Much Ado About Nothing
by William Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
Presented by Garan
Footnote-free narrative incorporating
Shakespeare’s dialogue
Shakespeare’s dialogue
At the time of this story, proud Spaniards control Italy—and Sicily, where Aragon’s fortyish prince and two of his officers come to visit the local governor just after their troops have defeated an uprising.
The three bachelors share a cavalier outlook. The dashing young Claudio finds that his initial interest in the governor’s beautiful twenty-something daughter, Hero, has greatly increased since his pre-war visit; handsome Benedick, more seasoned, and with a playboy’s predilections, rediscovers a previous conquest, the lovely Lady Beatrice, also thirty—who remembers his amorous attentions all too well.
The prince’s illegitimate brother had stirred up the recent insurrection; now pardoned, he, too, is a guest—and is soon plotting against the peace of Governor Leonato’s household in order to avenge his defeat, resented most of all for Claudio’s part in it.
Meanwhile the young couple joins with the prince in a scheme to liberate the more sophisticated pair, whose contests in cleverness keep them from each other.
Witty exchanges, indignant confrontations and stunned epiphanies follow. When a calamity intrudes, a priest devises a purgatorial pause; and the law intercedes, its muddling minions and their deputies helping, comically, to clarify the situation—despite not understanding it themselves.
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The three bachelors share a cavalier outlook. The dashing young Claudio finds that his initial interest in the governor’s beautiful twenty-something daughter, Hero, has greatly increased since his pre-war visit; handsome Benedick, more seasoned, and with a playboy’s predilections, rediscovers a previous conquest, the lovely Lady Beatrice, also thirty—who remembers his amorous attentions all too well.
The prince’s illegitimate brother had stirred up the recent insurrection; now pardoned, he, too, is a guest—and is soon plotting against the peace of Governor Leonato’s household in order to avenge his defeat, resented most of all for Claudio’s part in it.
Meanwhile the young couple joins with the prince in a scheme to liberate the more sophisticated pair, whose contests in cleverness keep them from each other.
Witty exchanges, indignant confrontations and stunned epiphanies follow. When a calamity intrudes, a priest devises a purgatorial pause; and the law intercedes, its muddling minions and their deputies helping, comically, to clarify the situation—despite not understanding it themselves.
Read it online by clicking here
To download it for free:
In Microsoft Word format (.doc), click here
In portable document format (.pdf), click here
In Web browsers’ hypertext markup language (.html), click here
In rich text format (.rtf), click here
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