VI, edited by Michael HattawayKing Henry VIII, edited by John MargesonKing John, edited by L. A. BeaurlineThe Tragedy of King Lear, edited by Jay L. HalioKing Richard II, edited by Andrew GurrKing Richard III, edited by Janis LullLove’s Labour’s Lost, edited by William C. CarrollMacbeth, edited by A. R. BraunmullerMeasure for Measure, edited by Brian GibbonsThe Merchant of Venice, edited by M. M. MahoodThe Merry Wives of Windsor, edited by David CraneA Midsummer Night’s Dream, edited by R. A. FoakesMuch Ado About Nothing, edited by F. H. MaresOthello, edited by Norman SandersPericles, edited by Doreen DelVecchio and Antony HammondThe Poems, edited by John RoeRomeo and Juliet, edited by G. Blakemore EvansThe Sonnets, edited by G. Blakemore EvansThe Taming of the Shrew, edited by Ann ThompsonThe Tempest, edited by David LindleyTimon of Athens, edited by Karl KleinTitus Andronicus, edited by Alan HughesTroilus and Cressida, edited by Anthony B. DawsonTwelfth Night, edited by Elizabeth Story DonnoThe Two Gentlemen of Verona, edited by Kurt SchlueterThe Two Noble Kinsmen, edited by Robert Kean Turner and Patricia TatspaughThe Winter’s Tale, edited by Susan Snyder and Deborah T. Curren-Aquino

the early quartos

The First Quarto of Hamlet, edited by Kathleen O. IraceThe First Quarto of King Henry V, edited by Andrew GurrThe First Quarto of King Lear, edited by Jay L. HalioThe First Quarto of King Richard III, edited by Peter DavisonThe First Quarto of Othello, edited by Scott McMillinThe First Quarto of Romeo and Juliet, edited by Lukas ErneThe Taming of a Shrew: The 1594 Quarto, edited by Stephen Roy Miller






M U C H A D O A B O U T N O T H I N GUpdated edition

Edited byF . H . M A R E S






www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521532501

C© Cambridge University Press 1988, 2003

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exceptionand to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,no reproduction of any part may take place without the writtenpermission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 1988

Reprinted 1989, 1991 (twice), 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001

Updated edition 2003

9th printing 20112015

Printed in the United Kingdom by Clays, St Ives plc

British Library Cataloguing in Publication dataShakespeare, WilliamMuch ado about nothing.(The New Cambridge Shakespeare).I. Title. II. Mares, F. H.822.3′3 pr2828

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication dataShakespeare, William. 1564–1616.Much ado about nothing.(The New Cambridge Shakespeare).BibliographyI. Mares, F. H. (Francis Hugh) II. TitleIII. Series: Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616. Works.1984. Cambridge University Press.pr2828.a2m37 1988

822.3′3 87–10268

isbn 978-0-521-82543-6 Hardbackisbn 978-0-521-53250-1 Paperback

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Cambridge Unive rsit y Pre ss 978-0-521-53250-1 - Much Ado ...assets.cambridge.org/97805215/32501/frontmatter/9780521532501… · Shakespeare, William Much ado about nothing. (The