The primary plot of Much Ado About Nothing turns on the courtship and scandal involving young Hero and her suitor, Claudio, but the witty war of words between Claudio’s friend Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice often takes center stage.
Set in Messina, the play begins as Don Pedro's army returns after a victory. Benedick, a gentleman soldier, resumes a verbal duel with Beatrice, the niece of Messina's governor, Leonato. Count Claudio is smitten with Leonato's daughter, Hero. After Don Pedro woos her in disguise for Claudio, the two young lovers plan to marry in a week. To fill in the time until the wedding, Don Pedro and the others set about tricking Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love with each other. Meanwhile, Don Pedro's disgruntled brother, Don John, plots to ruin Hero and halt her wedding. Claudio believes Don John's deception, is convinced Hero has a lover, and, at the wedding, brutally rejects her.
With Hero in hiding and falsely reported dead, Beatrice persuades Benedick to fight Claudio. Tragedy is averted when the bumbling city watch, having discovered Don John's treachery, arrives and clears Hero's name. With Claudio forgiven, both couples are ready to get married.
Early printed texts
Much Ado About Nothing was first published in 1600 as a quarto (Q1) and then included in the 1623 First Folio (F1). There is little difference between the dialogue of the two texts, although Q1's stage directions and speech prefixes are often more confusing than those in F1. The Folger edition is based on Q1, with changes to the text indicated in half-brackets.
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First Quarto (1600)
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First Folio (1623)
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Second Folio (1632)
Picturing Much Ado About Nothing
As part of an NEH-funded project, the Folger digitized thousands of 18th-, 19th-, and early 20th-century images representing Shakespeare’s plays. Some of these images show actors in character, while others show the plays as if they were real-life events—telling the difference isn't always easy. A selection of images related to Much Ado is shown below, with links to our digital image collection.
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Beatrice overhears Hero and Ursula (Act 3, scene 1; 1904)
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Ellen Terry as Beatrice (1882)
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Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Benedict (1905)
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E.H. Sothern and Julia Marlowe as Benedick and Beatrice (1904)
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Claudio at the Hero's tomb (Act 5, scene 3; 19th century)
More images of Much Ado About Nothing can be seen in our digital image collection. (Because of how they were cataloged, some images from other plays might appear in the image searches linked here, so always check the sidebar to see if the image is described as part of a larger group.)
