Episode 34 - Much Ado About Nothing

One of Shakespeare's most beloved and often-produced plays, Much Ado About Nothing is a very Elizabethan story about men and women, and the lies they're told about each other. Featuring the beloved template for your hosts, Benedick and Beatrice are two of the most accessible characters to modern viewers, and their relationship has become the template for many other relationships of the more liberal ages that followed Shakespeare's world.

Join us for a conversation about those two characters, the preoccupations with fidelity and chastity evident in the play, and the limitations of Shakespeare in representing the reality of relationships between men and women.

Ancient Bickerings:

This week's ancient bickerings is a very simple one: Are Beatrice and Benedick truly in love or is it simply a ruse? Or to put it another way, does the deception used to bring them together reveal their existing love for one another or create it wholecloth?