The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 17.0230 Tuesday, 28 March 2006
[1] From: Kristen McDermott <
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Date: Monday, 27 Mar 2006 11:48:34 -0500
Subj: RE: SHK 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
[2] From: Sarah Cohen <
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Date: Monday, 27 Mar 2006 10:52:09 -0800
Subj: RE: SHK 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
[3] From: John W. Kennedy <
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Date: Monday, 27 Mar 2006 22:07:59 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kristen McDermott <
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Date: Monday, 27 Mar 2006 11:48:34 -0500
Subject: 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
Comment: RE: SHK 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
>"Even more amazingly, his almost father in law, Leonato, and his brother.
>Antonio, agree that they will marry Hero's cousin, Beatrice, to Claudio."
No, they're offering Claudio Antonio's non-existent daughter. Beatrice
is the daughter of Leonato's (and Antonio's) late sister (we assume this
because Leonato is her guardian). Antonio has a son (1.2.1) who is one
of the musicians, but who never speaks, and who is apparently forgotten
by 5.1.284, when the fictional daughter is identified as Leonato and
Antonio's "only [remaining] heir").
This raises an interesting question, however: who Beatrice's father is
we do not know. "Adam's sons are my brethren," says Beatrice, implying
that there is no man whom she can marry. It would be interesting
(although there is no textual evidence) to imagine that Beatrice, like
Don John, is illegitimate, and that her prejudice against marriage is a
coping mechanism for the possibility that she will never find a man who
will accept her. It might explain her rueful refusal of Don Pedro's
half-joking proposal (of course, so might her feelings for Benedick).
At any rate, the many unspecific references to blood relationships has a
thematic link to the play's consideration of bastardy and loyalty, and
the ways in which the lowly (Dogberry et al) correct the errors of the
high-born (Claudio and Don Pedro). Also, whenever the subject of
Beatrice and Benedick's match comes up, her wit, beauty and virtue are
mentioned but not her birth. When Beatrice was born, she jokes, "My
mother cried, but then there was a star danced..." This allusion to the
image of the sun dancing at Christ's birth plays along with Beatrice's
name-pun (she who blesses/is blessed). It also links Beatrice to the
medieval image of Christ as the child of lowly birth whose loving nature
thwarts the designs of the devil.
Kris McDermott
Central Michigan University
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sarah Cohen <
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Date: Monday, 27 Mar 2006 10:52:09 -0800
Subject: 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
Comment: RE: SHK 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
Marriage with Hero's cousin is one of the terms of "revenge" imposed on
Claudio by Leonato. Claudio is mortified by his own error (not to
mention relieved by Leonato's mercy), and is in no position to argue.
This is what Leonato says to Claudio in 5.1., after enjoining Claudio to
sing Hero's epitaph at her tomb:
"Tomorrow morning come you to my house,
And since you could not be my son-in-law,
Be yet my nephew. My brother hath a daughter,
Almost the copy of my child that's dead,
And she alone is heir to both of us.
Give her the right you should have giv'n her cousin,
And so dies my revenge."
The fictional cousin, "almost a copy of my child that's dead", cannot be
Beatrice. Claudio knows Beatrice, so there would be no need for Leonato
to describe her to him. Besides, there is no indication in the text that
Beatrice and Hero look alike.
Leonato here invents another daughter of another brother.
I hope this helps.
Sarah Cohen
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: John W. Kennedy <
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Date: Monday, 27 Mar 2006 22:07:59 -0500
Subject: 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
Comment: Re: SHK 17.0223 Much Ado About Nothing
Michael B. Luskin <
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>Just a few minutes after he finds that his fianc
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