WorkWilliam Shakespeare

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598–99; First Folio 1623), Inferred

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) · c. 1598–99; First Folio 1623

InferredHudspeth identified this passage from *Much Ado About Nothing* (III.ii.70–73) appears nearly verbatim in Fuller's text, where she quotes Benedick's words to illustrate how audiences and public opinion are captured in Shakespeare's term "hobby horses." Fuller extends the reference into her own analysis, applying it to gatherings "in hall of state, saloon, or lecture-room." In engagement with William Shakespeare's *Much Ado About Nothing*, Margaret Fuller remarks upon seeing a performance, noting she derived "no more pleasure from Miss K's acting out the part than I have done in reading it." This statement indicates her prior familiarity with the play, suggesting she had already encountered Beatrice's character in print before attending the theatrical production, which she implicitly equates to the role Miss Kemble portrayed.

AnalyzedQuotedReadMentioned

Documented 1840

Additional passages preserved in the Memoirs (1852)

Letters

Selected engagements, in chronological order.

Totals count documented engagements, once at the earliest witness. How we count →

Reprints, Memoirs passages, and repeat notes within a single manuscript are shown but never counted twice. Evidence for this work is selective, not exhaustive. Methodology →

DemonstratedConfirmed reading1840Evidence ↓

Confirmed reading

Passages where the evidence goes beyond allusion to indicate that Fuller had this work in hand — an explicit statement of reading, sustained excerpting or translation, or a specific reading episode recorded by those who knew her.

Dated
1840Much Ado About NothingDemonstrated
“Old Signior, walk aside with me. I have studied eight or nine wise words to speak with you, which these hobby horses must not hear.”
Letters of Margaret Fuller ed. Hudspeth · 20 Jan 1840
A two-sentence verbatim quotation from Much Ado About Nothing is substantial enough to imply the text was consulted directly.

When Fuller engaged with this work

I. Childhood

II. Adolescence

III. Self-Directed

IV. Transcendentalist1record

V. New York

VI. Europe

✦. Memoirs (1852)1record

1810

1820

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1836

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1846

1850

1840—

Letter to Ralph Waldo Emerson

p115

analyzed · quoted · read

“Old Signior, walk aside with me. I have studied eight or nine wise words to speak with you, which these hobby horses must not hear.”

Fuller, Margaret. The Letters of Margaret Fuller. Edited by Robert N. Hudspeth. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984.

Inferred Hudspeth identified this passage from Much Ado About Nothing (III.ii.70–73) appears nearly verbatim in Fuller's text, where she quotes Benedick's words to illustrate how audiences and public opinion are captured in Shakespeare's term "hobby horses." Fuller extends the reference into her own analysis, applying it to gatherings "in hall of state, saloon, or lecture-room."

Preserved in the Memoirs (1852)

1852—

Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli

p249

analyzed · read

“I received no more pleasure from Miss K's acting out the part than I have done in reading it”

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, William Henry Channing, and James Freeman Clarke, eds. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. 2 vols. Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852.