SOURCE: Partee, Morriss Henry. “The Comic Equilibrium of Much Ado about Nothing.” Upstart Crow 12 (1992): 60-73.
In the following essay, Partee probes the thematic conflicts of Much Ado about Nothing by exploring the play's structural tensions between comedy and tragedy. The critic also examines the function of the Beatrice-Benedick subplot as a device that steers the story away from its more disturbing concerns—including adultery, illegitimacy, and sexual transgression—in order to highlight the play's themes of reconciliation, joy, and matrimony.
