Act 3 — Much Ado About Nothing — Edexcel GCSE English Literature 1ET0
Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Act 3
The plot, part by part
What you need to know
The gulling of Beatrice, Don John's accusation against Hero, the watch's arrest of Borachio and Conrade, Hero's wedding morning,
and Dogberry's failure to make Leonato listen.
Key quotations: 'Look, where Beatrice, like a lapwing, runs / Close by the ground, to hear our conference', 'Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes', 'Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps', 'What fire is in mine ears?', 'Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!', 'And, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, / Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand', 'Leonato's Hero, your Hero, every man's Hero', 'If I see any thing to-night why I should not marry her to-morrow in the congregation, where I should wed, there will I shame her', 'what a deformed thief this fashion is', 'the most dangerous piece of lechery that ever was known in the commonwealth', 'God give me joy to wear it! for my heart is exceeding heavy', 'Comparisons are odorous', 'Neighbours, you are tedious'.
Form: the women's verse in the gulling of Beatrice against the men's prose in the gulling of Benedick, and Beatrice's rhymed soliloquy.
Dramatic irony: the watch overhear the truth before the wedding, but Dogberry's rambling keeps it from Leonato.
Edexcel's Shakespeare question has two parts: part (a) on the printed extract marks only language, form and structure (AO2), so context earns nothing there; part (b) on the play elsewhere, from memory, marks the argument and its references (AO1, 15 marks) and context (AO3, 5 marks), not language analysis. Say which part each worked paragraph and exam tip is for.
