Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)
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Beatrice is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. In the play, she is the niece of Leonato and the cousin of Hero. Atypically for romantic heroines of the sixteenth century, she is feisty and sharp-witted; these characteristics have led some scholars to label Beatrice a protofeminist character. During the play, she is tricked into falling in love with Benedick, a soldier with whom she has a "merry war", after rumours are spread that they are in love with each other.
A stipple engraving of Beatrice by Alessandro Zaffonato (1795)
Ellen Terry (right) as Beatrice c. 1870
Margaret Leighton (right) as Beatrice on Broadway in 1959
Tracy Michelle Arnold as Beatrice in 2007 at the American Players Theater
Much Ado About Nothing
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Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599. The play was included in the First Folio, published in 1623.
The title page from the first quarto edition of Much Adoe About Nothing, printed in 1600
John Gielgud as Benedick in a 1959 production
A painting of Beatrice by Frank Dicksee, from The Graphic Gallery of Shakespeare's Heroines
Swooning of Hero in the Church scene by Alfred Elmore