Author Information
Sheldon P. Zitner is an emeritus professor at Trinity College, University of Toronto. He has extensively written about Renaissance literature, including a recently published book study on "What You Will."

Summary
Brimming with witty dialogue between Beatrice and Benedick, "Much Ado About Nothing" is one of Shakespeare's most entertaining and theatrically successful comedies. This edition offers a newly edited text and an exceptionally helpful and critically aware introduction. With a particular focus on the analysis of the play's secondary characters, Sheldon P. Zitner discusses Shakespeare's transformation of his source material. He reconsiders the attitudes towards gender relations that underlie the comedy and shape its view of marriage, thus allowing for an openness of the play to reinterpretation by subsequent generations.