How does the book relate to the title "Much Ado About Nothing".
The play has comedy, romance, suspense, action and a lot of drama twisted into several hundred lines of verse. In the end, however, everyone is happy and not a lot changes. Thus, Shakespeare shows the reader that although the play is enjoyable and witty, it really is not a very important piece of literature because of its subject matter. The play is important because it shows us that life itself is similarly enjoyable and foolish - our lives are "much ado about nothing.".
Undeniably, the play is about nothing; it merely follows the relationships of Claudio and Hero, and in the end, the play concludes in the two other main characters falling in love, which, because it was an event that was quite predictable, proves to be much ado about nothing.
The pronunciation of the word "nothing" would, in the late 16th Century, have been "noting," and so the title also apparently suggests a pun on the word, "noting", and on the use of the word "note" as an expression of music. In addition, much of the play is dedicated to people "noting" (or observing) the actions of others (such as the trick played on Beatrice and Benedick by Leonato, Hero and Claudio); they often observe and overhear one another, and consequently make a great deal out of very little.
At the beginning of the play, Claudio and Hero eventually come to admire one another, and Benedick and Beatrice play off each other's wit in a manner that is all too cosy. The irony is that, were it not for the fuss created over the nothingness in between, the play would indeed be about nothing. The middle section of the play centers on the false assumptions of Benedick and Beatrice, as well as the lies told to Claudio about Hero's supposed death. Considering that the saga is thus based around lies and assumptions, which both amount to nothing in terms of the truth, we can conclude that the drama is indeed about nothing.
