Three techniques Shakespeare uses to convey his meaning in Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare conveys the meaning in each of his plays by making us live through it. It is an emotional encounter designed to illuminate the meaning within the depths of our inner being. The message of the play is not conveyed intellectually; it is experienced.

To truly imbibe the message of a Shakespearean play, we thus need to feel and breathe the life of the drama as though it were real. We must plunge ourselves fully into the action and live through the performance. It is learning through emotional participation, an encounter that always leaves a deeper impression than mere textbook learning. 

Much Ado About Nothing is a good illustration of how Shakespeare conveys the sage message for each of his plays. He consistently uses three techniques for this purpose, and this is true for practically all his plays:

1. Cohesive Unity

The meaning of a Shakespearean play resides in the experience of the entire play as a cohesive whole. While it is well recognized that a good short essay should be unified, Shakespeare extends this principle of unity to the entire play, so much so that there are no extraneous scenes in a Shakespearean play. Each play constitutes a tightly bound unit, carefully crafted to leave its impact as a single compact entity. We may call this characteristic quality—found in every Shakespearean play—a “cohesive unity” of meaning, since every part of the play contributes towards the central theme

2. Thematic Resonance

As each Shakespearean play imparts its message through our emotional experience, the central meaning is repeated many times throughout the play. The dominant themes of the play reverberate through the entire drama, like a long rolling thunder that often builds, from the beginning, to a resounding climax at the end. We may call this unique trait of ever-repeating motifs in Shakespeare’s plays “thematic resonance”—a technique of flooding our subconscious with an incessant flow of recurring impressions that convey the deeper meaning to our inner being.

3. Focused Allegorical Scenes

Another vital clue to the meaning of a Shakespearean play resides in scenes that do not directly contribute to the main action. Nonetheless, they are there for a specific reason for they contribute to the play’s central meaning. We shall call all these apparently extraneous scenes “focused allegorical scenes” because they artistically amplify the main themes of the play using symbolism, analogy or parody. These allegorical scenes can be called “focused” because they all contribute towards advancing the central message.

An excellent example of Shakespeare’s use of these three techniques can be found in Much Ado About Nothing, where the central theme can be summarized by three complementary motifs:

• Our partiality—attraction or aversion—is an arbitrary projection based on imputed qualities not inherent in the object of our feelings.
• Our feelings of liking or hating are often conjured up by a misperception of reality.
• These arbitrary feelings, born of misperception, often create unnecessary strife and turmoil, and hence “much ado about nothing.”

Because the message in the play is relatively uncomplicated, the thematic resonance of its main theme is literally relentless. This thematic resonance is the main method that Shakespeare uses in this play to establish its cohesive unity. 

In addition, the scenes involving Dogberry and company function as focused allegorical scenes that amplify the same central message allegorically through analogy and parody. The first focused allegorical scene we encounter in the play, however, is the masked ball, that again builds on the resonating theme. The masked ball symbolizes our usual mundane state, one of floundering around, unaware of the true situation.

The opening dialogues in the masked ball—between Hero and Don Pedro, Margaret and Balthasar, Ursula and Antonio—establish an atmosphere of groping in the dark, as each lady is unsure of the identity of her masked dancing partner. As in the real world, where ignorance prevails, errors begin to emerge.

We witness the first error when Beatrice dances with the masked Benedick, who pretends to be someone else. Beatrice disparages Benedick more severely than she would have intended, had she known the identity of the man she was addressing. It is an error born of ignorance, an unfortunate state we often find ourselves in, in the real world.

The next error from the masked ball is a variation of similar groping in the dark. Claudio traps himself by believing that Don John—who knows his real identity—has mistaken him for Benedick. Under the pretext of advising the supposed “Benedick” to dissuade Don Pedro from pursuing Hero, Don John works his mischief:

Don John: Signor, you are very near my brother in his love. He is enamored on Hero. I pray you, dissuade him from her. She is no equal for his birth. You may do the part of an honest man in it.

Don John poisons Claudio’s mind with jealous resentment by suggesting that his brother, Don Pedro, will be courting Hero for himself instead of doing it on behalf of Claudio. This misperception is, however, soon corrected with no lasting effect, making this episode inconsequential and almost redundant to the play … except that it does serve one real purpose. It is part of the thematic resonance on how our feelings may be conjured up by false perception.

Some of Shakespeare’s plays have an abundance of these apparently extraneous episodes, only they are not extraneous. They have definite purpose and are either part of the thematic resonance or serve as focused allegorical scenes, depicting symbolically the very theme the recurring motifs present.

This is the mystical art of Shakespeare in its element. We are immersed in the message reverberating without respite. The recurring leitmotifs play on our hidden depths, like music with an ever-resounding echo, weaving through our train of thoughts in a lyrical dance that pulls the strings of our subconscious. This is why Shakespeare’s plays have such a mesmerizing effect on so many. They touch something archetypal and deep within us.

If we understand Shakespeare’s intended meaning consciously, the effect may even be enhanced, for the ever-resonating motifs, surging and receding repeatedly, may grip our consciousness in a way that guides us towards a thematic stirring of our inner being.