much ado about nothing? (the play. not the drama in my life.)?

Question

in act 2 scene 3, when does shakespeare reference the title of the play?

Answer 1

He doesn't reference the title of the play in that scene or any other. Shakespeare's comedies often had pretty generic titles: "As You Like It", "Comedy of Errors", "All's Well That Ends Well", "Measure for Measure".

"Twelfth Night" has no reference to Twelfth Night, and its subtitle is "What You Will", which is about as generic as you can possible make it.

(Much Ado is, nonetheless, my favorite of his comedies.)

Answer 2

In it's original pronunciation the title of the play would sound rather like "much ado about noting." And you will observe that the play has a great deal to do with "noting."

E.g. Benedick answers Claudio when asked if he noted Hero that he "saw her but noted her not."

One of the major themes of the play is how badly our eyes may fool us, and there is a great deal of overhearing and eavesdropping both accidental and deliberate. We are prepared for Claudio and Don Pedro's mistaking Hero by Claudio's earlier mistaking Pedro's intentions, and by the several overhearings of the Claudio/Pedro conversation regarding who is to woo Hero.

It is most significant at the end I think, that Claudio must marry Hero's substitute without seeing her. The play has proved that ones eyes may deceive, but the heart sees truely.

Answer 3

The only close reference I can find is when Balthasar sings. He is saying the ladies are getting upset and they shouldn't b/c men are men and all are cheaters and always will be.

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever;
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so,
But let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into Hey nonny, nonny.