The Masked Dance in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

The Masked Dance in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

'Much Ado About Nothing' by William Shakespeare was written between

1596- 1599 and is set in the 15th century in Italy. When this play was

written, Italy was one of the world's main trading ports. People would

travel there to sell jewellery, spices and precious metals. Italy was

very popular and so many ideas were taken from Italy and introduced

into different countries, this is how masques became so popular and

spread throughout Europe. However, opera soon overtook the masques and

many people went to the opera instead.

Like all other comedies 'Much Ado About Nothing' is light-hearted,

cheerful and humorous and, as you might expect, has a happy ending.

The first reason for including a masked dance in the play is to engage

and sustain the interest of the audience.

A Shakespearean audience was extremely different from a modern day

audience. There would be 3 different areas of the theatre; there would

be the lower class that would have to stand up at the front, there

were the middle class who had benches and then there were the upper

class that had rooms along the wall. The lower class audience could

get loud and disruptive; they were known to throw apples on stage and

heckle with the actors if they were not enjoying the play. They also

felt it acceptable to excrete on the floor. There would be many

thieves who would loiter around and cut people's purse straps. A

modern day audience is very different from the Shakespearean audience

in that they stay quiet and still during the performance and there was

no seating differences between classes.

The masked dance was...

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In the end, it does not matter how or why two people are drawn to each

other. It does not matter what stumbling blocks are thrown in their

way, whether those blocks be malicious plots of one's own stubborn

will. Love conquers all, and any attempt to stand in love's path is

simply a lot of fuss with no chance of success. (Much Ado About

Nothing).

So why does Shakespeare use the dramatic device of a masked dance? For

three reasons, to engage and sustain the interest of the audience,

create hidden and mistaken identities and to move the plot on. If

Shakespeare had not incorporated a masked dance in 'Much Ado About

Nothing' then it would have been extremely hard to maintain the

audience's attention. I think the masked dance was a great idea and

succeeded in catching and maintaining the attention of the audience.