Act 1 — Much Ado About Nothing — AQA GCSE English Literature 8702
AQA GCSE English Literature · 8702
Act 1
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
The soldiers' return to Messina, the merry war of Beatrice and Benedick, Claudio's love for Hero and Don Pedro's offer to woo her for him,
and Don John's discontent as he learns of the match and resolves to spoil it.
What each scene establishes about character and theme, with key quotations.
Key quotations: 'There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her', 'I wonder that you will still be talking, Signior Benedick: nobody marks you', 'What, my dear Lady Disdain! are you yet living?', 'I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me', 'Can the world buy such a jewel?', 'In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on', 'I noted her not; but I looked on her', 'In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke', 'I will live a bachelor', 'I will assume thy part in some disguise / And tell fair Hero I am Claudio', 'I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace', 'it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain', 'If I can cross him any way, I bless myself every way'.
Form: the quick-fire prose of the merry war, and Claudio's move into verse when he confides his love to Don Pedro.
Context: soldiers home from a war, and Claudio's question about Hero's inheritance in a world where marriage joined families' wealth and rank.
