Literature: High School: 9th and 10th Grade Quiz - Much Ado About Nothing - Understanding the Text (Questions)

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See how well you understand the text in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare by playing this enjoyable high school English Literature quiz. Much Ado About Nothing was written over four hundred years ago. The form of English in which it is written is known as “Early Modern”, which makes it sound as though it ought to be easy. You will have noticed, of course, that this is not the case. Sometimes the spelling is rather different, sometimes the words are unfamiliar, and very often the jokes are not easily understood unless they are first explained. It is worth persevering, however. Much Ado About Nothing is full of delightfully clever play with words, especially between Beatrice and Benedick. Reading slowly, reading sections more than once and reading aloud will certainly help with comprehension.

This play really is about not very much at all. Two couples get married: one pair have to be tricked into it, another have to make two attempts before the wedding actually takes place. Otherwise, there is a fair amount of gossip, some dancing and an attempt by “evil” Don John to disrupt society. The play becomes somewhat stifling, however, as every character is watched and commented upon by the other characters.

As you would with any other text, pay close attention to the methods and techniques which have been used to convey meaning. Devote some time to analyzing character, setting, plot, theme and dialog. Your comprehension of the text works on several levels simultaneously. Consider the sequence of events, especially paying attention to scenes that you observe and scenes which are merely reported by characters. Do you almost feel as if you have witnessed the incident at Hero’s window, even though the audience only hears a second-hand account?

It is always useful to create a timeline of events, which will help you to picture the structure of the play. Events occur chronologically in this play and take place over very few days. The action is rather condensed. Creating act and scene summaries will help you remember and better understand the text.

Analyzing beginnings and endings will be a great benefit to your understanding of the play. Consider possible reasons for the play beginning as it does. What do we learn in the first scene? What do you learn about previous events? Do we know anything about the characters and, if we do, how do we learn it? Are future events foreshadowed? How is this accomplished? Analyze individual acts and scenes in the same way. Undertaking detailed analysis of this sort will really increase your knowledge and understanding of the text!

Read the questions below on Much Ado About Nothing and test your knowledge and understanding of the text.

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1. Don Pedro, Claudio and Benedick have come to Messina from where?
[ ] Rome
[ ] Greece
[ ] Hunting
[ ] War
2. How are Beatrice and Hero related?
[ ] They are cousins
[ ] They are sisters
[ ] They are merely friends
[ ] They are new acquaintances
3. What does the audience learn from Beatrice and Benedick's first conversation in Act One, Scene One?
[ ] Both characters are quick with language
[ ] Beatrice and Benedick enjoy insulting one another
[ ] The two characters have a shared past
[ ] All of the above
4. After Claudio decides that he is in love with Hero, how does Don Pedro propose to help him?
[ ] He will ask Beatrice to mention the idea of marriage to Hero
[ ] He will disguise himself as Claudio in order to woo Hero
[ ] He will disguise himself as Claudio in order to ask Leonato for permission to marry his daughter
[ ] He will create an opportunity for Claudio and Hero to be alone together
5. Which of the following is NOT correct?
[ ] Don John hopes to disrupt the friendship between Don Pedro and Claudio
[ ] Don John mistakes Claudio for Benedick when he asks him to dissuade Don Pedro from loving Hero
[ ] Don John leads Claudio to believe that Don Pedro has betrayed him
[ ] Don John leads Claudio to believe that Hero has betrayed him
6. How do Don John and Borachio conspire to deceive Don Pedro and Claudio?
[ ] They persuade Hero to confess to Claudio that she does not love him
[ ] They bring Don Pedro and Claudio a letter which they falsely claim has been written by Hero
[ ] They set up an elaborate act of deception in which another woman pretends to be Hero engaged in an act of unfaithfulness
[ ] They demonstrate to Don Pedro and Claudio that Hero is truly in love with another man
7. How do Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato persuade Benedick that Beatrice loves him?
[ ] They bring Benedick a forged love letter
[ ] They encourage Beatrice to declare her love as part of a dare
[ ] They trick Beatrice into declaring her love when she believes no one else to be listening
[ ] They purposefully allow Benedick to overhear them discussing Beatrice's love for him
8. How is Don John's deception discovered?
[ ] Borachio and Conrad are arrested by the watchman
[ ] Don John confesses his plot just before the wedding is due to take place
[ ] Beatrice and Benedick discover the truth from Borachio
[ ] Leonato insists that there must be some mistake and that his daughter is innocent
9. Who does NOT accuse Hero at the altar?
[ ] Leonato
[ ] Claudio
[ ] The Friar
[ ] Don Pedro
10. Why do Leonato, Beatrice and Benedick pretend that Hero is dead?
[ ] To allow time for the gossip about her to die down
[ ] To allow time to discover the truth
[ ] To prompt Claudio to feel sorrowful over his behavior
[ ] All of the above
Literature: High School: 9th and 10th Grade Quiz - Much Ado About Nothing - Understanding the Text (Answers)
1. Don Pedro, Claudio and Benedick have come to Messina from where?
[ ] Rome
[ ] Greece
[ ] Hunting
[x] War
The messenger who brings news of their arrival reports that the battles have been a success
2. How are Beatrice and Hero related?
[x] They are cousins
[ ] They are sisters
[ ] They are merely friends
[ ] They are new acquaintances
Beatrice is an orphan, a status which gives her some independence in contrast to Hero
3. What does the audience learn from Beatrice and Benedick's first conversation in Act One, Scene One?
[ ] Both characters are quick with language
[ ] Beatrice and Benedick enjoy insulting one another
[ ] The two characters have a shared past
[x] All of the above
The first conversation between these two characters ends with Beatrice remarking that Benedick has not changed: "You always end with a jade's trick. I know you of old"
4. After Claudio decides that he is in love with Hero, how does Don Pedro propose to help him?
[ ] He will ask Beatrice to mention the idea of marriage to Hero
[x] He will disguise himself as Claudio in order to woo Hero
[ ] He will disguise himself as Claudio in order to ask Leonato for permission to marry his daughter
[ ] He will create an opportunity for Claudio and Hero to be alone together
Don Pedro seems to like being a matchmaker, a role he later plays with Benedick and Beatrice
5. Which of the following is NOT correct?
[ ] Don John hopes to disrupt the friendship between Don Pedro and Claudio
[x] Don John mistakes Claudio for Benedick when he asks him to dissuade Don Pedro from loving Hero
[ ] Don John leads Claudio to believe that Don Pedro has betrayed him
[ ] Don John leads Claudio to believe that Hero has betrayed him
Don Pedro is doubly duplicitous when he addresses Claudio as Benedick in order to give himself a semblance of honesty and he plants the first seed of doubt in the young man's mind by implying that Don Pedro is wooing Hero for himself
6. How do Don John and Borachio conspire to deceive Don Pedro and Claudio?
[ ] They persuade Hero to confess to Claudio that she does not love him
[ ] They bring Don Pedro and Claudio a letter which they falsely claim has been written by Hero
[x] They set up an elaborate act of deception in which another woman pretends to be Hero engaged in an act of unfaithfulness
[ ] They demonstrate to Don Pedro and Claudio that Hero is truly in love with another man
Hero's servant Margaret plays the role of Hero. The two men spying through the bedroom window believe they have witnessed Hero being unfaithful to Claudio the night before the wedding is due to take place
7. How do Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato persuade Benedick that Beatrice loves him?
[ ] They bring Benedick a forged love letter
[ ] They encourage Beatrice to declare her love as part of a dare
[ ] They trick Beatrice into declaring her love when she believes no one else to be listening
[x] They purposefully allow Benedick to overhear them discussing Beatrice's love for him
Rather convincingly, the men discuss Beatrice's usual crossness as a defense against Benedick's own habit of mockery
8. How is Don John's deception discovered?
[x] Borachio and Conrad are arrested by the watchman
[ ] Don John confesses his plot just before the wedding is due to take place
[ ] Beatrice and Benedick discover the truth from Borachio
[ ] Leonato insists that there must be some mistake and that his daughter is innocent
The watchman catches Borachio and Conrad after the deception has taken place, but the truth does not come out in time to prevent Hero from being disgraced at the altar
9. Who does NOT accuse Hero at the altar?
[ ] Leonato
[ ] Claudio
[x] The Friar
[ ] Don Pedro
Hero, a very young woman, is faced at the altar with accusations by several older and more powerful men: Don Pedro, Claudio and her own father. Even the shameless Don John, full aware of her innocence, blames her
10. Why do Leonato, Beatrice and Benedick pretend that Hero is dead?
[ ] To allow time for the gossip about her to die down
[ ] To allow time to discover the truth
[ ] To prompt Claudio to feel sorrowful over his behavior
[x] All of the above
The pretend death is proposed by the Friar. When Claudio later marries Hero, he at first believes that he marries a cousin of hers in order to make amends for causing Hero's death with the false accusations