The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1203  Wednesday, 1 May 2002

[1]     From:   Todd Pettigrew <
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        Date:   Tuesday, 30 Apr 2002 13:38:46 -0300
        Subj:   Re: SHK 13.1180 Questions on Much Ado About Nothing

[2]     From:   Jeffrey Myers <
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        Date:   Tuesday, 30 Apr 2002 13:53:58 -0400
        Subj:   RE: SHK 13.1197 Re: Questions on Much Ado About Nothing


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Todd Pettigrew <
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Date:           Tuesday, 30 Apr 2002 13:38:46 -0300
Subject: 13.1180 Questions on Much Ado About Nothing
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1180 Questions on Much Ado About Nothing

>Question 2: Dogberry seems related to the constables in city comedies,
>usually set in London. He does have the only wholly English name in the
>play. Why an English name? Is he supposed to be connected to an English
>comic type?

Dogberry is much like the Mechanicals in Dream -- obviously English
characters transposed into another place and time, without justification
or explanation.

t.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Jeffrey Myers <
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Date:           Tuesday, 30 Apr 2002 13:53:58 -0400
Subject: 13.1197 Re: Questions on Much Ado About Nothing
Comment:        RE: SHK 13.1197 Re: Questions on Much Ado About Nothing

> From:           Christopher Moore <
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> Dear Jack,
>
> Some thoughts on question one. The only sin Conrade is guilty of is
> hearing Borachio describe his success.  It seems in harmony with the
> play that Conrade's crime is simply that he "hears" Borachio,
> given the
> amount of 'noting' that goes on, and overhearing that takes place.

Is he not also an accomplice through his silence?

> Conrade says "I am a Gentlemen" and Borachio clearly is not...he is
> "entertained for a perfumer".  I think part of the scene
> between Conrade
> and Borachio before they are arrested touches on this difference of
> class.

Is this essentialist viewpoint endorsed somewhere in the play?  Might
not a gentleman be "entertained as a perfumer"?  Is it not possible in
this play for a gentleman to act unlike a gentleman, whether the
performance is so intended or not?

Jeff Myers

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