Episode 262: “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Acts 2 & 3

Welcome back to our series on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing here on The Literary Life Podcast. Our hosts, Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks, open the episode with some thoughts on disguises and appearance versus reality in Shakespeare. They talk about how the eavesdropping in this play works together with the things not being as they seem. Angelina shares some clarifying ideas on discussing characters and their function in the story without pulling them out of the story and psychoanalyzing them. Other topics they discuss in this episode are: the importance of the song lyrics in this play, Dogberry and his companions, Claudio’s instability, and the shape of comedy. Join us next week for the final two acts of Much Ado About Nothing. To see the full show notes for this episode, including links to resources mentioned this week, please visit https://www.theliterary.life/262. 

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Not just book chat! The Literary Life Podcast is an ongoing conversation about the skill and art of reading well and the lost intellectual tradition needed to fully enter into the great works of literature. Experienced teachers Angelina Stanford and Thomas Banks (of www.HouseOfHumaneLetters.com) join lifelong reader Cindy Rollins (of www.MorningtimeForMoms.com) for slow reads of classic literature, conversations with book lovers, and an ever-unfolding discussion of how Stories Will Save the World. And check out our sister podcast The Well Read Poem with poet Thomas Banks.