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- Title
"Sigh no more ladies"-- the Song in Much Ado About Nothing: Shakespeare and Branagh Deliver Aural Pleasure.
- Authors
Sheppard, Philippa
- Abstract
The article focuses on the preoccupation with women's chastity as highlighted in the plot and songs of the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. But Shakespeare also is concerned in this play with male chastity or fidelity, and while this motif is subtler than that of female fidelity, it nevertheless runs through the whole play and has its most obvious manifestation in the song, Sigh No More Ladies. The lyrics of the song serve to remind the audience that relationships between men and women are fraught with difficulties. They suggest that men and women are very different in their attitudes about love. The song portrays men as inconstant, with one foot in the sea and one on shore, whereas, by implication, women are naturally monogamous. Much of the play's original subtext contrasts sharply with the jubilant focus on romantic love in the text. The theme of female chastity emerges obsessively in the proliferation of cuckold jokes in the play. The song also may not be the best vehicle to convey what Branagh views as the moral of the play. In reviewing the reactions of critics, students, scholars to the song, both in the text and in performance, what emerges is that it is generally given less attention than it deserves.
- Subjects
CHASTITY; STORY plots; DRAMA; MUCH Ado About Nothing (Play : Shakespeare); SHAKESPEARE, William, 1564-1616; INTERPERSONAL relations
- Publication
Literature Film Quarterly, 2005, Vol 33, Issue 2, p92
- ISSN
0090-4260
- Publication type
Article