
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare · 1598-99 · Paper 1 Section A
AO Guide for Much Ado About Nothing
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Set in Messina after a military campaign, the play explores Elizabethan anxieties about female virtue, patriarchal honour codes, and the tension between public reputation and private feeling. Shakespeare wrote it c.1598–99 during a period of comedic experimentation, drawing on Italian sources while interrogating gender norms of his own society.