Much Ado About Nothing: Three Responses To Shakespeare’s Play

The paper looks at Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado about Nothing, as well as two film adaptations of the play, from a reader-oriented perspective, offering samples of an expert reading of the play, an initiated reading and a so-called “innocent” reading. We compare the three approaches taking into consideration the reception of the play’s motifs (such as the bedtrick) and the conventional reaction of the readers to them.