Quiz Guide: Ghose 89-121: Language through Time

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Romance

• Why, according to the text, do Beatrice and Benedick "face the world with laughter"?

Honor and Dishonor

• What "cult" is bound up with female sexuality? Explain.
• How does the exchange between Don Pedro and Balthasar demonstrate sprezzatura? How does it "conceal" the "actual relations of power"?
• How was the duel a Renaissance (or early modern) phenomenon? What factors contributed to its popularity?

Shame

• Why does Claudio decide to shame Hero publicly, and why does Don Pedro call her a "stale"?
• What is "startling" about Leonato's pronouns and imagery when Hero is disgraced?
• Give an example of Beatrice's "parallel clauses freighted with alliterative antonyms." What are these clauses designed to contrast?
• What is the possible purpose of the play's Hercules references, according to Ghose?
• How does Benedick's statement that "in a false quarrel there is no true honor" challenge the culture of honor?

Appearance and Reality

• Who "most famously" attacked "the ethical basis of Rhetoric"? How?
• How was the "criticism of eloquent language" linked to Shakespeare's own family and career?
• Ghose says Much Ado has contradictory beliefs about the link between appearance and reality. Explain with regard to Claudio and the Friar's interpretation of Hero's blushes.

Appearances and Power

• How do "theatrical devices" "unsettle" the apparent differences between Don Pedro and his brother?
• How are we shown that both Don Pedro and Don John are "outsiders"?

Metatheatricality

• Give an example of an "aspect of the play that draw[s] attention to its very nature as drama."