How Much Ado About Nothing drew on Metamorphoses
A documented line of influence: William Shakespeare demonstrably engaged Ovid’s work. The commentary below is Gröblé’s, verbatim from each work’s page.
The source
Metamorphoses
Ovid · 8
Ancient RomeThe influenced
Much Ado About Nothing
William Shakespeare · c. 1598
ShakespeareRelevance
5/10
On Much Ado About Nothing’s page
- The classical wit flying between Beatrice and Benedick is stitched from Ovid — the Hercules and Omphale gibes draw directly on the Metamorphoses
- Even 'Hero' is an Ovidian name, pulled from his tradition of the abandoned woman
- Shakespeare read Ovid in Latin and in Golding's 1567 translation; reading the Metamorphoses first lets you hear how deep that classical seam runs under the comedy
On Metamorphoses’s page
- Ovid's myth-bank stocks the play's quick wit — its Hercules-and-Omphale and labors-of-Hercules jokes come straight from the Metamorphoses
- Even the heroine's name is Ovidian: 'Hero' belongs to the abandoned-woman tradition Ovid worked again and again
- Shakespeare knew it both in Latin and in Golding's 1567 English, and pours that reading into the masked-ball sparring