

Episode 262: “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare, Acts 2 & 3
Disguises and Deception
- Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing explores disguises and appearance versus reality.
- Eavesdropping and deceptive appearances intertwine throughout the play.
Effortless Comedy
- Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing appears effortless, showcasing his mastery of comedy.
- The play features minimal poetry except in key scenes, reflecting confidence and leisure.
Pride and Prejudice Revelations
- Angelina Stanford shares her experience of rereading Pride and Prejudice multiple times and still finding new insights.
- This exemplifies how classic literature continually offers fresh perspectives with each reading.











































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.