Sweet, solitary, white as chaste, and pure

As wind-fann'd snow, who to thy female knights
Allow'st no more blood than will make a blush,
Which is their order's robe."

Scene IV.

43. the savage bull:-Still alluding to the passage quoted from Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, in the first Scene of the play.

123, 124. no staff more reverend, etc. :-This passage refers to the staves or walking-sticks used by elderly persons, which were often tipped with horn. Chaucer's Sompnour describes one of his friars as having a "scrippe and tipped staff"; and he adds that "His felaw had a staf tipped with horn."

Questions on

Much Ado About Nothing.

1. Mention some facts that help to establish the date of the play. From what Italian sources may some of the incidents have been derived?

ACT FIRST.

2. How is it shown in the first Scene that the play will deal with love as a warfare?

3. What unconscious confession does Beatrice make in her inquiries of the messenger concerning Benedick?

4. Was Benedick loved by women? How does one find it out? 5. How is his speech on the subject answered by Beatrice? 6. What may be assumed as the previous relations of Benedick and Beatrice accounting for their attitudes in the opening Scene? 7. Describe the way Claudio introduces the subject of his love for Hero to Benedick and to Don Pedro.

8. What arrangement is made between Don Pedro and Claudio to further the latter's suit?

9. Concerning Hero's love affair, what blunder is made by Antonio, and how does he support his case?

10. Don John gives what account of himself in the third Scene? Why is his character so definitely drawn thus early in the play? II. What third version of the Hero intrigue do we gain from Borachio?

12. What lines of action are laid down in the first Act that prove the title of Much Ado?

ACT SECOND.

13. What is the dramatic purpose of the dialogue preceding the entrance of the revelers?

14. Show how it is made apparent that Hero is one ruled by her father. Compare her with Ophelia.

15. What is the character of the scene that follows the dialogue?

16. Indicate the import of the conversation between Hero and Don Pedro; between Ursula and Antonio.

17. What impression of Margaret is derived from her interview with Balthasar?

18. Did Beatrice recognize her vis-à-vis in the masked scene? 19. Explain the triple misconstruction in the scene between Don John and Claudio.

20. What important point in the plot is marked by the soliloquy of Claudio?

21. Comment on the spirit of Benedick's reply to Claudio, Sc. i. 195.

22. Your estimate of Claudio as he has so far revealed himself. 23. State the various misunderstandings of the love affair of Claudio and Hero. What single character is following the thread of it with a clear apprehension of the real facts?

24. Cite from Hamlet an expression similar to Benedick's (line 251) she would infect to the north star.

25. Explain the dramatic significance of the moment when Beatrice says (line 308) Speak, count, 'tis your cue.

26. Where in the play do the words of Beatrice to Hero (line 313) rebound upon herself?

27. Characterize the traits of Beatrice, displayed in the closing parts of the first Scene.

28. What scheme is proposed and agreed to at the close of this Scene?

29. Detail the plot laid to put a blight upon Hero. Who devised it?

30. Compare the intellectual qualities of Don John and of Iago. 31. Explain the change of attitude of Benedick as shown in the two soliloquies in Sc. iii. How does the device by which Benedick comes to a knowledge of Beatrice's regard for him ally itself with other devices of the rising action? Who is the author of this stratagem?

32. At the close of the Scene, how do Beatrice and Benedick exemplify the characters that have been attributed to them? What saves Benedick from a fatuousness similar to that of Malvolio?

ACT THIRD.

33. Compare the stratagem as wrought by the men on Benedick with that worked by Hero and Ursula on Beatrice. What traits natural to each sex are displayed? What touch of irony in Hero's words?

34. Compare Beatrice's soliloquy after the practised stratagem with Benedick's. Indicate the comic element of the situation. What indications have we that the stratagem, as concerns Benedick, has been effectual?

35. What temper of mind do you find in Claudio upon the eve of the revelations concerning Hero?

36. Contrast the manner of Claudio and of Don Pedro upon hearing the revelations of Don John.

37. What is the humorous effect of Sc. iii? Indicate its dramatic purpose.

38. Mention some traits possessed in common by Dogberry and Shallow (Merry Wives).

39. What part in the action do the watchmen play?

40. On what ground were Borachio and Conrade apprehended? What is there essentially comic in this Scene?

41. Account for the mood of Beatrice in Sc. iv. How does Margaret's wit compare with that of Beatrice?

42. On what purpose bent did Dogberry and Verges (Sc. v.) visit the house of Leonato?

43. How does Sc. v. suggest a way by which the tragic consequences of the fourth Act might have been averted?

44. Yet is not the development of the plot at this point absolutely convincing? Is there an effect here of a postponed climax?

ACT FOURTH.

45. Comment on the art with which Shakespeare has made the conduct of Claudio at the altar tolerable from an artistic point of view.

46. What earlier situations are only sketched or reported that might have been brought into the action?

47. What causes Hero finally to swoon?

48. Who among the company believe in her innocence?

49. By what art does Shakespeare bring Benedick and Beatrice to the point of mutual avowal of love?

50. Comment on the difference between art and nature, using as a basis the long speech that Leonato delivers over the lifeless body of Hero.

51. What expedient is employed to gain time for proving the innocence of Hero?

52. Compare the Friar of this play with that in Romeo and Juliet.

53. What two things demand that the scene of vindication follow closely upon the scene of accusation?

54. State the problem that the resolution of the plot has to deal with.

ACT FIFTH.

55. What impression do the lamentations of Leonato make upon you?

56. Show how the case of Leonato suggests materials of tragic grief, and yet in actuality falls short of displaying it.

57. Describe the quarrel between Leonato and Claudio.

58. What is the bearing of Claudio in the encounter with Benedick?

59. In the banter of Claudio and Don Pedro, what echo is there of an earlier scene? Is this a dramatic expedient?

60. Where else in the last Act do you find use of such an expedient?

61. What art consistent with comedy makes Borachio untie the knot?

62. Define Dogberry's position in relation to the resolution of the plot.

63. Comment on Borachio's justification of Margaret (lines 307-309).

64. Define the episodic purpose of Sc. iii.

65. Outline the last Scene of the play.

66. Do the repentance of Claudio and Don Pedro, and the forgiveness of Leonato satisfactorily account for the change in the natural conclusion of the story?

67. Account for the happy ending.

68. Has Claudio proved worthy of the great gift that is bestowed upon him?

69. Comment upon the structural perfection of this play.

70. What about its adaptability to stage representation?