Cunningham 1!

Esther Cunningham
Dr. Foster
Engl 384
9 October 2013

Sigh No More: The Use of Song in Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing

One of Shakespeares most famous songs is the song he gives to the character Balthasar
in Much Ado About Nothing. This song begins the humorous trap that Don Pedro, Leonato and
Claudio lay for the happily unmarried Benedick with this song. Sigh no more ladies, the
princes man sings (II.iii.59), calling women everywhere to leave sorrowing over inconstant men
behind since the men have always been and always will be unable to commit to one
thing (II.iii.62). Every director who attempts an adaptation of this play to film must decide how
to incorporate these lyrics into the final product or risk the wrath of Shakespearean critics and
fans around the world. Different directors have taken different approaches to including this song
but they all had to consider the importance of the lyrics to the entirety of the play before they
decided how to incorporate the song. For some, like Joss Whedon, the song charms the audience
as the pretty ditty and the unassuming musical element fall deftly on the audiences ear. For
others, like director Kenneth Branagh, the song reveals a theme of the work. However, it is also
possible that the song is meant to be more than a comment on the play as a whole or merely
pleasant but relatively unimportant background music. This song can also be seen as a comment
about Beatrice and Benedicks past relationship and another motivation for Benedick to confess
his love to his witty lady.
Joss Whedon, in his 2013 film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, completely cuts

Cunningham 2!

the character of Balthasar from the story, viewing him as glorified minstrel whose role can be
filled by others. And though the singer is replaceable, the song is not.
Whedon chose to use the song as ambience music for the masked ball. Sigh no more,
ladies, sigh no more,/Men were deceivers ever, croons the sultry voice of the woman by the
piano. The camera pans to various parts of the party, showing acrobats twirling around on a
trapeze in a tree, the masked revelers in varying states of sobriety and the four main lovers, Hero,
Claudio, Beatrice, and Benedick. Over the music, a masked Don Pedro woos gentle Hero on
behalf of Claudio while a bitter Beatrice capitalizes on the protections that the masks offer as a
means to torment bewildered Benedick. None of the rest of the party goers attend to the lyrics
they hear. They are too fixed on their own intrigues to consider the subtle warnings carried in the
words sung.
Whedon follows John Longs approach to this light-hearted song (Long 120), treating it
as if it serves no dramatic function other than to reflect the light and humorous spirit of the
scene in which it is placed (Long 125). The arrangement of this song shows that Whedon does
not expect the audience to understand the lyrics as an insight into the interpretation of the entire
play. The music does not encourage the audiences to treat the song as a vital part of the film.
The score is light and jazzy, the sort of music played in a coffee house where the patrons focus
on their conversations or their work while the singer croons softly and soothingly behind them.
What the singer says is not important, the song is simply pleasant to hear.
While this approach to the song allows for an air of lightheartedness throughout the
movie, it also limits the levels of irony contained in the song. Moving the placement of the song
from the scene where the men entrap Benedick to the masked ball changes the effect of the song

Cunningham 3!

on the audience. The song in Whedons film is merely background music, something pretty to
listen to but not crucial to comprehend because the audience should rather focus their attention
on the visual images on the screen.
In his 1993 film, Kenneth Branagh repeats Balthasars song as a recurring theme
throughout the movie, a theme of mans inability to commit to one woman. He treats the song
with a breezy air, allowing it to encourage a feeling of light comedy. Unlike Whedon who made
the lyrics a secondary element of the scene, Branagh chooses to present the lyrics of the song on
a black screen before the audience sees the shots of the sweeping summer Tuscan countryside in
the opening scene of the movie. Emma Thompson as Beatrice recites the poem in a tone that
mocks the foolish women who weep over the injuries from inconstant and unfaithful men while a
group of people in fresh linen clothing laugh airily at her recitation.
But this is not the only appearance of the song in Branaghs film. The song also comes in
the same place in the movie that it appears in the script, when Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato
deceive Benedick into believing that Beatrice loves him with an enraged affection (III.ii.95).
Balthasar, there to perform whenever the prince wishes, sings while, throughout the garden,
workers slowly join in to accompany him. The song is sweet and tender, gentle and soothing. Its
melody repeats the music that was played beneath Beatrices reading of the text at the opening of
the movie. Benedick peeps out from the hedges to better hear the music and, as soon as the
ballad finishes, breaks the peaceful, romantic mood with a derogatory comment about the singer.
Benedick is unable to let himself linger in his emotions, he must immediately revert back to his
defense of witty rejoinders.
The third and final time this song resurfaces in Branaghs film is at the very end when the

Cunningham 4!

two couples leave to dance before their weddings. With everyone rejoicing in the restorations,
Balthasar considers this the perfect opportunity to revisit the song. As the couples enter the
house, Balthasar and the rest of the crowd cannot but burst into Sigh No More as they follow
the four lovers inside, leaving the audience outside wondering if these men will indeed prove
faithful so that their ladies can sigh no more.
Unlike Whedons light and airy treatment of the song, Branagh assigns great weight to
the lyrics. He returns to the song at important places in the movie: the beginning, the middle and
the end. He wants his audience to grasp the full import of the song. He wants them to
understand that this song condenses Shakespeares whole play into a few lines. But the song is
not actually able to withstand that pressure. Though in the script the song is more than coffee
house ambience music, it is not quite the central theme of the play. Branagh, by emphasizing
this song so much, has made the audience feel like the movie is centered around this song.
Branagh treats the song as something tender and soothing. In his film, the song consoles
the women hurt by inconstant men. Yet that is not the tone of Shakespeares words. The lyrics
also have a cheekiness to them. They do not rebuke the men for their inconstancy, infidelity and
lack of commitment. Instead, they focus on the womens ridiculous response. In a sense, the
song beckons the women to come out and play, to put their cares behind them in favor of being
blithe and bonny (II.iii.64). There should be a sense of humor when this song is presented
then. A sense that, though the song conveys some deeper truths about the characters lives, the
song is at the same time poking fun of their foolishness.
Beatrice and Benedicks prior history, their interactions before the pages of the play,
Shakespeare left open to the audiences and the actors imaginations. He scattered clues to the

Cunningham 5!

general nature of their relationship without leaving any details. One example of this is when
Beatrice explains to Don Pedro that she truly has lost the heart of Signor Benedick (II.i.
240-241) because Benedick had lent it me awhile (II.i.242). Yet, in the next line Beatrice
seems to turn the blame back to Benedick claiming once before he won it of me with false dice
(II.i.242-243). The it in context seems to be Beatrices own heart yet the previous it (line
242) clearly refers to Benedicks heart. This passage highlights the complexity of Beatrice and
Benedicks past. Both feel that the other wronged them before, both are still operating from the
bitterness of prior hurt.
The phrase false dice (II.i.244) seems to imply that Benedick displayed some sort of
inconsistency, essentially that he exposed his portion of the fraud of men that Balthasar sings
about later in the play (II.iii.69). Beatrice, unlike the ladies of the song, did not chose to sigh
but rather let [him] go (II.iii.63) and continued blithe and bonny,/converting all [her] sounds
of woe into hey nonny, nonny (II.iii.63-64), or rather into a merry war (I.i.51) with the one
who deceived her. It is not absurd to imagine that Don Pedro and Claudio, two of Benedicks
closest friends, or Leonato, the uncle and protector of Beatrice, would have had some sort of
knowledge of the past between the two. And if the three trappers did know even just the general
background, or even just what Beatrice told the duke, then Don Pedro could easily have
requested Balthasar, his minstrel, to perform a song that incorporated elements of Beatrice and
Benedicks story. Richmond Noble believes this as well and even goes as far as to claim that
Balthasar is in the conspiracy against Benedicks single state (Noble 64).
If all that is true, then the song is neither a commentary on the play as a whole nor pretty
background music meant to charm its hearers, but rather an added incentive for Benedick to

Cunningham 6!

commit to Beatrice and to pursue her determinedly. Don Pedro comments after Balthasar is
finished singing, By my troth a good song (II.iii.72), which can mean either he is
complementing Balthasar on a pretty arrangement or that he is drawing attention to the story
contained in the song. Benedick does not want to admit to himself that the song touched him and
so he starts to make biting remarks about the quality of the singers voice (II.iii.76-79).
Benedick cannot allow himself to even comment on the words because they strike close to his
own experience and so he must find something else to disparage.
Benedick and Beatrice steal the show in Much Ado. Audiences want the merry war
betwixt the two (I.i.51) to come to a peaceful end. They laugh at the confusion caused by all
the trickery. They gasp when something so lighthearted has unexpected depth. Both Whedon
and Branagh in their film adaptations sought to satisfy their audiences expectations and that can
be seen with how they use Balthasars song. Whedon uses it as a part of a party playlist,
background music to set the mood. Branagh uses it as a tender, thoughtful ballad meant to
console women while also revealing the themes of the play. In his script, however, Shakespeare
uses the song in both of those ways as well. However they are meant to be secondary uses to
moving the plot and convicting Benedick of his past injuries to Beatrice. Benedick may not have
actually learned his lesson though. For, even though at the end of the play he is reunited with his
Beatrice, his response to those that mock him for leaving behind his beloved bachelorhood could
have come straight out of Balthasars song, Man is a giddy thing, and this is my
conclusion (V.iv.109-110), leaving us wondering if he will make Beatrice a proper husband.

Cunningham 7!

Works Cited
Long, John H. Shakespeare's Use of Music: A Study of the Music and Its Performance in the
Original Production of Seven Comedies. Gainesville: University of Florida, 1955. Print.
Noble, Richmond Samuel Howe. Shakespeare's Use of Song: With the Text of the Principal
Songs. Oxford: Oxford UP, Humphrey Milford, 1923. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. New York: Modern Library Paperback, 2009.
Print.