MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

1. Summary

1.1 Plot Overview

Leonato, a kindly, respectable nobleman, lives in the idyllic Italian town of Messina.
Leonato shares his house with his lovely young daughter, Hero, his playful, clever niece,
Beatrice, and his elderly brother, Antonio (who is Beatrice's father). As the play begins,
Leonato prepares to welcome some friends home from a war. The friends include Don
Pedro, a prince who is a close friend of Leonato, and two fellow soldiers: Claudio, a well-
respected young nobleman, and Benedick, a clever man who constantly makes witty
jokes, often at the expense of his friends. Don John, Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother, is
part of the crowd as well. Don John is sullen and bitter, and makes trouble for the others.
When the soldiers arrive at Leonato’s home, Claudio quickly falls in love with Hero.
Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice resume the war of witty insults that they have carried
on with each other in the past. Claudio and Hero pledge their love to one another and
decide to be married. To pass the time in the week before the wedding, the lovers and
their friends decide to play a game. They want to get Beatrice and Benedick, who are
clearly meant for each other, to stop arguing and fall in love. Their tricks prove successful,
and Beatrice and Benedick soon fall secretly in love with each other.
But Don John has decided to disrupt everyone’s happiness. He has his companion
Borachio make love to Margaret, Hero’s serving woman, at Hero’s window in the
darkness of the night, and he brings Don Pedro and Claudio to watch. Believing
that he has seen Hero being unfaithful to him, the enraged Claudio humiliates Hero
by suddenly accusing her of lechery on the day of their wedding and abandoning
her at the altar. Hero’s stricken family members decide to pretend that she died
suddenly of shock and grief and to hide her away while they wait for the truth about
her innocence to come to light. In the aftermath of the rejection, Benedick and
Beatrice finally confess their love to one another. Fortunately, the night watchmen
 overhear Borachio bragging about his crime. Dogberry and Verges, the heads of
the local police, ultimately arrest both Borachio and Conrad, another of Don John’s
followers. Everyone learns that Hero is really innocent, and Claudio, who believes
she is dead, grieves for her.
Leonato tells Claudio that, as punishment, he wants Claudio to tell everybody in
the city how innocent Hero was. He also wants Claudio to marry Leonato’s
“niece”—a girl who, he says, looks much like the dead Hero. Claudio goes to
church with the others, preparing to marry the mysterious, masked woman he
thinks is Hero’s cousin. When Hero reveals herself as the masked woman, Claudio
is overwhelmed with joy. Benedick then asks Beatrice if she will marry him, and
after some arguing they agree. The joyful lovers all have a merry dance before
they celebrate their double wedding.

1.1.1 Summary & Analysis

Act and Scene Summary Analysis Quotes

Act I, Scene I In the Italian town This opening scene [A]nd in such great
of Messina, the introduces all of the letters as they write
wealthy and kindly major characters, “Here is good horse
Leonato prepares as well as the play’s to hire” let them
to welcome home setting—Leonato’s signify under my
some soldier welcoming, friendly sign “Here you may
friends who are house in Messina. see Benedick, the
returning from a Don Pedro and the married man.”
battle. These others are just
friends include Don returning from a
Pedro of Aragon, a war in which they
highly respected have been
nobleman, and a victorious,
brave young soldier seemingly setting
named Claudio, the stage for a
who has won much relaxed, happy
honor in the comedy in which
fighting. Leonato’s the main characters
young daughter, fall in love and have
Hero, and her fun together. While
cousin, Beatrice, the play opens with
accompany him. a strong feeling of
Beatrice asks about joy and calm, the
the health of harmony of
another soldier in Messina is certainly
Don Pedro’s army, to be disturbed later
a man named on. Beatrice and
Signor Benedick. Benedick are
Beatrice cleverly perhaps
mocks and insults Shakespeare’s
Benedick. A most famously witty
messenger from characters; neither
Don Pedro defends ever lets the other
Benedick as an say anything
honorable and without countering it
virtuous man, but with a pun or
Leonato explains criticism. One
that Beatrice and notable
Benedick carry on a characteristic of
“merry war” of wits their attacks upon
with one another, each other is their
trading jibes ability to extend a
whenever they metaphor
meet. Beatrice throughout lines of
confirms this dialogue. When
statement, noting Benedick calls
that in their most Beatrice a “rare
recent conflict, “four parrot-teacher,”
of his five wits went Beatrice responds,
halting off, and now “A bird of my
is the whole man tongue is better
governed with one” than a beast of
(I.i.52–54). yours” (I.i.114).
Benedick continues
Don Pedro arrives the reference to
at Leonato’s house animals in his
with his two friends, response, saying, “I
Claudio and would my horse
Benedick, and they had the speed of
are joyfully your tongue”
welcomed. Also (I.i.115). It is as if
accompanying Don each anticipates the
Pedro is his quiet, other’s response.
sullen, illegitimate Though their insults
brother, Don John are biting, their
“the Bastard,” with ability to maintain
whom Don Pedro such clever,
has recently interconnected
become friendly sparring seems to
after a period of illustrate the
mutual hostility. existence of a
While Leonato and strong bond
Don Pedro have a
private talk, between them.
Beatrice and
Benedick take up Beatrice and
their war of wits. In Benedick have
an extremely fast- courted in the past,
paced exchange of and Beatrice’s
barbs, they insult viciousness stems
one another’s from the fact that
looks, intelligence, Benedick previously
and personality. abandoned her.
When Benedick When she insists
tells Beatrice that Benedick “set
proudly that he has up his bills here in
never loved a Messina and
woman and never challenged Cupid at
will, Beatrice the flight, and my
responds that uncle’s fool, reading
women everywhere the challenge,
ought to rejoice. subscribed for
Cupid,” she
Don Pedro tells describes a “battle”
Benedick, Claudio, of love between
and Don John that herself and
Leonato has invited Benedick that she
them all to stay with has lost (I.i.32–34).
him for a month, The result is what
and that Don Pedro Leonato describes
has accepted. as “a kind of merry
Everyone goes off war betwixt Sir
together except Benedick and
Claudio and [Beatrice]. They
Benedick. Claudio never meet but
shyly asks there’s a skirmish of
Benedick what he wit between them”
thinks of Hero, (I.i.49–51).
announcing that he
has fallen in love Another purpose of
with her. Benedick the dialogue
jokingly plays down between Benedick
Hero’s beauty, and Beatrice, as
teasing Claudio for well as that among
thinking about Benedick, Claudio,
becoming a tame and Don Pedro, is
husband. But when to explore the
Don Pedro returns complex
to look for his relationships
friends, Benedick between men and
tells him Claudio’s women. Both
secret, and Don Benedick and
Pedro approves Beatrice claim to
highly of the match. scorn love. As
Since Claudio is Benedick says to
shy and Leonato is Beatrice, “[I]t is
Don Pedro’s close certain I am loved
friend, Don Pedro of all ladies, only
proposes a trick: at you excepted. And I
the costume ball to would I could find it
be held that night, in my heart that I
Don Pedro will had not a hard
disguise himself as heart, for truly I love
Claudio and declare none” (I.i.101–104).
his love to Hero. He Benedick thus sets
will then talk with himself up as an
Leonato, her father, unattainable object
which should of desire. With her
enable Claudio to mocking reply that
win Hero without “I had rather hear
difficulty. Full of my dog bark at a
plans and crow than a man
excitement, the swear he loves
three friends head me,” Beatrice
off to get ready for similarly puts
the ball. herself out of reach
(I.i.107–108). Both
at this point appear
certain that they will
never fall in love or
marry.

Benedick’s disdain
for matrimony
arises again when
he realizes that
Claudio is seriously
contemplating
asking Hero for her
hand in marriage.
Until this point, all
the soldiers have
exhibited a kind of
 macho pride in
being bachelors,
but Claudio now
seems happy to
find himself falling
in love, and Don
Pedro rejoices in
his young friend’s
decision. Benedick
alone swears, “I will
live a bachelor”
(I.i.201). Don
Pedro’s teasing
rejoinder, “I shall
see thee ere I die
look pale with love.
. . . ‘In time the
savage bull doth
bear the yoke,’ ”
suggests his belief
that love does
conquer all, even
those as stubborn
as Benedick
(I.i.202–214).

Act I, scenes ii–iii Inside his house, Overhearing,

Leonato runs into plotting, and
his elder brother, misunderstanding
Antonio. Antonio occur frequently in
says that a servant Much Ado About
of his overheard Nothing, as
Don Pedro talking characters
with Claudio constantly
outside. The eavesdrop or spy
servant thinks that on other characters.
he overheard Don Occasionally they
Pedro professing learn the truth, but
his love for Hero more often they
and that he means misunderstand
to tell her that very what they see or
night, during the hear, or they are
dance, and then tricked into
ask Leonato himself believing what other
for Hero’s hand in people want them
marriage. to believe. In these
Obviously, Antonio scenes, Antonio’s
has misheard the servant and Don
truth: Claudio, not John’s associate
Don Pedro, loves both overhear the
Hero. Nevertheless, same conversation
the only part of the between Don Pedro
conversation and Claudio, but
Antonio has only Borachio
intercepted is that understands it
Don Pedro will woo correctly, while
Hero that evening. Antonio’s servant
Leonato’s prudent (and, consequently,
reply is that he will Antonio himself)
not consider the misunderstand. He
rumor to be true carries this
until his daughter is incorrect
actually courted. information onward,
But he declares that first to Leonato and
he will tell Hero then to Hero.
about it, so that she
may think about It appears that Don
what she wants to John has no strong
say in response to motive for the
Don Pedro, should villainy he commits
this bit of and that his actions
information prove are inspired by a
true. bad nature,
something he
acknowledges fully:
“though I cannot be
said to be a
flattering honest
man, it must not be
denied but I am a
plain-dealing villain”
(I.iii.23–25). Yet,
the fact that Don
John is Don
Pedro’s bastard
brother—that he is
of a much lower
station than Don
Pedro and
possesses little
chance of rising in
society because of
his bastard birth—
suggests that there
is more to his
behavior than his
evil character. He
most likely resents
Don Pedro, the
most powerful
figure in the play’s
social hierarchy, for
claiming the
authority and social
superiority of a
legitimate heir. His
jealousy of his
brother’s success is
most likely what
drives him to wreak
havoc on Claudio
and Don Pedro. His
insistence on
honesty in this
scene might appear
admirable, but he
lies to many people
later on, casting his
statements here
about being
harmless into
doubt.

To understand Don
John’s claim of
natural evil, we
should remember
that he stands in a
very difficult
position. As the
illegitimate brother
(or half-brother) of
Don Pedro, Don
John is labeled “the
Bastard.”
Illegitimate sons of
noblemen found
themselves in a
tricky position in
Renaissance
England. Often,
their fathers
acknowledged them
and gave them
money and an
education, but they
could never be their
fathers’ real heirs,
and they were often
excluded from
polite society and
looked upon with
disdain. In plays,
bastard sons were
sometimes admired
for their
individualism,
enterprise, and
courage, but in
Shakespeare’s
works, their anger
about their unfair
exclusion often
inspires them to
villainy. Like
Edmund in
Shakespeare’s
tragedy King Lear,
Don John seems to
be a villain at least
in part because he
is a bastard, and
like Edmund he is
determined to cross
his legitimate
brother in any way
that he can.

In Much Ado About

Nothing, Don John
is in the difficult
position of having to
behave well and
court favor with his
more powerful
brother, Don Pedro,
while at the same
time being excluded
from the privileges
Don Pedro enjoys
because of his
illegitimacy. Don
John is bitter about
the restrictions
imposed upon him:
“I am trusted with a
muzzle, and
enfranchised with a
clog. Therefore I
have decreed not to
sing in my cage”
(I.iii.25–27). He
complains, in
essence, that he is
not trusted at all
and not given any
freedom; he rails
against the
constraints of his
role, refusing to
 “sing” in his “cage,”
or make the best of
things. Instead, he
seems to want to
take out his
frustrations by
manipulating and
hurting other people
for his own
amusement. Don
John’s claim that he
hates Claudio
because he is
jealous of Claudio’s
friendship with his
brother seems
questionable; it
seems more likely
that Don John
simply hates
anyone happy and
well liked and thus
wants to exact a
more general
revenge upon the
world.

Act II, scene i While Hero, This long scene [H]e that is more
Beatrice, Leonato, resolves the first of than a youth is not
and Antonio wait for the play’s important for me, and he that
the evening’s questions: whether is less than a man, I
masked ball to Claudio will receive am not for him.
begin, Hero and Hero’s consent to
Beatrice discuss love and marry her.
their idea of the When the two
perfect man—a lovers are finally
happy medium brought together,
between Don John, Claudio is too
who never talks, overwhelmed with
and Benedick, who joy to profess his
engages himself in love in elevated
constant banter. language, saying to
This exchange Hero simply,
leads into a “Silence is the
conversation about perfectest herald of
whether or not joy. I were but little
Beatrice will ever happy if I could say
get a husband, and how much”
Beatrice laughingly (II.i.267–268).
claims that she will While Claudio can
not. Leonato and find few words to
Antonio also remind express his joy,
Hero about their Hero can find none.
belief that Don Indeed, it is
Pedro plans to Beatrice who
propose to her that formalizes Hero’s
evening. The other return of Claudio’s
partygoers enter, love, commenting
and the men put on to Claudio, “My
masks. cousin [Hero] tells
Supposedly, the him [Claudio] in his
women now cannot ear that he is in her
tell who the men heart” (II.i.275–
are. The music 276). We never
begins, and the hear Hero’s
dancers pair off and acceptance of
hold conversations Claudio, but
while they dance. nonetheless we
Don Pedro’s know what occurs.
musician,
Balthasar, dances These two quiet
with Hero’s servant characters—
Margaret and old Claudio and Hero—
Antonio dances seem well matched,
with Hero’s other and Claudio’s
servant, Ursula. addressing of
Meanwhile, Don Beatrice as “cousin”
Pedro dances with confirms that he will
Hero and begins to soon marry into her
flirt with her. family (II.i.277).
Benedick dances Nonetheless, a
with Beatrice, who troubling element of
either does not Claudio’s character
recognize him or comes to light in
pretends not to. this scene. Don
She insults John’s attempt to
Benedick thwart the match
thoroughly to her has come to
dancing partner, nothing; although
saying that while he does manage to
Benedick thinks trick Claudio into
that he is witty believing that Don
others find him Pedro has betrayed
completely boring. him and is going to
marry Hero himself,
The music leads Claudio learns the
many of the truth before
dancers away into anything bad can
corners of the happen. But here
stage, creating we see that Claudio
various couplings. is prone to making
Don John, who has rash decisions. He
seen his brother is very quick to
Don Pedro courting believe that his
Hero, decides to friend has betrayed
make Claudio him, not even
jealous by making questioning Don
him think that Don John’s claims.
Pedro has decided Acknowledging that
to win and keep Don Pedro seems
Hero for himself to be wooing Hero
instead of giving for himself, Claudio
her to Claudio as declares that
he had promised.
Pretending not to Claudio’s readiness
recognize Claudio to believe that his
behind his mask, friend would betray
Don John him is disturbing,
addresses him as if and Don John’s
he were Benedick, plotting coupled
mentioning to him with Claudio’s
that, contrary to gullibility ominously
their plan, Don foreshadows worse
Pedro actually things to follow.
courts Hero for
himself and means Beatrice and
to marry her that Benedick continue
very night. their “merry war” of
wits with one
Claudio believes another, but it
Don John, and, seems to veer off
when the real course and turn into
Benedick enters a a much more hurtful
few moments later, competition. This
the angry and time, Beatrice gets
miserable Claudio the better of
rushes out. But Benedick while
when Don Pedro Benedick cannot
comes in along with defend himself.
Hero and Leonato, Dancing with him
Benedick learns during the ball,
that Don Pedro has while masked, she
been true to his insults Benedick by
word after all; he mocking his
has courted and “wittiness” and
won Hero for declaring his jokes
Claudio, not for boring. Beatrice’s
himself, just as he jabs at Benedick
promised. Benedick are psychologically
still remains bitter astute. We see how
about the nasty apt her comments
things Beatrice said are when Benedick
to him during the cannot stop
dance, so when repeating her words
Beatrice to himself later in
approaches with the scene.
Claudio, he begs Moreover, the fact
Don Pedro to send that Benedick begs
him on some Don Pedro
extremely arduous frantically to let him
errand rather than leave so he will not
be forced to endure have to talk to
her company. Don Beatrice suggests
Pedro laughingly that he finds her
insists that he stay, company not simply
but Benedick annoying but also
leaves anyway. damaging.

When Claudio Though Beatrice

returns, Don Pedro repeats in this
tells him that Hero scene her intention
has agreed to never to marry, her
marry him attitude seems a
(Claudio), and little changed. A
Leonato supports certain wistfulness
him. Claudio, marks her words as
overwhelmed, can she watches the
barely speak, but betrothal of Hero to
he and Hero Claudio: “Good
privately make their Lord, for alliance!
promises to one There goes
another. Beatrice everyone to the
half-seriously world but I, and I
remarks that she am sunburnt. I may
will never have a sit in a corner and
husband, and Don cry ‘Heigh-ho for a
Pedro offers himself husband!’” (II.i.278–
to her. Beatrice, 280). Beatrice jests,
comparing him to as always, but it is
fancy clothes, hard to tell how
replies that she seriously she takes
wishes she could this matter. Don
have him but that Pedro’s sudden
he would be too offer of himself to
lavish and valuable her in marriage also
for her to wear seems both
every day. After lighthearted and
Beatrice and serious, and
Benedick leave, Beatrice’s gentle
Leonato and rejection of him
Claudio discuss compels us to
when Claudio will wonder whether
marry Hero. she really does
Claudio wants the want to get married.
wedding to occur
the next day, but
Leonato decides on
the coming
Monday, only a
week away. Claudio
 regrets that the wait
will be so long, but
Don Pedro comes
up with a good way
to pass the time:
with the help of all
his friends, he will
design a plan to get
Beatrice and
Benedick to stop
arguing and fall in
love with one
another. He
secures the
promises of
Leonato, Claudio,
and Hero to help
him in the plan he
will devise.

Act II, scenes ii–iii The bitter and Don John’s malice By my troth it is no
wicked Don John resurfaces in Act II, addition to her wit—
has learned of the scene ii, as we see nor no great
upcoming marriage him plotting to split argument of her
of Claudio and Hero and Claudio. folly, for I will be
Hero, and he Once again, we horribly in love with
wishes that he must wonder about her.
could find a way to his motives, as his
prevent it. Don desire to hurt others
John’s servant so badly is
Borachio devises a inconsistent with his
plan. Borachio is claim to be a low-
currently the lover grade villain.
of one of Hero’s Borachio’s
serving women, statement that his
Margaret. He plan, if it succeeds,
suggests that Don is sure “to misuse
John go to Claudio the Prince, to vex
and Don Pedro and Claudio, to undo
tell them that Hero Hero, and kill
is not a virgin but a Leonato” makes it
whore, a woman clear that Don
who has willingly John’s schemes
corrupted her own have some darker
innocence before purpose in mind
her marriage and at (II.ii.24–25).
the same time
chosen to be In the Renaissance,
unfaithful to the the virginity of an
man she loves. In upper-class woman
order to prove this at the time of her
accusation, Don marriage carried a
John will bring Don great deal of
Pedro and Claudio importance for not
below the window only her own
of Hero’s room on reputation but also
the night before the for that of her family
wedding, where and her prospective
they should hide husband. Adultery,
and watch. On the unchaste behavior,
balcony outside or premarital sex in
Hero’s room, a noblewoman
Borachio will make could be a fighting
love to Margaret— matter—one that
whom he will have could spur a parent
convinced to dress to disown or even
up in Hero’s kill a daughter, a
clothing. The betrayed husband
watchers will then to murder his wife
see a woman who or rival, or a
resembles Hero defender to
making love with challenge a
Borachio, and will woman’s accuser to
thus believe Don a duel to the death
John’s claim that in order to clear her
Hero has been name. If the entire
false to Claudio. community were to
Very pleased with believe Hero
the plan, Don John unchaste, then her
promises Borachio honor, name, and
a large reward if he reputation would
can pull it off and suffer permanently;
prevent the planned Claudio would
wedding. suffer considerably
Meanwhile, more than simple
ignorant of the evil vexation; and the
that Don John stress might well
stealthily plots, “kill” Leonato. This
Benedick’s friends plot is far more than
enact their own a merely
benign trick to get troublesome game.
Benedick and
Beatrice to fall in Meanwhile, a
love. They know different kind of
that Benedick is trick occurs in the
currently wandering garden, as Leonato,
around in the Claudio, and Don
garden, wondering Pedro work
aloud to himself together to try to
how, although he convince Benedick
knows that love that Beatrice is in
makes men into love with him.
idiots, any Benedick, of
intelligent man can course,
fall in love. He unknowingly finds
ponders how himself caught in
Claudio can have the position of
turned from a plain- being the one
speaking, practical deceived. He
soldier into a believes that he is
moony-eyed lover. eavesdropping
Benedick thinks it upon his friends,
unlikely that he but, because they
himself will ever are aware of his
become a lover. presence, they
Suddenly, Benedick deliberately speak
hears Don Pedro, louder so that he
Claudio, and will hear them. It is
Leonato not difficult to
approaching, and imagine the
he decides to hide speakers—
among the trees in Leonato, Don
the arbor and Pedro, and
eavesdrop. Don Claudio—trying
Pedro and Claudio, hard to stifle their
noticing him there, laughter as they
confer quietly with speak in serious
each other and voices of Beatrice
decide it’s time to falling upon her
put their scheme knees, weeping,
into effect. They tearing her hair,
begin to talk loudly, and crying, “‘O
pretending that they sweet Benedick,
have just learned God give me
that Beatrice has patience’”
fallen in love with (II.iii.134–135).
Benedick.
Benedick, hidden in Don Pedro
the arbor, asks understands
himself in shock Benedick’s
whether this can psychology so
possibly be true. precisely that his
But Don Pedro, trick works on his
Leonato, and friend just as he
Claudio embellish hoped it would—
the story, talking upon hearing that
about how Beatrice is in love
passionately with him and that
Beatrice adores other people think
Benedick, and how he will be foolish
they are afraid that enough to turn her
her passion will down, Benedick
drive her insane or realizes that it is not
spur her to suicide. so difficult for him to
She dares not tell find it in his heart to
Benedick, they say, love Beatrice after
for fear that he all. In a speech
would make fun of memorable for both
her for it—since its humor and its
everyone knows emotional glimpse
what his mocking into Benedick’s
personality would genuinely generous
do. They all agree and compassionate
that Benedick heart, Benedick
would be a fool to decides that there
turn her away, for is no shame in
he currently seems changing his mind
unworthy of so fine about marriage,
a woman as and declares, “I will
Beatrice. be horribly in love
with her. . . . The
The others go in to world must be
have dinner, and peopled. When I
the amazed said I could die a
Benedick, emerging bachelor, I did not
from the arbor, think I should live till
plunges himself into I were married”
profound thought. (II.iii.207–215).
Don Pedro’s plan
has worked: By the time
Benedick decides Beatrice herself
that he will “take appears to order
pity” upon the him in to dinner,
beautiful, witty, and Benedick is so far
virtuous Beatrice by gone that he is able
loving her in return. to reinterpret all her
He has changed his words and actions
mind, and far from as professions of
wanting to remain her love for him—
an eternal bachelor, doubtless a
he now desires to hilarious scene for
win and marry the audience, since
Beatrice. Beatrice Beatrice is hostile
appears, having to Benedick, and
been sent out to the audience knows
fetch Benedick in to that she is not at all
dinner. She deals in love with him. But
as scornfully as the buoyant
usual with him, but Benedick can
he treats her with hardly wait to “go
unusual flattery and get her picture”—
courtesy. Confused that is, to go and
and suspicious, get a miniature
Beatrice mocks him portrait of her
again before (II.iii.232). Later on,
departing, but the Benedick even tries
infatuated Benedick his hand at writing a
interprets her words sonnet to Beatrice.
as containing Sonnets and
 hidden messages miniature portraits
of love, and he were the typical
happily runs off to accoutrements of
have a portrait the Renaissance
made of her so that lover, male or
he can carry it female. By carrying
around with him. around these
objects, Benedick
becomes a cliché of
Renaissance
courtship.

Act III, scenes i–ii In Leonato’s The trick that Hero

garden, Hero and Ursula play
prepares to trick upon Beatrice
Beatrice into works just as well
believing that as the one Don
Benedick loves her. Pedro and Claudio
With the help of her play upon Benedick
two waiting women, in the preceding
Margaret and scene, as Beatrice,
Ursula, she plans to just as Benedick
hold a conversation does, decides to
and let Beatrice stop resisting
overhear it—just as marriage and return
Don Pedro, her supposed
Leonato, and pursuer’s love.
Claudio have done Clearly, the friends
to trick Benedick in of these two
the previous scene. characters know
Margaret lures them well. The
Beatrice into the conversations that
garden, and when Benedick and
Hero and Ursula Beatrice are
catch sight of where allowed to overhear
she is hiding, they are psychologically
begin to talk in loud complicated,
voices. appealing to both
the characters’
Hero tells Ursula compassion and
that Claudio and their pride.
Don Pedro have Beatrice, like
informed her that Benedick, cannot
Benedick is in love help but be flattered
with Beatrice. to hear that her
Ursula suggests supposed enemy is
that Hero tell in fact dying for love
Beatrice about it, of her. But her
but Hero answers sensitive side has
that everybody been targeted: she
knows that Beatrice is disturbed to hear
is too full of that he is in such
mockery to listen to distress, and that
any man courting she herself is the
her—Beatrice cause. Moreover, it
would merely make seems likely that
fun of both Hero her pride is
and Benedick and wounded when she
break Benedick’s hears people say
heart with her that she has no
witticisms. compassion and
Therefore, she that she would
says, it will be mock a man in love
better to let poor instead of pitying
Benedick waste him. Just as
away silently from Benedick is moved
love than expose to prove the talkers
him to Beatrice’s wrong, so Beatrice
scorn. Ursula seems to be stirred
replies by to show that she
disagreeing with does have
Hero: Hero must be compassion and a
mistaken, because heart after all.
surely Beatrice is When Hero says,
too intelligent and “Therefore let
sensitive a woman Benedick, like
to reject Benedick. cover’d fire, /
After all, everybody Consume away in
knows that sighs, waste
Benedick is one of inwardly. / It were a
the cleverest and better death than
handsomest men in die with mocks,”
Italy. Hero agrees, Beatrice is
and goes off with motivated to “save”
Ursula to try on her poor Benedick and
wedding dress. also to show that
she is not heartless
After Hero and enough to be as
Ursula leave the cruel as Hero
garden, winking at seems to think she
each other because is (III.i.77–79).
they know they Of course, all of
have caught these complicated
Beatrice, Beatrice motivations in the
emerges from her friends’ plans to
hiding place among dupe Beatrice and
the trees. Just as Benedick into falling
Benedick is in love with one
shocked earlier, another relate to
Beatrice cannot the same essential
believe what she cause: their friends
has heard at first. are trying to make
Also, like Benedick, Beatrice and
she swiftly realizes Benedick realize
that it would not be that each, in his or
so difficult to “take her private heart,
pity” on her poor does have the
suitor and return his potential to love the
love. She knows other profoundly.
how worthy The tricks could
Benedick really is hardly work
and vows to cast off otherwise—
her scorn and pride Beatrice and
in order to love him Benedick both
back.Elsewhere, seem too mature
Don Pedro, and intelligent to be
Claudio, and deluded into
Leonato begin to thinking that they
tease Benedick are in love. Their
about his decision friends are simply
never to marry. trying to make them
Benedick realize that they
announces that he already love each
has changed, and other.
the others agree;
they have noticed Beatrice’s speech
that he is much at the end of the
quieter. They say scene is much
that he must be in shorter than
love and tease him Benedick’s in the
about it. But preceding one, but
Benedick is too the gist of it is the
subdued even to same. Profoundly
answer their jokes. affected by what
He takes Leonato she has heard, she
aside to speak with decides to allow
him. herself to change
As soon as Claudio her views about
and Don Pedro are marriage in order to
left alone, Don John accept Benedick.
approaches them. She has learned
He tells them that how others
he is trying to perceive her—
protect Don Pedro’s ”Stand I
reputation and save condemned for
Claudio from a bad pride and scorn so
marriage. Hero is a much?”—and has
whore, he says, decided to change
and Claudio should these perceptions:
not marry her. The “Contempt,
two are shocked, of farewell; and
course, but Don maiden pride,
John immediately adieu. / No glory
offers them proof: lives behind the
he tells them to back of such”
come with him that (III.i.109–111).
night to watch Now, she decides
outside Hero’s she will accept
window where they Benedick if he
will see her making courts her, “[t]aming
love to somebody my wild heart to thy
else. Claudio, loving hand”
already suspicious (III.i.113).
and paranoid,
resolves that if what In the next scene,
he sees tonight however, the
does indeed prove atmosphere grows
Hero’s dark. Don Pedro
unfaithfulness, he and Claudio’s merry
will disgrace her teasing of the
publicly during the subdued Benedick
wedding ceremony amuses, but Don
the next day, and John’s shocking
Don Pedro vows to accusation against
assist him. Hero suddenly
Confused, changes the mood
suspicious, and full from one of
of dark thoughts, rejoicing to one of
Claudio and Don foreboding. We also
Pedro leave with see Don Pedro and
Don John. Claudio’s
disturbingly quick
acceptance of Don
John’s word about
Hero’s
unfaithfulness—
Don John has
promised to show
them “proof,” but it
still seems strange
that they so quickly
believe evil about
Claudio’s bride-to-
be. Claudio earlier
reveals his
suspicious nature to
the audience when
he believes Don
John’s lie in Act II,
scene i that Don
Pedro has betrayed
him. His
susceptibility to
suspicion now
returns to haunt
him, this time with
the support and
encouragement of
Don Pedro.
Act III, scene iii In a street outside Dogberry and
Leonato’s house, Verges provide
the town policemen welcome comic
of Messina— relief amid Don
collectively called John’s evil plotting.
the Watch—gather Their brand of
together to discuss humor is completely
their duties for the different from that
night. Dogberry, the provided by
head constable, Benedick and
and Verges, his Beatrice; while the
deputy, command two witty
and govern them. antagonists spar
Dogberry and with a brilliant
Verges are well display of wit,
intentioned and Dogberry and
take their jobs very Verges get half
seriously, but they their words wrong,
are also ridiculous. providing humor
Dogberry is a with their
master of ignorance. Yet, like
malapropisms, Benedick and
always getting his Beatrice, they are in
words just slightly their own way
wrong. good-hearted and
sincere, and the
Under Dogberry, humor of both duos,
the Watch is very sophisticated and
polite but not very unsophisticated,
effective at hinges on punning
deterring crime. As and verbal display.
Dogberry gives his
orders to his men, it Borachio’s account
becomes clear that of the events of that
the Watch is night inform us that
charged with doing Don John’s plans
very little. For have been put into
example, when action and that
asked how the men everything is
should react should working out as he
someone refuse to intended. Once
stand in Don again, however, we
Pedro’s name, are faced with a
Dogberry replies, disturbing element
“Why then take no in this action:
note of him, but let Claudio and Don
him go, and Pedro both believe
presently call the Don John’s claims
rest of the watch and are willing to
together, and thank believe that they
God you are rid of a are watching Hero
knave” (III.iii.25– without
27). Furthermore, investigating the
the Watch is matter more closely
supposed to order or interrogating
drunkards to go Hero herself about
home and sleep it. When we see
their drunkenness how ready Claudio
off—unless the is to believe that the
drunkards won’t woman he
listen, in which case supposedly is in
the men are to love with is
ignore them. The betraying him, we
men are not to are likely to be
make too much deeply troubled
noise in the street— about him, even
they may sleep though we know
instead. They that the play—being
shouldn’t catch a comedy—has to
thieves, because it end happily.
isn’t good for
honest men to have Borachio lists a few
too much to do with factors that might
dishonest ones, make the deception
and they should of Claudio and Don
wake up the nurses Pedro more
of crying children— understandable. He
unless the nurses suggests that we
ignore them, in should blame Don
which case they John’s “oaths,”
should let the child which first made
wake the nurse by Don Pedro and
crying instead. In Claudio suspicious
short, they may do of Hero’s guilt; the
anything they want “dark night, which
and don’t have to did deceive them”
do anything at all, (III.iii.136–137); and
as long as they are Borachio’s own flat-
careful not to let the out lies when he
townspeople steal testified to them
their spears. that he had made
love to Hero. Some
Dogberry gives his critics focus on the
men a final order: fact that Claudio is
act particularly quite young and
vigilant near the that he does not
house of Leonato, really know Hero
for Leonato’s very well as
daughter, Hero, is mitigating his
to be married the distrust of her.
next day, and the Indeed, he seems
house is filled with hardly to have
commotion and spoken any words
chaos. After to her before they
Dogberry and become engaged,
Verges depart, the although
men they have left presumably they
behind sit down have conversed
quietly on a bench more in the week
and prepare to go that has passed
to sleep. Suddenly, since their
the watchmen are betrothal.
interrupted by the Nevertheless,
entrance of Don Claudio’s swift
John’s associates, anger and the
Borachio and terrible revenge he
Conrad. Borachio, has vowed to
who does not see take—shaming
the watchmen, Hero in public and
informs Conrad abandoning her at
about what has the altar—has
happened this remained troubling
night. Acting on the to generations of
plan he developed critics and readers,
with Don John, as has Don Pedro’s
Borachio made love complicity in this
to Margaret, Hero’s desired revenge.
waiting maid, at the Don Pedro, after all,
window of Hero’s does not have the
room, with Margaret excuse of youth
dressed in Hero’s and inexperience.
clothing. Don Pedro The brutality of the
and Claudio, who principal male
were hiding nearby characters remains
with Don John, saw a problem with
the whole thing and which readers of
are now convinced Much Ado About
that Hero has been Nothing must
disloyal to Claudio. grapple. It is difficult
Claudio, feeling to feel sympathy for
heartbroken and Claudio and Don
betrayed, has Pedro after seeing
vowed to take how quickly they
revenge upon Hero believe evil of
by publicly Hero—and after
humiliating her at what they do to her
the wedding in Act IV, scene i,
ceremony the next on the day of the
day. The wedding itself.
watchmen, who
 have quietly
listened to this
whole secretive
exchange, now
reveal themselves
and arrest Borachio
and Conrade for
“lechery,” by which
they mean
treachery. They
haul them away to
Dogberry and
Verges for
questioning.

Act III, scenes iv–v On the morning of

her wedding to
Claudio, Hero
wakes up early and
tells her servant
Ursula to wake
Beatrice.
Meanwhile, Hero’s
maid Margaret
argues
affectionately with
Hero about what
she ought to wear
for her wedding.
Hero is excited, but
she is also uneasy
for reasons she
cannot name; she
has a strange
foreboding of
disaster. Beatrice
arrives, and
Margaret, in high
spirits, teases her
about her changed
personality, saying
that now Beatrice
too desires a
husband. Beatrice
expresses
annoyance, but
Margaret is sure
that she is right,
and so she
continues to tease
Beatrice about
Benedick—but in a
manner subtle
enough that
Beatrice cannot
accuse Margaret of
knowing anything
completely. Soon
enough, Claudio
arrives with his
friends,
accompanied by
the large wedding
party, apparently
ready to take Hero
to the church. They
all set off together.
Just as Leonato
prepares to enter
the church for his
daughter’s
wedding, Dogberry
and Verges catch
up with Leonato
and try to talk to
him. They explain
that they have
caught two
criminals and want
to interrogate them
in front of him.
However, their
attempts to
communicate their
message are so
long-winded,
foolish, and
generally mixed up
that they fail to
convey how urgent
the matter is—and,
in fact, they may
not understand its
importance
themselves.
Leonato defers their
business,
explaining that he is
busy this day, and
orders Dogberry
and Verges to
question the men
themselves and tell
him about it later.
Dogberry and
Verges head off to
question the
prisoners on their
own, and Leonato
enters the church in
order to participate
in the wedding
ceremony about to
take place. The
scene in Hero’s
bedchamber, as
Hero prepares for
her wedding day,
provides an
example of some of
Much Ado About
Nothing’s strongest
features: the scene
combines nonstop
jokes with a sense
of affection. It
means a great deal
to Hero to have her
cousin and her
beloved maids with
her on her wedding
morning, even amid
all the raunchy
joking surrounding
Hero’s impending
marriage—for
instance,
Margaret’s
statement that
Hero’s heart will “be
heavier soon by the
weight of a man”
(III.iv.23). Hero’s
unexpected sense
of foreboding sets
off warning bells in
the minds of the
audience. Hero
asks God to “give
me joy to wear [my
wedding dress], for
my heart is
exceeding heavy”
(III.iv.21–22). There
is no clear reason
for her to feel this
way, except
perhaps that she
must sadly bid her
innocent childhood
adieu; we interpret
her heaviness of
heart as a
foreshadowing of
something bad to
come.
Margaret, in high
spirits after a night
with Borachio,
shows remarkable
wit in this scene,
jesting about
Beatrice’s
conversion to the
ways of love. When
Beatrice, far more
subdued then
usual, says that she
feels sick, Margaret
teasingly offers her
a cure—distillation
of carduus
benedictus, or “holy
thistle,” a plant
thought to have
medicinal powers in
the Renaissance.
Beatrice, of course,
quite rightly thinks
that Margaret is
trying to make a
point—“Why
Benedictus?” she
cries. “You have
some moral in this
Benedictus”
(III.iv.10.). Margaret
gaily avoids saying
concretely what she
means, but the gist
of the joke is clear:
Beatrice is sick with
love, and only
benedictus—that is,
Benedick—can
cure her. This
scene juxtaposes
Margaret’s dirty
punning and overt
sexuality with
Hero’s fearful
innocence and utter
ignorance of all
things carnal. We
thus learn how
different Hero is
from Margaret, and
how wrong Claudio
is to doubt Hero
and mistake
Margaret for his
untainted beloved.

Act III, scene v, in

which Dogberry and
Verges try to speak
with Leonato
outside the church,
heightens the
tension and our
anticipation of an
approaching
disaster. The two
constables
entertain us with
their foibles as
always. In this
conversation,
Dogberry actually
starts pitying
Verges and making
excuses for his
friend’s supposed
foolishness,
although Dogberry
himself, as usual,
gets many of his
words wrong. He
calls Verges “an old
man,” and says,
“his wits are not so
blunt as, God help,
I would desire they
were”; he means, of
course, “sharp”
instead of “blunt”
(III.v.9–10). To
Verges’s response,
saying he thinks
that he is honest,
Dogberry makes
the oft-quoted reply,
“Comparisons are
odorous” (III.v.14).
He means to quote
the proverb
“comparisons are
odious.” The men
that the two
constables have
caught, of course,
are Conrad and
Borachio—and
Borachio is the one
who has helped
Don John deceive
Claudio and Don
Pedro the night
before. But
because Dogberry
and Verges are
such poor
communicators,
they are unable to
convey to Leonato
how important it is
that he hear
Borachio’s
testimony;because
they are so foolish,
they do not seem to
realize how
important it is
themselves. Thus,
Leonato enters the
church, and
Dogberry and
Verges go off
without Don John’s
scheme having
 been exposed.

Act IV, scenes i–ii Everyone gathers With the wedding O Hero! What a
inside the church to scene—the climax Hero hadst thou
celebrate the of the play—the been
wedding of Claudio tone takes an If half thy outward
and Hero. But when abrupt turn, graces had been
Friar Francis asks plunging from high placed
Claudio whether he comedy into About thy thoughts
wishes to marry tragedy. Claudio’s and counsels of thy
Hero, Claudio rejection of Hero is heart!
breaks into an designed to inflict Dost thou not
outraged speech. as much pain as suspect my place?
He tells Leonato possible, and Dost thou not
that he sends Hero Hero’s and suspect my years?
back to Leonato Leonato’s reactions O that he were here
again, for though to it seem to make to write me down
she seems things even worse. an ass!
outwardly pure and Few accusations But masters,
blushes with could cause a remember that I am
innocence, her woman more harm an ass.
outward features in the Renaissance
belie her inward than that of being
corruption and that unchaste, and
she is, in fact, an Claudio uses
unchaste, unfaithful deliberately
whore. The happy theatrical language
wedding transforms to hurt Hero
itself into a chaotic publicly, in front of
uproar. Leonato friends and family.
and the shaken The rejection scene
Hero ask what also throws other
Claudio means. relationships in the
Claudio tells play into question:
Leonato, in front of Claudio and Don
everyone in the Pedro both suggest
church, that the that it reflects badly
night before on Leonato’s social
Claudio, Don manners to have
Pedro, and Don tried to foist off a
John watched Hero woman like Hero on
“tal[k]” with a vile Claudio, and Don
man at her window Pedro implies that
(IV.i.82). This man his own reputation
has also has suffered by way
“[c]onfessed” to of the apparent
having had sexual discovery that he
encounters with and Claudio have
Hero many times made regarding
before (IV.i.92). Hero’s virginity.
Don Pedro supports Claudio assaults
Claudio’s Leonato by
accusations, and denigrating Hero:
they, together with “Give not this rotten
Don John, accuse orange to your
Hero of sexual friend. / She’s but
looseness. Leonato the sign and
cries out in despair, semblance of her
asking for a dagger honour” (IV.i.30–
with which to 31).
commit suicide. The Although the
overwhelmed Hero usually quiet Hero
sinks to the ground, speaks up in her
unconscious. own defense,
Benedick and Claudio does not
Beatrice rush to allow her even the
offer her their possibility of
assistance, while defending herself.
Claudio, Don When she blushes
Pedro, and Don in shock and
John leave the humiliation, he
church without cries:
looking back.
Leonato, weeping, . . . Would you not
tells Benedick and swear,
Beatrice to let Hero All you that see her,
die, since that that she were a
would be better maid,
than for her to live By these exterior
in shame. Beatrice, shows? But she is
however, remains none.
absolutely She knows the heat
convinced that her of a luxurious bed.
cousin has been Her blush is
slandered. guiltiness, not
Suddenly and modesty.
unexpectedly, the (V.i.36–40)
friar steps in. A Hero’s reactions of
quiet observer to horror become, in
the whole Claudio’s
proceeding, he has description of her
wisely determined face, evidence of
from the her guilt, making it
expressions of impossible for her
shock he has seen to offer any
on Hero’s face that defense. Claudio
she is not guilty of similarly discards
unfaithfulness. Hero Hero’s denial of the
regains accusation when
consciousness and she says, “I talked
insists that she is a with no man at that
virgin, that she has hour, my lord”
been entirely (IV.i.85). Claudio is
faithful to Claudio, convinced—by his
and that she has no eyes, by his own
idea what her suspicious nature,
accusers are talking and by his certainty
about. The that he cannot have
intelligent Benedick been mistaken—
realizes that if the that he knows the
accusation is a lie, truth. He has
it must originate already tried and
with the convicted Hero in
troublemaking Don his mind, and she is
John, who would afforded no chance
happily trick these to prove her virtue.
two to spoil their Following
happiness. immediately upon
The friar comes up these moments of
with an unexpected betrayal and pain,
plan: he suggests however, seeds are
that Hero’s sown for resolution
existence be and redemption.
concealed, and that The trick that the
Leonato tell friar plans is
everyone she has ingenious, and it
died of shock and seems to be a good
grief. When her one. It also plays
accusers hear that cunningly upon a
an innocent woman simple fact of
has died, their human nature:
anger will turn into
regret, and they will That what we have,
start to remember we prize not to the
what a virtuous lady worth
Hero was. If the Whiles we enjoy it,
accusation really is but, being lacked
a trick, then and lost,
perhaps the ...
treachery will then we find
expose itself, and The virtue that
Hero can return to possession would
the world. In the not show us
worst-case Whiles it was ours.
scenario, Hero can (IV.i.217–221)
later be taken off As soon as Hero’s
quietly and placed accusers think her
in a convent to dead, the friar
become a nun. The realizes, much of
grieving, confused the anger driving
Leonato agrees to Claudio and the
go along with the others will
plan. dissipate, and they
will start to
The others depart remember her good
with Hero, leaving qualities and regret
Benedick and their poor treatment
Beatrice alone of her. The “greater
together. Benedick, birth” that the friar
trying to comfort envisions will
Beatrice, asks if transform Hero
there is any way he from an object of
can show his scorn and slander
friendship to her. into someone
He suddenly mourned and better
confesses that he is beloved than when
in love with her, she was alive
acknowledging how (IV.i.212). In order
strange it is for his to wash away her
affections to alleged sin, then,
reverse so Hero will have to
suddenly, and she, die and be
equally startled and symbolically reborn.
confused, replies in
similar terms. But The scene also
when Benedick marks a critical
says that he will do turning point in the
anything for relationship
Beatrice, she asks between Benedick
him to kill his friend and Beatrice.
Claudio. The Benedick seems to
shocked Benedick make an important
refuses. Angry, decision when he
Beatrice denounces stays behind in the
Claudio’s savagery, church with
saying that if she Beatrice and her
were a man she family instead of
would kill him leaving with
herself for his Claudio, Don
slander of her Pedro, and Don
cousin and the John. His loyalty,
cruelty of his trick. which lies with his
After listening to soldier friends when
her, Benedick he arrives in
changes his mind Messina, now
and soberly agrees draws him to stay
to challenge with Beatrice. In
Claudio—for the their elliptical ways,
wrong that he has Beatrice and
done to Hero and Benedick confess
for Beatrice’s sake. their love to one
another after
Elsewhere, everyone else has
Dogberry, Verges, left the church.
and the Watch Beatrice’s confused
interrogate answer to
Borachio and Benedick’s blurting
Conrad. Borachio out that he loves
confesses that he her reveals that she
received money is hiding something.
from Don John for Indeed, when
pretending to make Benedick exultantly
love to Hero and exclaims that she
then lying about it loves him, she
to Claudio and Don finally admits it: “I
Pedro. When they love you with so
hear about what much of my heart
has happened at that none is left to
the wedding, the protest” (IV.i.284–
watchmen tie up 285).
the captives and
take them to Lost in his
Leonato’s house. newfound love,
Benedick
apparently converts
himself to
Beatrice’s way of
thinking. Soberly he
asks her whether
she truly believes
that Claudio has
slandered Hero.
When Beatrice
answers yes,
Benedick says,
“Enough, I am
engaged, I will
challenge him. I will
kiss your hand, and
so I leave you”
 (IV.i.325–326).
Spurred by his own
conscience, his
love for Beatrice,
and his trust in
Beatrice’s
judgment, Benedick
makes the radical
decision to
challenge Claudio
to a duel to the
death for what he
has done to Hero.
The lines of loyalty
in the play have
changed
considerably.

Act V, scenes i–ii Leonato, Hero’s By showing

father, falls into a Leonato’s grief and
state of deep grief anger to the
and shock. Torn by audience,
his worries about Shakespeare drives
whether Hero is home the intensity
indeed chaste as of the pain and
she claims and his distress that
questions about Claudio’s
what actually accusation against
occurred, he cannot Hero has caused
function. His Hero and her
brother Antonio family. Although
tries to cheer him, Hero is not really
telling him to have dead, Leonato
patience. But grieves as if she
Leonato answers were, because she
that although has lost her
people can easily reputation. He has
give advice when come to her side,
they are believing that
themselves not Claudio must have
unhappy, people in been wrong about
great pain cannot her—“My soul doth
follow the advice so tell me Hero is
easily. Don Pedro belied,” he
and Claudio enter, confesses to
see Leonato and Antonio (V.i.42).
Antonio, and But his concern for
quickly try to leave. her, coupled with
But Leonato follows the shock of
them and accuses Claudio’s public
Claudio of having humiliation of her, is
lied about Hero and enough to
having caused her overwhelm him with
death. Leonato grief. He rejects
announces that, Antonio’s attempts
despite his great to make him feel
age, he challenges better, telling him
Claudio to a duel that “men / Can
for the crime counsel and speak
Claudio has comfort to that grief
committed against / Which they
Hero by ruining her themselves not
good name; feel” (V.i.20–22).
Leonato states that He suggests that
he is not too old to once a person
kill or die for honor actually becomes
and for the love of unhappy, good
his child. The advice does him or
embarrassed her no good: “For
Claudio and Don there was never yet
Pedro pretend to philosopher / That
ignore their could endure the
challengers. Finally, toothache patiently”
Leonato and (V.i.35–36). His
Antonio leave, anger at Claudio for
vowing that they will ruining his daughter
have their revenge. is very real, and this
scene provides the
After Leonato and audience with a
Antonio depart, fascinating view of
Benedick enters. Leonato. He is
Claudio and Don powerful here in his
Pedro welcome righteous anger,
him, asking just as much as he
Benedick to employ is overwhelmed
his famous wit to with despair in Act
cheer them up. But IV, scene i.
Benedick is in no The revelation of
mood to be funny. Borachio’s crime to
He tells Claudio Claudio and the
that he believes rest marks another
Claudio has turning point in the
slandered Hero, play. Don John’s
and he quietly deception has led
challenges him to a inexorably to
duel. When the Claudio’s rejection
other two keep on of Hero, darkening
trying to joke with the play’s
him, Benedick atmosphere of
finally discloses that lighthearted
he can no longer be comedy. Dogberry
their companion and the Watch’s
since their accusation of
slanderous Borachio and
accusations have Conrad seems to
murdered an open the way to
innocent woman. understanding and
Benedick informs resolution.
Don Pedro that Don Claudio’s reaction
John has fled the to the information
city and leaves. At mirrors what the
first, Claudio and wise friar predicts in
Don Pedro take in Act IV, scene i: he
this change in begins to remember
Benedick’s Hero’s good
behavior and the qualities. “Sweet
information of Don Hero, now thy
John’s flight with image doth appear /
shock and In the rare
confusion. Slowly semblance that I
they begin to loved it first,” he
realize Benedick’s says to himself
serious intent—and (V.i.235–236). The
they rightly guess punishment that
that his love for Leonato extracts
Beatrice must be from him might
the only thing that seem light revenge
could have for the death of a
motivated him to daughter, but, of
challenge his course, we know—
dearest friend to a as he knows—that
fight to the death. Hero isn’t really
dead. The
Dogberry and punishment
Verges suddenly obviously
enter, accompanied establishes the
by the other men of grounds for a happy
the Watch, ending. If all goes
dragging behind well, it seems,
them the captured Claudio is being set
villains Conrad and up to marry Hero, in
Borachio. Dogberry a sort of redemptive
tells Claudio and masquerade.
Don Pedro that
Borachio has Act V, scene ii,
confessed to which develops the
treachery and lying, growing relationship
and Borachio between Benedick
admits his crime and Beatrice, is one
again. Shocked and of the funniest and
horrified, Claudio most touching
and Don Pedro courtship scenes in
realize that this Shakespeare’s
information works. It gives the
supports Hero’s audience a chance
true innocence and to laugh at
that she has died Benedick and
(so they think) Beatrice as they
because they have grapple with the
wrongly accused apparent folly of
her, tarnished her their love for one
reputation forever, another, and also to
and ruined her see that their
family. relationship is
developing into one
Leonato and that is both
Antonio return. affectionate and
Claudio and Don mature. Moreover,
Pedro beg somehow they
Leonato’s manage to speak
forgiveness, sweetly to each
offering themselves other without losing
up to any their biting wit.
punishment Benedick, in fact,
Leonato thinks fit laughs at himself
for killing his when he laments
daughter with his inability to write
wrongful love poetry. “No,”
accusations. Benedick
Leonato orders concludes, “I was
Claudio to clear not born under a
Hero’s name by rhyming planet, nor
telling the entire city I cannot woo in
that she was festival terms”
innocent and to (V.ii.34–35).
write her an Benedick’s inability
epitaph—that is, a to write underlines
poem honoring her the difference
in death—and to between the witty
read and sing it at and improvisatory
her tomb. He also court rhetoric that
tells Claudio that he is so good at
Antonio has a and the very
daughter who is stylized
very much like conventions of
Hero, and he asks Renaissance love
Claudio to marry his poetry.
niece in Hero’s
place in order to Beatrice and
make up for the lost Benedick interlace
Hero. Claudio, their conversation
weeping at with news about
Leonato’s developments in
generosity, accepts the main plot of the
these terms. play, but,
Leonato orders that throughout, they
Borachio be carted tease one another
away for further with gentle
interrogation. affection—and, of
course, with never-
Meanwhile, near ending insults.
Leonato’s estate, Benedick sums up
Benedick asks their situation by
Margaret to bring saying, “Thou and I
Beatrice to speak to are too wise to woo
him. Alone, he peaceably” (V.ii.61).
laments his inability This assessment
to write poetry. He seems to be true in
has unsuccessfully several respects—
attempted to write they will never have
Beatrice a love peace, for both are
sonnet according to too lively and
the flowery and independent. But
ornamental both are also wise,
conventions of and it looks as if
Renaissance love their love will grow
poetry. Ironically, into a deep, mature
despite his great relationship in
skill at improvising which both will
in conversation, he continue to sparkle
is no good at all at in the other’s
writing. Beatrice company. The two
arrives, and the two also express
lovers flirt and genuine fondness.
tease each other To Beatrice’s
with gentle insults assertion that she
but also with great feels unwell
affection—as they psychologically,
now seem always Benedick asks her
to have done. to “serve God, love
 Benedick tells me, and mend”
Beatrice he has (V.ii.78). When she
challenged Claudio invites him to come
to a duel according with her to talk with
to her wishes and Leonato, he
that Claudio must answers, “I will live
respond to his in thy heart, die in
challenge soon. thy lap, and be
Suddenly, the maid buried in thy eyes.
Ursula arrives in And moreover, I will
great haste to tell go with thee to thy
them that the uncle’s” (V.ii.86–
scheme against 87). Here Benedick
Hero has come to plays with a typical
light. Benedick Renaissance
pledges his love to sexual euphemism,
Beatrice once the idea of dying
again, and the two referring to a sexual
follow Ursula to orgasm.
Leonato and the
rest of the house,
which is in an
uproar.

Act V, scenes iii– Early in the This final scene

iv morning, at the brings the play to a
tomb where Hero joyous conclusion,
supposedly lies drawing it away
buried, Claudio from the tragedy
carries out the first toward which it had
part of the begun to move and
punishment that letting everyone
Leonato has wind up safe and
ordered him to sound. Claudio and
perform. Claudio Hero are about to
has written an be happily married,
epitaph, or death as are Benedick
poem, celebrating and Beatrice. The
Hero’s innocence deception has been
and grieving the revealed, and Don
slander that (he John has been
believes) led to her caught and brought
death. He reads the to justice.
epitaph out loud Everybody has
and hangs it upon made friends again,
the tomb. He and the final dance
solemnly promises symbolizes the
that he will come restoration of order
and read it here at and happiness in a
this time every world that has been
year. Everyone thrown into chaos
then goes off to by Don John’s
prepare for accusation and Don
Claudio’s wedding Pedro and
to Leonato’s niece, Claudio’s rash
the supposed Hero action.
look-alike, which is
to occur that very But in order for the
day. Meanwhile, in play to reach this
the church, point, Hero must go
Leonato, Antonio, through a symbolic
Beatrice, Benedick, death and rebirth,
Hero, Margaret, washing away the
Ursula, and the friar taint of the
prepare for the accusation of her
second wedding of supposed sin.
Claudio and Hero. Claudio’s writing
We learn from their and reading of an
conversation that epitaph at her tomb
Margaret has been seems to create a
interrogated, and sense of closure, in
that she is innocent relation to his false
of conspiring with accusation of Hero
Borachio and Don and her supposed
John—she never death. He
realized that she acknowledges his
was taking part in error in having
Don John’s accused Hero:
treachery. Benedick “Done to death by
is also very relieved slanderous tongues
that Don John’s / Was the Hero that
trick has come to here lies” (V.iii.3–4).
light, for now he The song similarly
does not need to pleads, “Pardon,
fight his friend goddess of the
Claudio. Quietly, night, / Those that
Benedick also takes slew thy virgin
Leonato aside and knight” (V.iii.12–13).
asks him for his When dawn arrives
permission to marry at the end of the
Beatrice. Don scene, and Don
Pedro and Claudio Pedro says, “Good
enter, and Antonio morrow, masters,
goes off to fetch the put your torches
masked women. out,” we can literally
While they are see the plot
waiting, Don Pedro emerging from
and Claudio tease darkness (V.iii.24).
Benedick about his It is now time to
love for Beatrice attend the wedding
and about the fact meant to release
that he will soon be Claudio from his
married, although guilt for Hero’s
they do not know death. From
that he actually darkness and pain,
does plan to be the story now
married that very returns to daylight
day. Hero, Beatrice, and happiness. The
and the waiting emotional dynamics
women enter, all of the masked
wearing masks. wedding must be
Claudio vows to complicated, and
marry the masked many readers
woman by his side, wonder why Hero
whom he believes still loves Claudio
to be Leonato’s after what he has
mysterious niece. done to her. The
But when Hero story can be read
takes off her mask, as one of real love
the shocked that has been
Claudio realizes tainted by
that it really is Hero. misunderstanding,
Leonato and Hero paranoia, and fear
tell him that now but that has
that Hero’s name miraculously ended
has been cleared, happily. Hero does
she can figuratively seem to love
come back to life Claudio still, and
and be his wife, as they are joyful at
she should have being reunited.
been before. Claudio’s
amazement, awe,
The party prepares and wonder at
to go to the chapel finding Hero still
to finish the alive may serve to
ceremony, but wipe out any last
Benedick stops traces of
everybody. He asks resentment or
Beatrice, out loud anger on either
and in public, side. Beatrice and
whether she loves Benedick finally
him. Beatrice profess their love in
denies it, and public—amid the
Benedick, in turn, laughter and
denies loving her. teasing of all their
They both agree friends—and are
that they are good clearly happy to be
friends, but not in marrying one
love. But, another. Unlike
laughingly, Claudio Hero and Claudio,
and Hero tell them they are both very
that they know that communicative
isn’t the truth—and people, and there is
both whip out little doubt as to
scribbled, half- how they feel about
finished love poems one another.
that they have Benedick’s long
found in their struggle with his
friends’ rooms and aversion to
pockets, written marriage is also
from Benedick to finally brought to an
Beatrice and from end. Just as he
Beatrice to privately declares
Benedick. Benedick his decision to
and Beatrice realize change his mind
that they have been after he comes to
caught red-handed believe, through
and, giving in, Claudio and Don
finally agree to Pedro’s trick, that
marry. Benedick Beatrice loves him,
silences Beatrice, he now announces
for the first time, by to the entire world
kissing her. Claudio that he is
and Don Pedro determined to get
begin to tease married, in spite of
Benedick again, but everything he has
Benedick laughingly said against the
says that he does institution. Benedick
not care—he also renews his
remains determined friendship with
to be married, and Claudio, and the
nothing he has ever two of them note
said against with considerable
marriage in the past pleasure that they
makes any are now relatives.
difference to him Leonato partakes in
now. He and this sentiment as
Claudio assert their well, since
friendship again, Benedick will be
and Benedick calls Leonato’s nephew-
for a dance before in-law. Benedick is
the double so fully changed
wedding. Suddenly, from a willful
a messenger cavalier into a
rushes in to inform submissive lover
the company that that he even
Leonato’s men commands Don
have arrested Don Pedro, “Prince, thou
John in his flight art sad, get thee a
from Mes-sina. wife, get thee a
They have brought wife” (V.iv.117).
him back to This order serves
Messina a prisoner. partly as a joke, but
Benedick instructs it contains a drop of
Don Pedro to put melancholy.
off thinking about Perhaps Don Pedro
the villain until really is sad—an
tomorrow, when idea that seems
Benedick will invent even more probable
fine tortures for him. when we recall his
In the meantime, lighthearted, but
Benedick insists perhaps not entirely
that all must dance joking, proposal to
joyfully in Beatrice, in Act II,
celebrating the scene i, and her
marriages, and he gentle rejection of
commands the it. As so often
pipers to strike up happens in
the music. Shakespeare’s
comedies, it seems
as if somebody
must be left out of
the circle of
happiness and
marriage. At the
play’s end, Don
John is more
alienated from the
happy company of
nobles than he is at
the beginning of the
play. But Benedick
does not even
permit us to think
about Don John.
The villain’s torture
will take place
offstage, after the
play’s end. The
play’s closing words
 are a call to music,
and the play’s final
action is a joyful
wedding dance.
With the exception
of a sad prince and
a villain who
remains to be
punished,
everybody has
come to a happy
ending.

2. CHARACTERS AND QUOTES

Character Quote

Beatrice Beatrice is the niece of Leonato, a

wealthy governor of Messina. Though she
is close friends with her cousin Hero,
Leonato’s daughter, the two could not be
less alike. Whereas Hero is polite, quiet,
respectful, and gentle, Beatrice is feisty,
cynical, witty, and sharp. Beatrice keeps
up a “merry war” of wits with Benedick, a
lord and soldier from Padua. The play
suggests that she was once in love with
Benedick but that he led her on and their
 relationship ended. Now when they meet,
the two constantly compete to outdo one
another with clever insults.

Although she appears hardened and

sharp, Beatrice is really vulnerable. Once
she overhears Hero describing that
Benedick is in love with her (Beatrice),
she opens herself to the sensitivities and
weaknesses of love. Beatrice is a prime
example of one of Shakespeare’s strong
female characters. She refuses to marry
because she has not discovered the
perfect, equal partner and because she is
unwilling to eschew her liberty and submit
to the will of a controlling husband. When
Hero has been humiliated and accused of
violating her chastity, Beatrice explodes
with fury at Claudio for mistreating her
cousin. In her frustration and rage about
Hero’s mistreatment, Beatrice rebels
against the unequal status of women in
Renaissance society. “O that I were a
man for his sake! Or that I had any friend
would be a man for my sake!” she
passionately exclaims. “I cannot be a man
with wishing, therefore I will die a woman
with grieving” (IV.i.312–318).

Benedick Benedick is the willful lord, recently

returned from fighting in the wars, who
vows that he will never marry. He
engages with Beatrice in a competition to
outwit, outsmart, and out-insult the other,
but to his observant friends, he seems to
feel some deeper emotion below the
surface. Upon hearing Claudio and Don
Pedro discussing Beatrice’s desire for
him, Benedick vows to be “horribly in love
with her,” in effect continuing the
competition by outdoing her in love and
courtship (II.iii.207). Benedick is one of
the most histrionic characters in the play,
as he constantly performs for the benefit
of others. He is the entertainer, indulging
in witty hyperbole to express his feelings.
He delivers a perfect example of his
inflated rhetoric when Beatrice enters
during the masked ball. Turning to his
companions, Benedick grossly
exaggerates how Beatrice has misused
him, bidding his friends to send him to the
farthest corners of the earth rather than
let him spend one more minute with his
nemesis: “Will your grace command me
any service to the world’s end? I will go
on the slightest errand now to the
Antipodes that you can devise to send me
on. I will fetch you a toothpicker from the
furthest inch of Asia . . . do you any
 embassage to the pigmies, rather than
hold three words’ conference with this
harpy” (II.i.229–235).

Of course, since Benedick is so invested

in performing for the others, it is not easy
for us to tell whether he has been in love
with Beatrice all along or falls in love with
her suddenly during the play. Benedick’s
adamant refusal to marry does appear to
change over the course of the play, once
he decides to fall in love with Beatrice. He
attempts to conceal this transformation
from his friends but really might enjoy
shocking them by shaving off his beard
and professing undying love to Beatrice.
This change in attitude seems most
evident when Benedick challenges
Claudio, previously his closest friend in
the world, to duel to the death over
Claudio’s accusation as to Hero’s
unchaste behavior. There can be no
doubt at this point that Benedick has
switched his allegiances entirely over to
Beatrice.

Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon Of all the main characters in Much Ado
About Nothing, Don Pedro seems the
most elusive. He is the noblest character
in the social hierarchy of the play, and his
friends Benedick and Claudio, though
equals in wit, must always defer to him
because their positions depend upon his
favor. Don Pedro has power, and he is
well aware of it; whether or not he abuses
this power is open to question. Unlike his
bastard brother, the villain Don John, Don
Pedro most often uses his power and
authority toward positive ends. But like his
half-brother, Don Pedro manipulates
other characters as much as he likes. For
instance, he insists on wooing Hero for
Claudio himself, while masked, rather
than allowing Claudio to profess his love
to Hero first. Of course, everything turns
out for the best—Don Pedro’s motives are
purely in the interest of his friend. But we
are left wondering why Don Pedro feels
the need for such an elaborate
dissimulation merely to inform Hero of
Claudio’s romantic interest. It seems
simply that it is Don Pedro’s royal
prerogative to do exactly as he wishes,
and no one can question it. Despite his
cloudy motives, Don Pedro does work to
bring about happiness. It is his idea, for
instance, to convince Beatrice and
Benedick that each is in love with the
other and by doing so bring the two
 competitors together. He orchestrates the
whole plot and plays the role of director in
this comedy of wit and manners.

Don Pedro is the only one of the three

gallants not to end up with a wife at the
end. Benedick laughingly jokes in the final
scene that the melancholy prince must
“get thee a wife” in order to enjoy true
happiness (V.iv.117). The question
necessarily arises as to why Don Pedro is
sad at the end of a joyous comedy.
Perhaps his exchange with Beatrice at
the masked ball—in which he proposes
marriage to her and she jokingly refuses
him, taking his proposal as mere sport—
pains him; perhaps he is truly in love with
Beatrice. The text does not give us a
conclusive explanation for his
melancholy, nor for his fascination with
dissembling. This uncertainly about his
character helps to make him one of the
most thought-provoking characters in the
play.

3. MAIN IDEAS

3.1 Themes
 3.1.1 The Ideal of Social Grace and social performance

THEME DESCRIPTION

The characters’ dense, colorful manner of speaking represents the ideal that
Renaissance courtiers strove for in their social interactions. The play’s language is
heavily laden with metaphor and ornamented by rhetoric. Benedick, Claudio, and Don
Pedro all produce the kind of witty banter that courtiers used to attract attention and
approval in noble households. Courtiers were expected to speak in highly contrived
language but to make their clever performances seem effortless. The most famous
model for this kind of behavior is Baldassare Castiglione’s sixteenth-century manual
The Courtier, translated into English by Thomas Hoby in 1561. According to this work,
the ideal courtier masks his effort and appears to project elegance and natural grace
by means of what Castiglione calls sprezzatura, the illusion of effortlessness.
Benedick and his companions try to display their polished social graces both in their
behavior and in their speech.

The play pokes fun at the fanciful language of love that courtiers used. When Claudio
falls in love, he tries to be the perfect courtier by using intricate language. As
Benedick notes: “His words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange
dishes” (II.iii.18–19). Although the young gallants in the play seem casual in their
displays of wit, they constantly struggle to maintain their social positions. Benedick
and Claudio must constantly strive to remain in Don Pedro’s favor. When Claudio
silently agrees to let Don Pedro take his place to woo Hero, it is quite possible that he
does so not because he is too shy to woo the woman himself, but because he must
accede to Don Pedro’s authority in order to stay in Don Pedro’s good favor. When
Claudio believes that Don Pedro has deceived him and wooed Hero not for Claudio
but for himself, he cannot drop his polite civility, even though he is full of despair.
Beatrice jokes that Claudio is “civil as an orange,” punning on the Seville orange, a
bitter fruit (II.i.256). Claudio remains polite and nearly silent even though he is upset,
telling Benedick of Don Pedro and Hero: “I wish him joy of her” (II.i.170). Clearly,
Claudio chooses his obedience to Don Pedro over his love for Hero.

Claudio displays social grace, but his strict adherence to social propriety eventually
leads him into a trap. He abandons Hero at the wedding because Don John leads him
to believe that she is unchaste (marriage to an unchaste woman would be socially
unacceptable). But Don John’s plan to unseat Claudio does not succeed, of course,
as Claudio remains Don Pedro’s favorite, and it is Hero who has to suffer until her
good reputation is restored.

REFERENCES

QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

In our last conflict four of his five wits Beatrice mocks Benedick for his loss in
went halting off, and now is the whole one of their battles of wits. Both Beatrice
man governed with one, so that if he have and Benedick define themselves by their
wit enough to keep himself warm, let him skills with language, presenting an
bear it for a difference between himself idealized version of themselves in social
and his horse, for it is all the wealth that situations. Since this self-image is crucial
he hath left to be known a reasonable to their self-worth, Beatrice considers
creature. (A1,S1) failure of wit to be essentially failure as a
human. She knows Benedick cares just
as much about his witty reputation as she
does, so she knows mocking that
reputation is the swiftest way to undercut
him.

I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a Don John expresses his instinctive need
rose in his grace, and it better fits my to cause trouble for others. He lacks
blood to be disdained of all than to charisma and warmth and can’t keep up
fashion a carriage to rob love from any. with the social performances of his peers,
(A1,S3) which divides him from the ranks of
society. Don John’s unrepentant villainy is
a testament to the importance of social
skill to the characters’ culture. His
unspoken exclusion from the game of
social performance has left him so
alienated and bitter that his moral core
rots. He resolves to take away others’
happiness, lacking the skills to secure his
own.

I’ll tell thee what, Prince: a college of wit- Here, Benedick all but admits that his
crackers cannot flout me out of my caustic wit is a false veneer to protect
humor. Dost thou think I care for a satire against true feeling. He and Beatrice have
or an epigram? No. If a man will be just revealed their love for one another,
beaten with brains, he shall wear nothing and their friends, having watched the two
handsome about him. (A5,S4) circle each other for years, are endlessly
amused. Benedick exclaims that he is so
happy that he’s immune to their teasing
jabs, implicitly defining witty banter as an
opposing force to real emotion. This
opposition is the paradox of social
performance: Though socializing should
ostensibly bring people closer together,
those who are the most skilled at the art
can more easily keep others at arm’s
length.

He were an excellent man that were Beatrice describes the ideal man as
made just in the midway between him and existing somewhere between witty
Benedick. The one is too like an image Benedick and silent Don John, a perfect
and says nothing, and the other too like balance of all the right qualities. Of
my lady’s eldest son, evermore tattling. course, no person could fulfill every single
(A2,S1) quality another person wants, at least not
in reality. In the quasi-reality of a
perfected social image, however, a
person can appear as idealized as need
be, masked by the fact that people are
seeing only what the person wants them
to, without any of their innermost
qualities. For Beatrice, who semi-
consciously avoids real connection, the
impossibility of her ideal man is likely a
comfort.person wants, at least not in
reality. In the quasi-reality of a perfected
social image, however, a person can
appear as idealized as need be, masked
by the fact that people are seeing only
what the person wants them to, without
any of their innermost qualities. For
Beatrice, who semi-consciously avoids
real connection, the impossibility of her
ideal man is likely a comfort.

The body of your discourse is sometimes Outnumbered by both of his friends

guarded with fragments and the guards mocking him, Benedick opts to grab the
are but slightly basted on neither. Ere you last word and take his leave. Benedick
flout old ends any further, examine your uses his sharp wit to disguise his
conscience. And so I leave you. (A1,S1) sensitive core, and when his wit is in
danger of being overpowered, his core is
 in danger of harm. As such, when he
suddenly finds himself in the minority,
Benedick simply mocks the others one
last time and removes himself, begging
the question of how sturdy his social
armor really is.

3.1.2 Deception as a Means to an End

THEME DESCRIPTION

The plot of Much Ado About Nothing is based upon deliberate deceptions, some
malevolent and others benign. The duping of Claudio and Don Pedro results in Hero’s
disgrace, while the ruse of her death prepares the way for her redemption and
reconciliation with Claudio. In a more lighthearted vein, Beatrice and Benedick are
fooled into thinking that each loves the other, and they actually do fall in love as a
result. Much Ado About Nothing shows that deceit is not inherently evil, but something
that can be used as a means to good or bad ends.

In the play, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between good and bad deception.
When Claudio announces his desire to woo Hero, Don Pedro takes it upon himself to
woo her for Claudio. Then, at the instigation of Don John, Claudio begins to mistrust
Don Pedro, thinking he has been deceived. Just as the play’s audience comes to
believe, temporarily, in the illusions of the theater, so the play’s characters become
caught up in the illusions that they help to create for one another. Benedick and
Beatrice flirt caustically at the masked ball, each possibly aware of the other’s
presence yet pretending not to know the person hiding behind the mask. Likewise,
when Claudio has shamed and rejected Hero, Leonato and his household “publish”
that Hero has died in order to punish Claudio for his mistake. When Claudio returns,
penitent, to accept the hand of Leonato’s “niece” (actually Hero), a group of masked
women enters and Claudio must wed blindly. The masking of Hero and the other
women reveals that the social institution of marriage has little to do with love. When
Claudio flounders and asks, “Which is the lady I must seize upon?” he is ready and
willing to commit the rest of his life to one of a group of unknowns (V.iv.53). His
willingness stems not only from his guilt about slandering an innocent woman but also
from the fact that he may care more about rising in Leonato’s favor than in marrying
for love. In the end, deceit is neither purely positive nor purely negative: it is a means
to an end, a way to create an illusion that helps one succeed socially.

REFERENCES

QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

’Tis certain so, the Prince woos for Claudio doubts Don Pedro’s loyalty aloud,
himself. Friendship is constant in all other having instantly believed Don John’s lie
things Save in the office and affairs of that Don Pedro intends to steal Hero’s
love. (A2,S1) affections. Though the play makes room
for the idea that deception can be a force
for good, here deception brings out the
characters’ worst tendencies. Claudio’s
instant willingness to take Don John at
face value indicates a dangerous
gullibility, and while Claudio initially
seems like the victim here, innocent Hero
is the one who will eventually suffer for
Claudio’s surface-level thinking.

Claudio, the time shall not go dully by us. Don Pedro’s suggestion to matchmake for
I will in the interim undertake one of
Hercules’ labors, which is to bring Signor Benedick and Beatrice presents an
Benedick and the Lady Beatrice into a alternative to Don John’s callous
mountain of affection, th’ one with th’
scheming. Don Pedro is suggesting a
other. (A2,S1)
coordinated deception of his friends, but

in this case, he intends to better those

friends’ lives. Don Pedro’s plan

complicates the question of whether lying

is always morally wrong. In Don Pedro’s

eyes, the ends justify the means, but

along the way to the ends, the means

harm multiple innocent bystanders.

However, Beatrice and Benedick are truly

happy when they admit they love each

other, and would likely never have done

so without Don Pedro’s interference.

Look what will serve is fit. ‘Tis once, thou Don Pedro reassures Claudio that his
lovest, And I will fit thee with the remedy. I meddling is a great idea. Don Pedro has
know we shall have reveling tonight. I will proposed that he disguise himself as
assume thy part in some disguise And tell Claudio at a masked dance and woo Hero
fair Hero I am Claudio, And in her bosom in Claudio’s place, since Claudio is
I’ll unclasp my heart. (A1,S1) clumsier with words. The reader likely
shares Claudio’s hesitance here. Even if
the plan works perfectly, Hero is still
falling in love with an imposter, which is
morally questionable. Don Pedro,
 however, does not share the play’s
ambiguous view of deception. To him,
there is no moral issue at all: Two people
will be married, marriage is a good thing,
and that’s all that matters.

“I am sick in displeasure to him, and Here, Don John and his underling
whatsoever comes athwart his affection Borachio plan to ruin Claudio and Hero’s
ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou
marriage, outright calling themselves
cross this marriage?” “Not honestly, my
lord, but so covertly that no dishonesty conniving and dishonest. Don John forms

shall appear in me. (A2,S2) the flip side of Don Pedro’s coin. They

may have opposite intentions for their

lies, but neither feels an ounce of shame

about their meddling, acknowledging

exactly what they are doing. Curiously,

both of their plans result in harm one way

or another, suggesting that perhaps the

real mistake is a belief in moral absolutes.

But if all aim but this be leveled false, The A friar at Hero and Claudio’s ill-fated
supposition of the lady’s death Will wedding recommends a select few
quench the wonder of her infamy. (A4,S1) attendees pretend Hero is dead, hoping
the tragedy will spur others to drop their
anger at her supposed infidelity.
Deception is woven so completely into the
fabric of the characters’ world that even
 their religious officials spin elaborate lies.
True, the friar’s plan is likely to work
perfectly, shrewdly playing on people’s
tendency to put the deceased on a
pedestal. However, shrewd manipulation
is an odd skill for a pious monk to exhibit.

3.1.3 The Importance of Honor

THEME DESCRIPTION

The aborted wedding ceremony, in which Claudio rejects Hero, accusing her of
infidelity and violated chastity and publicly shaming her in front of her father, is the
climax of the play. In Shakespeare’s time, a woman’s honor was based upon her
virginity and chaste behavior. For a woman to lose her honor by having sexual
relations before marriage meant that she would lose all social standing, a disaster
from which she could never recover. Moreover, this loss of honor would poison the
woman’s whole family. Thus, when Leonato rashly believes Claudio’s shaming of
Hero at the wedding ceremony, he tries to obliterate her entirely: “Hence from her, let
her die” (IV.i.153). Furthermore, he speaks of her loss of honor as an indelible stain
from which he cannot distance himself, no matter how hard he tries: “O she is fallen /
Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea / Hath drops too few to wash her clean again”
(IV.i.138–140). For women in that era, the loss of honor was a form of annihilation.
For men, on the other hand, honor depended on male friendship alliances and was
more military in nature. Unlike a woman, a man could defend his honor, and that of his
family, by fighting in a battle or a duel. Beatrice urges Benedick to avenge Hero’s
honor by dueling to the death with Claudio. As a woman, Hero cannot seize back her
honor, but Benedick can do it for her via physical combat.

REFERENCES
 QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

Go but with me tonight, you shall see her Don John puts his conniving plan into
chamber window entered, even the night action, baiting Claudio and Don Pedro to
before her wedding day. If you love her witness John’s underling Borachio
then, tomorrow wed her. But it would pretending to make love to Hero. Though
better fit your honor to change your mind. we already know Claudio is gullible
(A3,S2) enough to go along with such a scheme,
John strengthens the ploy by appealing to
Claudio’s honor. In this society, a woman
besmirching her honor is not only
shameful but practically contagious,
spreading her shame to anyone
associated with her, and especially to the
man about to marry her. Since the
prudish rules of honor are so absolute,
John easily manipulates those rules to his
own ends.

Is not marriage honorable in a beggar? Is Hero’s maid Margaret questions Hero’s

not your lord honorable without marriage? prudishness. When Margaret casually
(A3,S4) jokes about sex prior to Hero’s wedding,
Hero exclaims in protest, but Margaret
urges her to loosen up, reminding Hero
that these feelings exist with or without
the technicality of marriage. The idea that
there would be wiggle room within the
strict boundaries of honor is difficult for
Hero to understand. Margaret, by
contrast, acknowledges that we are all
 only human, and trying to mold oneself
perfectly to arbitrary guidelines is futile.

There, Leonato, take her back again. Here, Claudio cruelly reduces Hero to a
Give not this rotten orange to your friend. commodity, suggesting that her father
She’s but the sign and semblance of her Leonato has done him a disservice by
honor. Behold how like a maid she offering him tainted fruit. The ideal of
blushes here! (A4,S1) honor robs Claudio of his compassion,
and Hero of her personhood. This public
shaming makes a case against the
characters’ Puritanical ideals. Even if the
whole issue were not a product of Don
John and Don Pedro’s lies, and Hero had
really betrayed Claudio, the idea that the
best course of action is to degrade Hero
at her wedding in front of her family is
appalling.

O Fate! Take not away thy heavy hand! Leonato exclaims that he’d rather his
Death is the fairest cover for her shame daughter die than live with the shame of
That may be wished for. (A4,S1) dishonor. When Hero faints after Claudio
accuses her of infidelity, the wedding
attendees are uncertain whether or not
she has died from shock. While Beatrice
frets over Hero’s wellbeing, Hero’s own
father instantly gives up on her, viewing
her supposed crimes as a poor reflection
on himself. In this society, the tenets of
honor are so stringent they can
overpower a parent’s love for their child in
an instant.
 You are a villain. I jest not. I will make it Egged on by Beatrice, Benedick
good how you dare, with what you dare, challenges Claudio to a duel, in revenge
and when you dare. Do me right, or I will for the stain on Hero’s name. Just as Don
protest your cowardice. (A5,S1) John pulled Claudio’s strings by posing a
threat to his honor, so too does Benedick
use Claudio’s concern for his reputation
against him. If Claudio backs down from
the challenge, he will be branded a
coward, which to him is a fate worse than
death. The society’s rigid code of honor
allows Don John and Benedick to play
Claudio like a chess piece.

4. Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop
and inform the text’s major themes.
Public Shaming

Even though Hero is ultimately vindicated, her public shaming at the wedding ceremony
is too terrible to be ignored. In a sense, this kind of humiliation incurs more damage to
her honor and her family name than would an act of unchaste behavior—an transgression
she never commits. The language that both Claudio and Leonato use to shame Hero is
extremely strong. To Claudio she is a “rotten orange” (IV.i.30), and to Leonato a rotting
carcass that cannot be preserved: “the wide sea / Hath . . . / . . . salt too little which may
season give / To her foul tainted flesh!” (IV.i.139–142).

Shame is also what Don John hopes will cause Claudio to lose his place as Don Pedro’s
favorite: once Claudio is discovered to be engaged to a loose woman, Don John believes
that Don Pedro will reject Claudio as he rejected Don John long ago. Shame is a form of
social punishment closely connected to loss of honor. A product of an illegitimate sexual
coupling himself, Don John has grown up constantly reminded of his own social shame,
and he will do anything to right the balance. Ironically, in the end Don John is shamed
and threatened with torture to punish him for deceiving the company. Clearly, he will never
gain a good place in courtly society.

Noting

In Shakespeare’s time, the “Nothing” of the title would have been pronounced “Noting.”
Thus, the play’s title could read: “Much Ado About Noting.” Indeed, many of the players
participate in the actions of observing, listening, and writing, or noting. In order for a plot
hinged on instances of deceit to work, the characters must note one another constantly.
When the women manipulate Beatrice into believing that Benedick adores her, they
conceal themselves in the orchard so that Beatrice can better note their conversation.
Since they know that Beatrice loves to eavesdrop, they are sure that their plot will
succeed: “look where Beatrice like a lapwing runs / Close by the ground to hear our
conference,” notes Hero (III.i.24–25). Each line the women speak is a carefully placed
note for Beatrice to take up and ponder; the same is true of the scheme to convince
Benedick of Beatrice’s passion.

Don John’s plot to undo Claudio also hinges on noting: in order for Claudio to believe that
Hero is unchaste and unfaithful, he must be brought to her window to witness, or note,
Margaret (whom he takes to be Hero) bidding farewell to Borachio in the semidarkness.
Dogberry, Verges, and the rest of the comical night watch discover and arrest Don John
because, although ill-equipped to express themselves linguistically, they overhear talk of
the Margaret--Borachio staging. Despite their verbal deficiencies, they manage to capture
Don John and bring him to Leonato, after having had the sexton (a church official) “note”
the occurrences of the evening in writing. In the end, noting, in the sense of writing, unites
Beatrice and Benedick for good: Hero and Claudio reveal love sonnets written by Beatrice
and Benedick, textual evidence that notes and proves their love for one another.

Entertainment
From the witty yet plaintive song that Balthasar sings about the deceitfulness of men to
the masked ball and the music and dancing at the end of the play, the characters of Much
Ado About Nothing spend much of their time engaging in elaborate spectacles and
entertainments. The play’s title encapsulates the sentiment of effervescent and light court
entertainment: the two hours’ traffic onstage will be entertaining, comic, and absorbing.
The characters who merrily spar and fall in love in the beginning will, of course, end up
together in the conclusion. Beatrice compares courtship and marriage to delightful court
dances: “wooing, wedding and repenting is as a Scotch jig, a measure, and a cinquepace”
(II.i.60–61). By including a masquerade as court entertainment in the middle, as well as
two songs and a dance at the end, the play presents itself as sheer entertainment,
conscious of its own theatricality.

Counterfeiting

The idea of counterfeiting, in the sense of presenting a false face to the world, appears
frequently throughout the play. A particularly rich and complex example of counterfeiting
occurs as Leonato, Claudio, and Don Pedro pretend that Beatrice is head over heels in
love with Benedick so that the eavesdropping Benedick will overhear it and believe it.
Luring Benedick into this trap, Leonato ironically dismisses the idea that perhaps Beatrice
counterfeits her desire for Benedick, as he and the others counterfeit this love
themselves: “O God! Counterfeit? There was never counterfeit of passion came so near
the life of passion as she discovers it” (II.iii.98–99).

Another, more serious reference to counterfeiting occurs at the wedding ceremony, as

Claudio rhetorically paints a picture of Hero as a perfect counterfeit of innocence,
unchaste and impure beneath a seemingly unblemished surface:

She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour.

Behold how like a maid she blushes here!
O, what authority and show of truth
Can cunning sin cover itself withal!
(IV.i.31–34)
Hero’s supposed counterfeiting is of a grave nature, as it threatens her womanly
reputation. It is not her emotions that are being misconstrued, as with Beatrice, but rather
her character and integrity.

5. Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.
The Taming of Wild Animals

The play is peppered with metaphors involving the taming of wild animals. In the case of
the courtship between Beatrice and Benedick, the symbol of a tamed savage animal
represents the social taming that must occur for both wild souls to be ready to submit
themselves to the shackles of love and marriage. Beatrice’s vow to submit to Benedick’s
love by “[t]aming my wild heart to thy loving hand” makes use of terms from falconry,
suggesting that Benedick is to become Beatrice’s master (III.i.113). In the opening act,
Claudio and Don Pedro tease Benedick about his aversion to marriage, comparing him
to a wild animal. Don Pedro quotes a common adage, “‘In time the savage bull doth bear
the yoke,’” meaning that in time even the savage Benedick will surrender to the taming of
love and marriage (I.i.213). Benedick mocks this sentiment, professing that he will never
submit to the will of a woman. At the very end, when Benedick and Beatrice agree to
marry, Claudio pokes fun at Benedick’s mortified countenance, suggesting that Benedick
is reluctant to marry because he remembers the allusion to tamed bulls:

Tush, fear not, man, we’ll tip thy horns with gold,
And all Europa shall rejoice at thee
As once Europa did at lusty Jove
When he would play the noble beast in love.
(V.iv.44–47)
Claudio changes Benedick from a laboring farm animal, a bull straining under a yoke, to
a wild god, empowered by his bestial form to take sexual possession of his lady. While
the bull of marriage is the sadly yoked, formerly savage creature, the bull that Claudio
refers to comes from the classical myth in which Zeus took the form of a bull and carried
off the mortal woman Europa. This second bull is supposed to represent the other side of
the coin: the bull of bestial male sexuality. War

Throughout the play, images of war frequently symbolize verbal arguments and
confrontations. At the beginning of the play, Leonato relates to the other characters that
there is a “merry war” between Beatrice and Benedick: “They never meet but there’s a
skirmish of wit between them” (I.i.50–51). Beatrice carries on this martial imagery,
describing how, when she won the last duel with Benedick, “four of his five wits went
halting off” (I.i.53). When Benedick arrives, their witty exchange resembles the blows and
parries of a well-executed fencing match. Leonato accuses Claudio of killing Hero with
words: “Thy slander hath gone through and through her heart” (V.i.68). Later in the same
scene, Benedick presents Claudio with a violent verbal challenge: to duel to the death
over Hero’s honor. When Borachio confesses to staging the loss of Hero’s innocence,
Don Pedro describes this spoken evidence as a sword that tears through Claudio’s heart:
“Runs not this speech like iron through your blood?” (V.i.227), and Claudio responds that
he has already figuratively committed suicide upon hearing these words: “I have drunk
poison whiles he uttered it” (V.i.228).

Hero’s Death

Claudio’s powerful words accusing Hero of unchaste and disloyal acts cause her to fall
down in apparent lifelessness. Leonato accentuates the direness of Hero’s state, pushing
her further into seeming death by renouncing her, “Hence from her, let her die” (IV.i.153).
When Friar Francis, Hero, and Beatrice convince Leonato of his daughter’s innocence,
they maintain that she really has died, in order to punish Claudio and give Hero a
respectable amount of time to regain her honor, which, although not lost, has been
publicly savaged. Claudio performs all the actions of mourning Hero, paying a choir to
sing a dirge at her tomb. In a symbolic sense, Hero has died, since, although she is pure,
Claudio’s damning accusation has permanently besmirched her name. She must
symbolically die and be reborn pure again in order for Claudio to marry her a second time.
Hero’s false death is less a charade aimed to induce remorse in Claudio than it is a social
ritual designed to cleanse her name and person of infamy.

3.1.4 Love and Masquerade

THEME DESCRIPTION

Love, in Much Ado About Nothing, is always involved with tricks, games
and disguises. Every step in romance takes place by way of masquerade.
Hero is won for Claudio by Don Pedro in disguise. Benedick and Beatrice
are brought together through an elaborate prank. Claudio can be
reconciled with Hero only after her faked death. Altogether, these things
suggest that love—like a play or masquerade—is a game based on
appearances, poses and the manipulation of situations.

Love, in Much Ado, is like chemistry. If you put people together in a certain
way, a certain result occurs. Lovers in the play are like masked dancers:
the pose and the situation matter more than who the other dancer really
is. The lover is a piece in the game, a mask in the crowd, and everyone—
no matter who they are—falls victim in the same way. Don Pedro
manipulates Benedick and Beatrice like a scientist conducting an
experiment, or a playwright setting a scene. The play suggests that love is
not love without its masquerade-like sequence of poses and appearances,
even if they must be imagined or faked.

REFERENCES

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/much-ado-about-nothing/themes/love-and-masquerade

KEY
 QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

“I cannot be said to be a flattering

honest man, it must not be denied
but I am a plain-dealing villain.”

Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

“He that hath a beard is more than a

youth, and he that hath no beard is
less than a man; and he that is
more than a youth is not for me;
and he that is less than a man, I am
not for him.”

“Speak low, if you speak love.”

“Friendship is constant in all other

things
Save in the office and affairs of love:
therefore all hearts in love use their
own tongues;
Let every eye negotiate for itself
And trust no agent; for beauty is a
witch
Against whose charms faith melteth
into blood.”

Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes

“One woman is fair, yet I am well;

another is wise, yet I am well;
another virtuous, yet I am well; but
till all graces be in one woman, one
woman shall not come in my grace.”

Act 3, Scene 1 Quotes

“…of this matter

Is little Cupid’s crafty arrow made,
That only wounds by hearsay.”

Act 3, Scene 2 Quotes

“Even she: Leonato’s Hero, your
Hero, every man’s Hero.”

Act 3, Scene 3 Quotes

“Seest thou not, I say, what a

deformed thief this fashion is? how
giddily he turns about all the hot
bloods between fourteen and five-
and-thirty?”

Act 4, Scene 1 Quotes

“But mine , and mine I lov'd , and

mine I prais'd,
And mine that I was proud on, mine
so much
That I myself was to myself not
mine,
Valuing of her; why, she— O! she is
fallen Into a pit of ink…”

Act 5, Scene 2 Quotes

“I was not born under a rhyming

planet.”

3.1.5 Courtship, Wit, and Warfare

THEME DESCRIPTION

Much Ado About Nothing constantly compares the social world—masquerade balls,
witty banter, romance and courtship—with the military world. War of wit and love are
compared to real wars in a metaphor that extends through every part of the play. The
rivalry of Benedick and Beatrice is called a “merry war,” and the language they use with
and about each other is almost always military: as when Benedick complains that
“[Beatrice] speaks poniards, and every word stabs.” Romance, too, is made military.
The arrows of Cupid are frequently mentioned, and the schemes which the characters
play on each other to accomplish their romantic goals are similar to military operations.
Like generals, the characters execute careful strategies and tricks.

Don John and Don Pedro, enemies in the war before the play begins, face off again on
the field of social life: one schemes to ruin a marriage, another to create one. Benedick
and Beatrice are “ambushed,” by their friends into eavesdropping on staged
conversations. Borachio stations Margaret as a “decoy,” in Hero’s window. The “merry
war,” of Much Ado About Nothing ends just like the real war that comes before the
beginning of the play: everyone has a happy ending. At the very beginning, Leonato
says that “A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full numbers”—in this,
the end of a good comedy resembles the end of a good war.

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Courtship,
Wit, and Warfare appears in each scene of Much Ado About Nothing. Click or tap on
any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.

REFERENCES

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/much-ado-about-nothing/themes/courtship-wit-and-
warfare

QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

Act 1, Scene 1 Quotes

“A victory is twice itself when the achiever

brings home full numbers.”

Act 1, Scene 2 Quotes

“There is a kind of merry war betwixt

Signior Benedick and her; they never meet
but there’s a skirmish of wit between
them.”

Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

“I cannot be said to be a flattering honest

man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-
dealing villain.”

Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

“He that hath a beard is more than a youth,

and he that hath no beard is less than a
man; and he that is more than a youth is
not for me; and he that is less than a man,
I am not for him.”

“Speak low, if you speak love.”

Act 3, Scene 1 Quotes

“…of this matter

Is little Cupid’s crafty arrow made,
That only wounds by hearsay.”

Act 3, Scene 2 Quotes

“Even she: Leonato’s Hero, your Hero,

every man’s Hero.”

Act 4, Scene 1 Quotes

“O! that I were a man for his sake, or that I

had any friend would be a man for my
sake! But manhood is melted into
courtesies, valour into compliment, and
men are only turned into tongue, and trim
ones too: he is now as valiant as Hercules,
that only tells a lie and swears it. I cannot
be a man with wishing, therefore I will die
a woman with grieving.”

Act 5, Scene 2 Quotes

“I was not born under a rhyming planet.”

3.1.6 Language, Perception and Reality

 THEME DESCRIPTION

Much Ado About Nothing dwells on the way that language and communication affect
our perception of reality. It is important to remember nothing (besides marriage) actually
happens in the play—there are no fights, deaths, thefts, journeys, trials, illnesses,
sexual encounters, losses or gains of wealth, or anything else material. All that changes
is the perception that these things have happened, or that they will happen: that Hero
is no longer a virgin, or that she has died, or that Claudio and Benedick will fight.

Tricks of language alone repeatedly change the entire situation of the play. Overheard
conversations cause Benedick and Beatrice to fall in love, and the sonnets they have
written one another stop them from separating once the prank behind their romance
has been revealed. The idea that we live in a world of language and appearances,
beyond which we cannot see, is common throughout Shakespeare. The famous quote
that “All the world’s a stage,” is another example.

By the end, the false language in Much Ado About Nothing has almost overwhelmed
the reality. Characters have fallen into the roles given to them in the lies told about them:
Benedick and Beatrice have become lovers, and Hero is treated like a whore by her
own father. Ironically, the only character with the knowledge to replace this false
language with the truth is the completely inarticulate Dogberry.

REFERENCES

https://www.litcharts.com/lit/much-ado-about-nothing/themes/language-perception-
and-reality

QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

Act 1, Scene 3 Quotes

“I cannot be said to be a flattering honest

man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-
dealing villain.”

Act 2, Scene 1 Quotes

“Friendship is constant in all other things
Save in the office and affairs of love:
therefore all hearts in love use their own
tongues;
Let every eye negotiate for itself
And trust no agent; for beauty is a witch
Against whose charms faith melteth into
blood.”

“Silence is the perfectest herald of joy: I

were but little happy, if I could say how
much.”

Act 2, Scene 3 Quotes

“Note this before my notes; There’s not a

note of mine that’s worth the noting.”

Act 3, Scene 1 Quotes

“…of this matter

Is little Cupid’s crafty arrow made,
That only wounds by hearsay.”

Act 3, Scene 2 Quotes

“Well, every one can master a grief but he

that has it.”

Act 3, Scene 3 Quotes

“Seest thou not, I say, what a deformed

thief this fashion is? how giddily he turns
about all the hot bloods between fourteen
and five-and-thirty?”

Act 4, Scene 1 Quotes

“Oh what men dare do! what men may do!

what men daily do, not knowing what they
do!”

“There is not chastity enough in language

Without offence to utter them.”

Act 4, Scene 2 Quotes

“O that he were here to write me down an
ass! but, masters, remember that I am an
ass; though it be not written down, yet
forget not that I am an ass.”

Act 5, Scene 1 Quotes

“Charm ache with air and agony with

words.”

“For there was never yet philosopher

That could endure the toothache patiently,
However they have writ the style of gods
And made a push at chance and
sufferance.”

Act 5, Scene 2 Quotes

“I was not born under a rhyming planet.”

3.1.7 Gender Politics

THEME DESCRIPTION

Many of the injustices in Much Ado About Nothing have to do with gender. Women were
treated like second-class citizens in the Elizabethan era, and as such, they weren't
afforded many opportunities to better their situations without the assistance of a father
or a husband. Women could inherit property but not as much as a man, and though
many women did work, they didn't have the opportunity for high-paying careers like
doctors or lawyers. A man's word was considered more trustworthy and valuable than
a woman's, even if the woman was in the right. This happens to Hero, who is accused
of being unchaste and is not given the opportunity to defend herself and prove her
accusers wrong.

Gender is also an indicator of power, both when the play was written and within the play
itself. Hero's father rules her life, for women were generally in their father's charge until
they were married. Beatrice feels the acute pain of powerlessness due to her gender:
"O God, that I were a man!" she rages to Benedick after Claudio slanders Hero. She
wants to avenge her cousin's name, but as a woman she must rely on Benedick to
uphold Hero's honor. This is a double blow to a woman who prides herself on not
needing a man for anything.
 REFERENCES

https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Much-Ado-About-Nothing/themes/

QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

3.1.8 Noting or Nothing

THEME DESCRIPTION

It is believed that in the 16th century, the words “nothing” and “noting” were pronounced
in much the same way. Much ado follows from noting: characters eavesdrop on one
another, often mishear, and much ado or muddle, results. For example, Don John
deliberately misleads Claudio into thinking Don Pedro has wooed Hero for himself. He
can do this because Borachio overheard Don Pedro talking to Claudio. Borachio notes
the truth, but his master, Don John, deliberately distorts it to cause mischief. The plot
fails so he tries again, agreeing to Borachio’s scheme whereby Margaret impersonates
Hero to blacken the bride’s reputation. This almost works. A different kind of noting (in
this case, observing) leads Claudio and Don Pedro to think they’ve seen something,
which in fact is a deception.

A happier kind of noting is the ruse played upon Beatrice and Benedick, whereby each
is persuaded of the other’s love. This trickery enables them to see the truth about one
another, that all their verbal sparring was a kind of courting, and that they do indeed
love one another. “Is not that strange?” as Benedick asks.

Nothing was also a word used to describe female genitals, as being an absence
(internal, unlike a man’s penis), literally, no thing. The play contains much sexual
punning, for example, from Beatrice in Act Two Scene One, where she puns on a man
having good legs and feet (which could in the 16th century refer to penis), and speaks
of men being cuckolded by their wives. Leonato warns her that she won’t get a husband
“if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue.”

The fact that a woman could use such sexual innuendo was shocking enough for these
lines to be cut in some pre- 20th century performances of the play. in a play where a
woman’s worth, unlike a man’s, is dependent upon her virginity in marriage, the pun in
the title of the play reminds us of a double standard whereby a woman, like Hero, could
easily become nothing, a thing of no value.

REFERENCES

http://www.markedbyteachers.com/study-guides/much-ado-about-nothing/themes/

QUOTES QUOTE EXPLANATION

Theme Reference and Section that needs to

be copied
3.1.1 The Ideal of Social Grace and https://ozziessay.com.au/essay-on-learn-
social performance society-messina-much-ado-nothing/

Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Much ado

about Nothing is set in the seaport town of
Messina, in Sicily. The play tells the story of
Claudio, a knight of Aragon, Hero whom he
falls in love with, her sharp cousin Beatrice and
her male counterpart Benedick. The comedy of
Much ado about Nothing derives from the
characters themselves and the etiquette of the
highly mannered society in which they live. The
social order of Messina is governed by
respectability, convention, fashion and
tradition. Artificial gender roles, eavesdropping
and fashion are the matter of which Messinan
society is constituted, however frivolity, light-
heartedness, flirtation and heroism are all also
present giving Messina an altogether rather
complex and multifaceted culture, and were it
not for the deceit, lies and Denigrations of Don
Jon, the antagonist of the play, and bastard
brother of the regal Don Pedro, then the play
would nothing but be a comedy, the plot itself
being carried by a series of misunderstandings
or ‘notings’.
These ‘notings’ are a prominent theme in the
play, and provide the foundation for a great
deal of the narrative of Much ado about
Nothing, that in fact at the time would have
been pronounced Much ado about Noting,
which may be why the actions of observing,
listening and overhearing to the brink of
eavesdropping are participated in by so many
of the character’s of the play, in view of the fact
that in order for a plot centralise on instances
of deceit to proceed then the characters must
note one another constantly.
Messina’s situation as a seaport also allowed
Shakespeare for a broader diversity of
character to be introduced and established in
the play, since historically seaports would have
been viewed and regarded by Elizabethans as
locales habituated by extensive varieties of
people. The town seems very hospitable,
welcomingly accommodating the returning
soldiers with joy and enthusiasm

The hierarchy of the society is structured in

such a way that the more respectable figures
of the city are higher at the top of the social
ladder than those who contribute little to the
society or are lower ranked in terms of family,
demeanour or jobs or duties. The governor of
Messina Leonato is the highest ranked citizen
of Messina and is responsible for being host to
Don Pedro and his knights in their month-long
presence in his city, with characters such as
Dogberry and Verges towards the lower. The
rank order of Messina itself is very similarly
arranged to the feudal system of medieval
England, with Leonato here assuming the role
of a baron as governor of the locality.

Messina’s depiction as a society of agreeable

terms is furthered with the entertainment that is
provided by the city, and the active
participation of its participants in recreating in
leisurely activities. The implementation of
Balthasar’s songs and the masked ball itself
shows the happiness that the people of
Messina allowed themselves to indulge in, and
shows Messina to be a jocular, light-hearted
locale, and in being so fits the criterion for the
setting of Much ado about Nothing even better.

The assortment of character in the play in

terms of their social standing and bearing
ranging from the royalty of Don Pedro to the
likes of the comic night-watch characters of
Dogberry and Verges And immediately, this
miscellany of character presupposes a mixture
of moral principles and complexity of ethics.
Shakespeare uses this idea to embody each of
the characters in ‘Much ado about Nothing’
with dissimilar and different personalities and
traits unique only to them and as such each
character symbolises and portrays different
aspects of Messinan society, whether it be
conventional or not.

The gender conflict is also strongly present

throughout controlling much of the action and
dialogue and unveiling characteristics of the
society that otherwise would have remained
undetermined. The continuous battle between
Beatrice and Benedick is a battle of the sexes
and provides one of the prominent themes of
the play. This revolves around gender roles
and the differences between man and woman.
Through Beatrice and Benedick, this theme is
enacted in playfully antagonistic terms. At the
very start of the play Leonato says to the
messenger bringing word that Benedick will
soon arrive in Messina’s court:

“You must not mistake my niece. There is a

kind of merry war betwixt Signor Benedick and
her; they never meet but there’s a skirmish of
wit between them.”

Beatrice’s non-conformist character and the

fact that she plays does not play an important
role only within the play but also in Leonato’s
court shows that Messina situates itself in a
position to accord importance to people like
Beatrice who are the exceptions rather than
the rule, thus the society in a way leaves itself
open to possibilities and as such may be
perceived as tolerant.

In Historical context men of the time were

expected to be chivalrous and also abide by
codes of honour as well as other unspoken
rules of social demeanour. Men were seen as
higher than women as is evidenced in the play
with the giving away of Hero to Claudio as
though she were property and her ownership
merely exchanged hands, and women weren’t
supposed to get involved in the purported
affairs of men and were instead meant to keep
to themselves and maintain a maiden-like
image. When Antonio says –

“Well, niece, I trust you will be ruled by your

father”

– in regards to gender roles and relationships

in the 16th Century we are reminded that
women were the recessive of the two genders
and were controlled by the leading male figures
in their lives. Either their fathers of their
husbands. Save Beatrice who is the main
exception to these social conducts, everybody
conforms in the play to these mannerisms, thus
exemplifying the fact that a person’s
appearance and fa�ade in Messina were of
great importance.

This changed however when the two sexes

were segregated for the gulling of Beatrice and
Benedick. In particular Hero becomes a far
more dominating character within an all-female
environment and her previous image is shown
to be an act. To a lesser extent also Don Pedro
and Claudio converse much more freely and
unreservedly when they are alone in contrast
to when they are in public view. It is only when
alone that Claudio professes his love for Hero.

The register of characters when they talk to

one another varies greatly from the two ends
of the spectrum from the overly formal and
cordial in Leonato’s case – almost to an
artificial extent – to the common and coarse
amongst characters more familiar with one
another.

Imagery is made much use of in the language

of the Messinans, with metaphors and similes
being used frequently in their speech, notably
with the men of the play using hunting and
fighting descriptions in much of their dialogue,
evidencing (in the case of the gentry of the
play) Their leisure pursuits as knights and
noblemen.

These pursuits in fact would have been parallel

to those of an individual of equivalent rank in
Elizabethan England and as such would have
conformed to the expectations that the
audience of the era would have had of each of
Shakespeare’s characters. The gentry of the
play recreate in ‘manly’ interests, shown by the
fact that they have all just returned from war,
and also that the ideas of chivalry and honour
are embodied and exemplified in all the
returning knights. (Don Jon and Borachio being
the two exceptions) in particular, Benedick’s
challenge to Claudio for a duel in response to
Hero’s disgrace illustrates these ideas.

Religion also plays an integral role in the

culture of the Messinans. Although the society
in which Much ado about Nothing is set cannot
be described as religiously strict, religion is
nonetheless highly regarded amongst the
people of the city, particularly when its rules or
conventions are broken. Hero’s disgrace at the
altar is the perfect example of this, when under
the false pretence that she was not a virgin
Claudio, instead of marrying, dishonours and
humiliates her in public. Her shame is
portrayed as not only hers to bear, but also a
burden upon her family as is evidenced with
her father’s, Leonato’s, disgust at his own
daughter and his acute inclination that in her
infidelity she would be better off dead.

“Hence from her, let her die”

His speech in blank verse (which also shows

his degree of edification) following his
daughter’s incorrect humiliation illustrates his
immediate and sincere aversion to his own
flesh and blood at the thought of Hero’s
discourtesy, even in lack of sufficient evidence,
and in way also demonstrates his duplicity as
a father.

Leonato appears to be a kind, loving father

throughout the play, however with the disgrace
of Hero a whole other side is brought out of
him. In his speech (Act 4, Scene 1, lines 118-
141) he is presented as egotistical and self-
absorbed (repetitive use of “I” and “My/Mine”)
which contrasts heavily with what was
perceived of him before. His angst uncovers
another face to him and it is a similar sort of
multi-facetedness to this that is shown –
though to a lesser extent – when characters’
personas alter under different circumstances.
An instance of this is the way Hero changes
from being seemingly quiet and conserved at
the start of the play, to being quite frivolous,
light-hearted and less hushed under the
company of those that she is familiar with. The
gulling of Beatrice and Benedick also shows
how differently characters act when under false
beliefs; each acting for what they believe would
be their best interests under different
situations.

The very idea of honour itself is an important

initiative in the society of Messina. The aborted
wedding ceremony, in which Hero is ultimately
vindicated, rejected by Claudio as being
unchaste, displays that a woman’s honour and
repute in Messinan society is principally
governed by the fact that she is a virgin. The
loss of premarital virginity for a woman in the
context of the play and the era in which it was
written, meant the loss of all societal standing
and communal regard, irrecoverably, since
virginity could never be restored, and was seen
as a sign of the woman’s innocence. Moreover
this loss of honour blemished the standing of
an entire household, thus when Leonato
believes Don Pedro’s and Claudio’s
slanderous attack on Hero he endeavours to
destroy her entirely. Her standing irreparably
damaged under the accusations made against
her:

“O she is fallen into a pit of ink that the wide

sea hath drops too few to wash her clean
again”.

On the contrary, the honour and footing of the

men and their families within the ethnicity of
Messina is defendable, albeit on more
militaristic terms, in the form of a duel or battle.
It is this kind of duel that Beatrice persuades
Benedick into avenging Hero’s honour by
fighting Benedick to the death, since as a
woman Hero cannot do it for herself; but as a
man Benedick is in a position to do so. This
motif of female helplessness and
submissiveness to the will of men is evident
throughout the course of the play, and further
suggests that Messinan society is one of
patriarchal values and ideals, much similar to
those already present in Elizabethan England.

Shakespeare conveys the society of Messina

as one where its characters belong to and are
part of a highly stylised, highly conventional
world, in which the mundane parts and
requirements of everyday life weaken into the
backdrop. Shakespeare’s characters are self-
confident, happy, warm-hearted and
affectionate, but their naivet� leaves them
vulnerable to deception. His society is insecure
 and so concerned with outward appearances
that the people are easily deceived and fail to
comprehend the truth, yet at the same time
however Shakespeare manages to maintain a
certain level of familiarity amidst the focal
characters of the play, and keeps the
atmosphere relatively light-hearted, providing
an adequate establishment for the comedy
aspect of the play, with the rhythm of the
Messinans’ lives set by the seasons and the
timeless patterns of birth, Marriage and death.

3.1.2 Deception as a Means to an https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Much-Ado-

End About-Nothing/themes/

Trickery
Trickery and deception abound in Much Ado
About Nothing, and the plots to deceive
piggyback off one another through the end of
the play. Some things, like bringing Beatrice
and Benedick together, are for the good, while
others are purely to harm. Shakespeare
doesn't take a stance on the use of tricks to
achieve a certain goal, but he does show how
once deceptions begin, they're hard to stop:

● Don Pedro pretends to be Claudio

and woos Hero for him.
● Don John tells Claudio Don Pedro is
wooing Hero for himself.
● Beatrice pretends she doesn't know
Benedick is behind the mask and
insults him.
● Don Pedro creates a plan to bring
Beatrice and Benedick together by
making each think one loves the
other.
● Borachio and Don John team up to
make Claudio and Don Pedro think
Hero is unchaste.
● The friar suggests Hero pretend to
be dead to make Claudio and Don
Pedro feel guilty.
● Leonato instructs Claudio to marry
 his niece (who is actually Hero) sight
unseen.

In most instances telling the truth would have

been much simpler and produced a better
outcome. Hero wouldn't have been slandered,
Leonato wouldn't have wished her dead, and
Beatrice and Benedick would have gotten
together before the final scene of the play. But
the truth may not have worked. Benedick and
Beatrice may never have accepted their love
for one another had they not been set up to
overhear fake conversations. And Claudio
refused to listen to Hero when she tried to
defend herself. Shakespeare uses trickery as
a means of showing his characters the truth
when they won't listen.

https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/dec
eption-and-dramatic-irony-in-much-ado-
about-nothing

Deception and dramatic irony in Much Ado

About Nothing
● Article written by:Andrea Varney
● Themes:Deception, drama and
misunderstanding, Comedies
● Published:15 Mar 2016
Although the characters might be fooled by
the many deceptions in the play, the
audience seems to know better, but Andrea
Varney suggests that our role as observers
is more complex and uncertain.
In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare sets
up a fairy-tale contrast between two half-
brothers – Don Pedro and the illegitimate Don
John. As in many plays of this era, the ‘bastard’
is cast as the villain while Don Pedro, the
Prince of Aragon, seems to be the reliable face
of authority in Messina.
Within this symmetrical structure, we might
expect the good Prince to be open and honest,
while Don John and his cronies will be
duplicitous. However, it soon becomes clear
that deception and self-deception, visual and
verbal confusion, are rife everywhere in
Messina – from Don Pedro’s benevolent
schemes to bring two pairs of lovers together,
to Don John’s vindictive plots to pull them
apart.

A ‘plain-dealing villain’ and a disguised

prince

Don Pedro seizes on the idea of ‘disguise’ as

soon as he hears of Claudio’s romantic interest
in Hero. With honest intentions, he offers to
play Claudio’s ‘part’ and woo Hero on his
behalf at the masked ‘revelling’ that evening
(1.1.320–21). By contrast, Don John seems
weary at the thought of disguise. He describes
himself paradoxically as a ‘plain-dealing’ villain
(1.3.32) and declares ‘I cannot hide what I am’
(1.3.13).
Shakespeare takes up this notion in the
tragedy of King Lear, with another pair of half-
brothers. The illegitimate Edmund plots his
father’s overthrow, but honest Edgar disguises
himself as a beggar to be true to Gloucester.
We are forced to recognise that honesty can
be malevolent, disguise can be well meaning,
and seemingly innocent costumes can conceal
dark purposes. In place of clear oppositions,
Shakespeare blurs the lines between truth and
fabrication, identity and performance,
knowledge and misunderstanding.

The masked ball: to ‘know me, and not

know me’

Rather than moralising on the evils of

deception, the masked ball in Much Ado About
Nothing encourages us, from the outset, to
relish the joy of trickery. With its
choreographed couples and theatrical display,
the ‘revelling’ is a sanctioned part of the
elegant world of Messina, just as masks were
part of the social fabric in Venice and
elsewhere in Europe, when Shakespeare was
writing. Reassured by the feeling that we’re in
league with the Prince, we relax and enjoy the
confusion from our privileged place on the
sidelines. Applauding Shakespeare’s
masterful use of dramatic irony, we take
mischievous pleasure in knowing more than
those on stage.
In this topsy-turvy world, there is a constant
sense of paradox and playful contradiction:
people tell home truths under cover of masks,
and truth is misread as deception. Beatrice
insults Benedick, pretending not to know it’s
him: ‘She told me, not thinking I had been
myself, that I was the Prince’s jester’ (2.1.242–
43). But we suspect that she said it precisely
because she knew who she was talking to. In
fact, Benedick notes that it’s possible, at the
same time, to ‘know … and not know’ a person
in Messina (2.1.204).
Concealed behind his ‘visor’ (2.1.86), Don
Pedro speaks of love to Hero, and we later
learn that she has accepted him ‘in [Claudio’s]
name’ (2.1.274). Both Borachio and Don John,
‘know’ which man is Claudio, but pretend to
think he’s Benedick. Fooled into thinking his
disguise has worked, Claudio says, ‘You know
me well I am he’. Don John then maliciously
claims that Don Pedro wooed Hero ‘for
himself’, saying he ‘heard him swear his
affection’ (2.1.162–74).

‘Trust no agent’

In a world where the grounds for knowledge

seem so shifting and uncertain, characters
rightly mistrust what they see and hear.
Convinced that his friend has betrayed him,
Claudio vows to ‘Let every eye negotiate for
himself / And trust no agent’ (2.1.178–79). He
wants direct, reliable proof, but this very idea is
prompted by the unreliable words of Don John.
The terms ‘know’, ‘proof’ and ‘truth’ echo
throughout the play, but so do ‘fashion’, ‘show’
and ‘seeming’. Words and surface
appearances are the ‘agents’ people must use
to ‘negotiate’ their understanding of the world,
but they’re fraught with double meaning.
As the plot unravels, it becomes more and
more clear that the social and verbal graces
enacted at the court are a thin and self-
conscious performance. Claudio’s seemingly
honourable character, his stiff proposals of
‘love’ (1.1.211), seem insincere and empty
when we see how willingly he and the Prince
will take on their brutal role in publicly shaming
Hero (3.2.113).

The parallel garden scenes

In looking for deception, the characters

repeatedly get things wrong, seeing trickery
where there is none, and proof when they’re
being deceived. This has near-tragic results
later when Hero is wrongly maligned on the
basis of Don John’s deceptions, but it is
brilliantly played for comedy in the parallel
garden scenes ‘directed’ by Don Pedro
(2.1.370). Like the masked ball, the concealed
arbours of Messina’s gardens are part of the
Prince’s refined world, but a perfect stage for
dissembling.
The friends conspire to bring Benedick and
Beatrice ‘into a mountain of affection’
(2.1.367), by convincing them each loves the
other but is desperate to hide it. They exploit
the idea of deceptive appearances to suggest
that Beatrice’s feelings are at odds with her
‘outward behaviours’ (2.3.97). Benedick
begins to suspect a ‘gull’, but dismisses it on
the basis that the ‘white-bearded fellow speaks
it’ (2.3.118–19). He mistakes his friends’
deceptions for ‘truth’ (2.3.222) but, convinced
that Beatrice loves him, he sees ‘double
meaning’ in her insults, when there is none
intended (2.3.258).
The ‘same net’ is soon ‘spread’ (2.3.213–14)
for Beatrice as she hides in the ‘pleached
bower’ to eavesdrop on Hero and Ursula
(3.1.7). There is joy in seeing ‘modest’ Hero
(2.1.375) come to life as a skilled accomplice
for Don Pedro, and humour in seeing the
cynics give in to the idea of love.

Marriage as ‘merely a dumb-show’

However, at this point in the play, our own trust

in Don Pedro might begin to waver. There is a
sense of unease when Beatrice talks so quickly
of ‘taming [her] wild heart’ to Benedick’s ‘loving
hand’ (3.1.112). The use of hunting imagery –
‘angling’, ‘traps’, ‘treacherous bait’ (3.1.26;
106; 28) – suggests that something strong and
free has been captured and constrained. The
puns and double entendres, the ‘skirmish of
wit’ (1.1.63) between Benedick and Beatrice
somehow seem more genuine than Claudio’s
stiff clichés as he tries to talk ‘like a lover’
(1.1.306). We have mixed feelings about the
witty pair submitting to those same
conventions.
Perhaps more importantly, despite our vantage
point, we can no longer be quite sure of what
we’ve seen. Have Benedick and Beatrice been
playfully tricked into admitting their true
feelings? Or have these merry rebels been
duped into marriage for their friends’
entertainment? Indeed, the very idea of true
love now seems open to question, as it
becomes just another role to play. Using
theatrical language, Don Pedro hints that their
‘dotage’ might be ‘merely a dumb-show’, a
strangely silent performance (2.3.218).

Much ado about noting

At the heart of these garden scenes is a trivial

exchange which subtly highlights the difficulty
of reading outward signs. Preparing to play his
song, Balthasar juggles with the word ‘note’:
‘There’s not a note of mine that’s worth the
noting,’ and Don Pedro takes up the word-play,
‘Notes, notes, forsooth, and nothing’ (2.3.54–
57).
By echoing the play’s title, Much Ado About
Nothing, Shakespeare makes us sit up and
take notice, revealing the double meaning at
the heart of the play. On the one hand, the title
suggests that the plot is a fuss about nothing –
a series of deceptions which turn out to be
untrue. Yet ‘nothing’ in Shakespeare’s England
could also be used bawdily for a woman’s lack
of a penis, and the play involves much ‘ado’
about women and sex. Most importantly,
‘nothing’ at this time was pronounced the same
as ‘noting’ – meaning paying attention or taking
note.
These puns emphasise the need for us, in our
role as observers, to ‘note’ things carefully,
interpreting what we see, not trusting first
impressions. But because ‘noting’ and
‘nothing’ are so similar, they also unsettle our
faith in being able to tell what’s meaningful and
what’s nonsense. Balthasar’s song reminds us
that ‘Men were deceivers ever’ (2.3.63). Words
and appearances, in the theatre and the real
world, are open to manipulation.

Villainous plots: ‘What men daily do, not

knowing what they do!’

As the mood shifts from comedy to corruption,

this becomes all the more crucial – since noting
and misreading, seeming and dissembling
become a matter of life and death. Borachio
talks coldly of his plans to ‘cross’ Hero and
Claudio’s marriage by providing ‘proof enough
to misuse the Prince, to vex Claudio, to undo
Hero and kill Leonato’ (2.2.28–29). He will
stage a scene at Hero’s chamber window, with
Margaret wooing Borachio while dressed in
‘Hero’s garments’ (5.1.238), to make Hero
seem disloyal. Don John directs the
performance and his audience falls for it.
As in earlier comic scenes, there is a heavy
irony in the characters’ misplaced distrust as
well as their misplaced conviction. Don John
plays on the idea – so common at this time –
that women are artful deceivers, and Claudio
readily believes that Hero hides her ‘cunning
sin’ beneath a convincing ‘show of truth’
(4.1.35–36). Aware of the dangers of ‘seeming’
and ‘exterior shows’ (4.1.40; 56), he
misinterprets Don John’s false show as proof
of Hero’s deception. Having savoured the irony
of the characters’ errors in previous scenes, we
now look on in horror as the innocent Hero is
denounced as a ‘rotten orange’ at her own
wedding ceremony (4.1.32).
Crucially also, Don Pedro is deceived. He
confirms his brother’s lies, saying, ‘Myself, my
brother, and this grieved Count / Did see her,
hear her … last night’ (4.1.89–90). As the
Prince joins in the slander, our former sense of
allegiance to him as a well-meaning trickster
becomes morally problematic. He seems to be
not just the victim of his brother’s deceptions
but also a guilty party. The failings of the
witnesses on stage alert us to our own failings
as observers, and we feel we have misjudged
things.

The Watch

Through careful ‘noting of the lady’, the Friar

sees the truth, realising that Hero ‘is guiltless’
(4.1.158; 168). But rather than providing a new
model for honesty and integrity, he also uses
deception as a means to achieve good ends.
Suggesting that they should ‘publish it’ that
Hero ‘is dead indeed,’ he hopes to prompt
Claudio to change ‘slander’ for ‘remorse’
(4.1.204; 211). Initially, Don Pedro continues to
trust his own eyes, insisting that Hero ‘was
charg’d with nothing / But what was true, and
very full of proof’ (5.1.104–05).
But the tragedy is deflected by the naïve
‘Watch’, whose name suggests their important
role in observation and noting. The truth of
Hero’s innocence is uncovered by those who
appear the least discerning. Borachio
confesses, ‘I have deceived even your very
eyes: What your wisdoms could not discover,
these shallow fools have brought to light’
(5.1.232–34).
So the Friar’s plan is successful, but perhaps
the damage is done. It’s hard to accept
Claudio’s claim that he ‘sinn’d’ only in
‘mistaking’ (5.1.273–74). Misinterpretation no
longer seems a simple error but a potentially
murderous action.

‘Let’s have a dance ere we are married’

Even as these things come to light, there is one

final deception. Hero’s father Leonato offers
Claudio a second chance at marriage, saying
‘My brother hath a daughter/ Almost the copy
of my child that’s dead’ (5.1.288–89). Hero is
instructed to ‘come hither masked’ (5.4.12),
pretending to be her own cousin. The comic
resolution promised by a wedding will be no
more authentic than the rest of the play.
Claudio first chose Hero by noting her looks: ‘In
mine eye, she is the sweetest lady that ever I
look’d on’ (1.1.186–87; 162). He then
misjudged her as a ‘common stale’ (4.1.65) by
relying on appearances. As a punishment, he
must now commit to his bride without seeing
‘her face’ first (5.4.54–55). Rather than being
revealed in all her innocence, Hero is accepted
on the basis that she’s someone else. This
marriage seems uncomfortably close to the
earlier masked ball, where Hero agreed to a
proposal from a man in disguise – perhaps
Claudio, perhaps Don Pedro. And it highlights
the fact that nuptial arrangements in Messina
revolve around a polite pretence. Words said
in ‘the name of love’ (1.1.300) disguise the
need to secure a profitable ‘alliance’ (2.1.318).
Although it is a stage-trick, the wedding is also
very much like a real marriage in early modern
Italy. Cesare Vecellio’s costume guide (1598)
shows how brides in Venice were masked by a
black veil before their wedding. Marriage – Don
Pedro’s excuse for all the benign deception –
seems tainted by the idea of duplicity and
theatrical double dealing.

‘The author of all’ deception

The comedy is also compromised by the fact

that ‘Don John’, the supposed ‘author of all’ the
deception, is ‘fled and gone’ from Messina
(5.2.98–99). The villain is still at large,
reinforcing Balthasar’s warning that men are
‘deceivers ever’.
Perhaps more disconcertingly though, the
word ‘author’ might remind us that it is not Don
John, but Shakespeare who planned the
deceptions in the play. Theatre itself is
implicated in the many false shows we’ve
witnessed. Through dramatic irony, we were
lulled into believing that we could see beyond
the costumes. But as the play draws to a close,
it’s hard to feel so confident that we can tell
proof from performance.

https://redruth.s3.amazonaws.com/upload
s/document/Eng-Much-ado-quotes-
1.pdf?ts=1530110338

‘I will assume thy part in some disguise and

tell fair Hero I am Claudio.’ Don Pedro (Act 1
Scene 1)
‘I cannot hide what I am.’ Don John (Act 1
Scene 3)

‘This can be no trick … Love me? Why, it

must be requited!’ Benedick (Act 2 Scene 3)

‘I know not that, when he knows what I know.’

Don John (Act 3 Scene 2)

‘Of this matter is little Cupid’s crafty arrow

made, that only wounds by heresay.’ Hero
(Act 3 Scene 1)

‘If you love her then, tomorrow wed her. But it

would better fit your honour to change your
mind.’ Don John (Act 3 Scene 2)

‘Call me a fool … if this sweet lady lie not

guiltless here under some biting error.’ Friar
Francis (Act 4 Scene 1)

‘When I send for you, come hither masked.’

Leonato (Act 5 Scene 4)

‘The sight whereof I think you had from me,

from Claudio and the prince.’ Leonato (Act 5
Scene 4)

http://ascliterature.blogspot.com/2011/02/b
etrayal-in-much-ado-about-nothing.html

Betrayal in Much Ado About Nothing

Betrayal is a theme introduced at the beginning
of the play. How does this constant stream of
betrayal affect the outcome of the plot and
which character is most affected.

Betrayal is a recurring theme in the play Much

Ado About Nothing. Betrayal is defined as “to
disappoint the hopes or expectations of; be
disloyal to deceive, misguide or corrupt.” The
theme ties to the main theme which is
deception. It is through deception the
characters in the play are betrayed. Characters
in the play that were betrayed are: Hero,
Claudio, Margaret, Don Pedro, and Don John.
Hero one of the main characters in the play
was betrayed by Claudio, her fiancé on their
wedding day. He betrayed Hero by
disappointing her hopes or expectations at
their wedding. He also betrayed their love by
leaving her at the alter. After finding out about
a woman whom he thought was hero and a
ruffian who is later found out to be Boraachio
in Hero’s room doing vile acts; by not inquiring
properly Claudio embarrassed Hero on their
wedding day and left without sufficient
knowledge. As a result of Claudio’s hastiness
Hero had great heartache and fainted when
she tried to defend herself briefly against her
father’s accusation that were fuelled with the
sworn promise for Don Pedro that he as
Claudio has seen her in her room at midnight
with another man. She was also unintentionally
betrayed by Margaret her woman in waiting.
This was done when Margaret decided not to
speak out when Claudio was accusing Hero of
infidelity. Even when he asked her who was in
her room at 12 the night before the wedding
she did not speak up then or when she realised
that it was her who had been seen in the Hero’s
room.

Margaret though was betrayed by

Borachio when he used her the night before
the wedding to pretend to be Hero with another
man. She was not aware that anyone could
see her while she was in Hero’s room with him.
He betrayed her trust and her privacy by using
her in the plot to ruin Claudio and Hero’s
wedding day and by letting others see while
they were together in Hero’s room.

Claudio’s betrayal of Hero was great the

betrayal of their love stemmed from the night
when Claudio saw a woman and a man in her
bedroom window, Claudio was betrayed by
Don John as well as a Borachio. Though
Borachio and Claudio were not close friends
Claudio had no reason not to trust him so his
trust him so his trust was betrayed. Don John
who was his friend betrayed him. He knew that
Claudio and Hero were in love and in his quest
for being a villain he decided to ruin their
relationship.

Don John was betrayed by Borachio

who was his follower when he admitted to
being apart of Don John’s Plot to ruin Hero and
Claudio’s relationship. By doing so he betrayed
Don John by declaring that it was Don John’s
idea and that he was the mastermind behind
the scheme, this was a betrayal of his loyalty
to Don John.

Don Pedro, the brother to Don John

was most affected by betrayal. He was
betrayed by his brother who aided in the
ruining of Hero and Claudio’s relationship.
Even though Don John had been problematic
and conniving in the past his brother decided
to forgive him. He regained Don Pedro’s favour
and when he went to both Claudio and Don
 Pedro to announce that Hero was in her
bedroom with another man they did not believe
him at first but when they went to look
themselves they were surprised at what they
saw. Never did they think that it was all apart
of his scheme or did they ever question his
intentions. As a brother Don Pedro would not
have expected him to be a villain he saw the
best in his brother that he could but was
betrayed by his own family which caused him
to be the most affected.

Betrayal affects the plot in Much Ado

About Nothing. The concept of the play is that
much disaster and strife is caused from
betrayal and deceit. When persons are made
aware of what went on they realised all the fuss
was over something that might have been
prevented. Nothing at all. Betrayal was only a
deterrent in what was to be the happy ending
that took place. After all the deceit the plot
turned out the way it should have had it not
have been for the betrayal in it.

3.1.3 The Importance of Honor https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Much-Ado-

About-Nothing/themes/

Honor
Honor is the most important theme of Much
Ado About Nothing, and it's depicted in a few
different ways. The first type of honor is the
adherence to what is right as a means of
protecting one's reputation. This is most often
seen in Claudio. When Hero's chastity is
called into question, Claudio publicly scorns
her to protect his own honor. He would rather
let Hero die than be linked to an unvirtuous
woman. The same goes for Don Pedro, who
does not want to be remembered for helping
forge the romance between the young lovers
once Hero's virtue is questioned. Both Don
Pedro and Claudio denounce Hero to protect
their reputations. Though it may not seem like
the nicest decision, it fits within the moral
code of Elizabethan society.

The second type of honor is chivalric honor,

which holds men are obligated to protect the
wronged, the ill, and the inferior (as a woman,
Hero fits into the first and third categories). To
defend Hero's reputation, Benedick risks his
own and his friendships as well. More
importantly he's defending the honor of
Leonato's entire family, particularly Beatrice.
He uses his honor to protect her from shame
and sadness, as well as to show her how
much he cares about her.

The third type of honor in Much Ado About

Nothing is a woman's honor, which is called
into question in the play. In this sense honor
is a synonym for chastity or virtue. Women
were held to much higher standards than men
in the Elizabethan era, and they were
expected to remain chaste until married.
Failing to do so would harm the reputation of
the woman in question. Her dishonor also
reflected poorly on the woman's family,
particularly her father. When Hero's honor is
called into question, so is Leonato's, for it was
his duty to ensure she remained chaste. He,
like Claudio and Don Pedro, has a lot to lose
if Hero is proven to be unchaste. Everyone
else's reputation depends on hers.

https://redruth.s3.amazonaws.com/upload
s/document/Eng-Much-ado-quotes-
1.pdf?ts=1530110338

‘I find here that Don Pedro hath bestowed

much honour on a young Florentine called
Claudio.’ Leonato (Act 1 Scene1)

‘Truly the lady fathers herself. — Be happy,

lady, for you are like an honourable father.’
Don Pedro (Act 1 Scene 1)

‘None but libertines delight in him, and the

commendation is not in his wit but in his
villainy.’ Beatrice (Act 2 Scene 1)

‘Contempt, farewell and maiden pride adieu!

No glory lives behind the back of such.’
Beatrice (Act 3 Scene 1)

‘Give not this rotten orange to your friend.

She’s but the sign and semblance of her
honour.’ Claudio (Act 4 Scene 1)

‘You seem to me as Dian in her orb, as

chaste as is the bud ere it be blown.’ Claudio
(Act 4 Scene 1)

‘I stand dishonoured that have gone about to

link my friend to a common stale.’ Don Pedro
(Act 4 Scene 1)

‘ … the life that died with shame lives in death

with glorious fame.’ Claudio (Act 5 Scene 3)

‘One Hero died defiled, but I do live. And

surely as I live, I am a maid.’ Hero (Act 5
Scene 4)

http://www.markedbyteachers.com/study-
guides/much-ado-about-nothing/themes/
(honour and double standard)

\The Two Sides of Honour in Shakespeare’s

“Much Ado about Nothing”
In the patriarchal society of Much Ado about

Nothing honour forms an integral part of the

lives of men and women. The establishment

and defence of honour is however gendered.

The different standards and codes of honour

for men and women will be analysed by looking

at chastity, duelling, courage and the way

society forms a person’s self-definition. In the

play Shakespeare uses the main characters to

illustrate the theme of honour. The manner in

which honour was established and defended in

the Elizabethan period is demonstrated

through Hero’s chastity, Claudio’s social

status, duelling by Benedick and the indirect

defence of Hero’s honour through Beatrice.

The establishment of honour can be seen

through the characters, Hero and Claudio- the

conventional lovers. A woman’s honour was

commonly based on her associations with men

like her father and husband. Hero is the

daughter of the governor of Messina and the

only heir to her family. Like Hero, a woman’s

personal honour was derived from her chastity,

purity and ability to control her sexuality. The

importance of a woman’s chastity is

emphasized through Claudio’s immediate

question about Hero’s purity: “Is she not a

modest young lady?” (1.1.158). Throughout

the play the men continuously make jokes

about cuckoldry und unfaithful women which

indicates the anxiety, fear and distrust men

have of women’s faithfulness and purity. These

insecurities is what causes Claudio to

immediately believe the lie Don John tells him

about Hero’s sexuality.

A typical Elizabethan man’s honour as

illustrated by Claudio is through his reputation

and his good name in society. In the beginning

of the play Claudio’s admirable achievements

during the war cause “Don Pedro… [to]

bestow[] much honour on [the] young

Florentine called Claudio” (1.1.7-8). Claudio’s

honour is established through his bravery at

war, because in society an honourable man

has valour, courage and a favourable social

status. Thus through Hero and Claudio the

differences in the establishment of honour is

shown: men uses language and behaviour to

construct honour while women’s honour is

based on their virginity.

The defence of honour can be seen through

Beatrice and Benedick- the unconventional

lovers. To defend your honour you first need to

be dishonoured. In the play Hero’s is accused

and slandered for supposed sexual

promiscuity. This denunciation of Hero not only

dishonours Hero, but Claudio believes his

social status has been tainted and that he has

become his worst fear- a cuckold. Hero’s name

is slandered through Claudio’s harsh words

towards her chastity by calling her a “rotten

orange” (4.1.27), and an “approved wanton”

(4.1.40). Infidelity is the ultimate betrayal

according to Claudio and the Elizabethan

society and is the cause for Claudio’s wounded

self-esteem. The supposed cuckolded Claudio

has been dishonoured, because in the

patriarchal system in this society, a woman’s

sexuality was a man’s private possession and

an extension of the man’s pride.

In the Elizabethan period women were not able

to defend their honour. Therefore, Beatrice

confronts, manipulates and influences

Benedick to defend Hero’s honour and avenge

the wrongdoings that Claudio has commit

against her cousin. Beatrice challenges

 Benedick with the bold statement to “kill

Claudio” (4.1.276). Benedick is persuaded and

he challenges Claudio to a duel to resurrect

Hero’s previous untainted self-image. Beatrice

needs a man to do her bidding and redeem

Hero’s honour where as men like Claudio and

Benedick could challenge someone to a duel

to defend their honour.

Much Ado about Nothing explores the inner

workings of honour in the patriarchal society of

Messina by dwelling into the major

establishments and destructions of honour.

The play shows how men’s honour is a matter

of reputation and social standards and how

women’s honour is based on their sexuality

and the status of their male family members.

While a duel between Benedick and Claudio

can answers the questions of their honour, a

women needs to rely on men and their

modesty to redeem their honour and virtue.

These two sides of honour is portrayed

perfectly in Much Ado about Nothing.

3.1.4 Love and Masquerade https://redruth.s3.amazonaws.com/upload

s/document/Eng-Much-ado-quotes-
1.pdf?ts=1530110338
Leonato: ‘You will never run mad, niece.’
Beatrice: ‘No, not till a hot January.’ (Act 1
Scene 1)

‘I had rather hear a dog bark at a crow than

hear a man say he loves me.’ Beatrice (Act 1
Scene 1)

‘Friendship is constant in all other things save

in the office and affairs of love.’ Claudio (Act 2
Scene 1)

‘She cannot love, nor take no shape nor

project of affection, she is so selfendeared.’
Hero (Act 3 Scene 1)

‘If it prove so, then loving goes by haps; Some

Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps.’ Hero
(Act 3 Scene 1)

‘I do love nothing in the world so well as you.

Is not that strange?’ Benedick (Act 4 Scene 1)

‘I love you with so much of my heart that none

is left to protest.’ Beatrice (Act 4 Scene 1)

‘Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear in

the rare semblance that I loved it first.’
Claudio (Act 5 Scene 1)

‘Suffer love! … I do suffer love indeed for I

love thee against my will.’ Benedick (Act 4
Scene 2)

‘I would scarce trust myself, though I had

sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife.’
Claudio (Act 1 Scene 1)

‘Daughter, remember what I told you. If the

Prince do solicit you in that kind, you know
your answer.’ Leonato (Act 2 Scene 1)

‘I would not marry her though she were

endowed with all that Adam had left him
before he transgressed.’ Benedick (Act 2
Scene 1)

‘No! The world must be peopled. When I said

I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should
live till I were married.’ Benedick (Act 2 Scene
3)

‘God give me joy to wear it, for my heart is

exceeding heavy.’ Hero (Act 3 Scene 4)

‘Is not marriage honourable in a beggar? Is

not your lord honourable without marriage?’
Margaret (Act 3 Scene 4)

‘My brother hath a daughter … Give her the

right you should have giv’n her cousin, and so
dies my revenge.’ Leonato (Act 5 Scene 1)

‘Friar, I must entreat thee for thy pains … to

bind me, or undo me, one of them.’ Benedick
(Act 5 Scene 4)

‘Let’s have a dance ere we are married, that

may lighten our own hearts and our wives’
heels.’ Benedick (Act 5 Scene 4)

http://www.markedbyteachers.com/study-
guides/much-ado-about-nothing/themes/

Love and marriage

The main contrast in the play is between the

witty, intelligent, quick-fire wordplay of Beatrice
and Benedick, and the conventional, rather
bland, vows of devotion between Hero and
Claudio. In the latter case, there is a particular
irony, since Claudio is so easily deceived about
his beloved’s behaviour that he publicly
humiliates her when the wedding is about to
take place. Hero has to simulate her own death
before this marriage can take place, and then,
only after Claudio has accepted an unknown
woman as his bride!

There is a kind of equality in the relationship of

Beatrice and Benedick which the relatively dull
personalities of Hero and Claudio cannot
possibly match. Each gives as good as they
get. Benedick no sooner tells her she is a rare
parrot-teacher, (someone whose empty
repetition could easily be copied by a parrot),
than she comes back with “A bird of my tongue
is better than a beast of yours,” – better an
eloquent bird of her kind than a dumb beast like
his! They continue to duel with wit throughout
the play, until their mutual feelings are brought
into the open. This is a mature, balanced
relationship, a true basis for marriage. Hero
and Claudio, by comparison, seem flat, one-
dimensional, which is why we barely see them
talking to one another, and when they do it’s
often in verse, which in this play, lacks the
vitality and credibility of prose.

https://artscolumbia.org/artists/william-
shakespeare/shakespeare-challenges-the-
notion-of-conventional-marriage-in-much-
ado-about-nothing-using-the-characters-
of-beatrice-and-benedick-49852/
3.1.6 Language, Perception and https://www.coursehero.com/lit/Much-Ado-
Reality About-Nothing/themes/

Language
Language is important in any piece of literature,
but it's especially significant in Much Ado About
Nothing. Language distinguishes social status,
separates the comic from the serious, and serves as
both weapon and balm. The latter is most notable
in the ongoing "merry war" between Benedick and
Beatrice. From Act 1, Scene 1 they twist one
another's words into insults and barbs. They are
both quick on their feet and even quicker with
their tongues, and their wit distinguishes them as
the most intelligent of their group. Yet language
can be hurtful, and Benedick compares Beatrice's
words to stabs. It's an apt metaphor, as Beatrice
uses language to protect her heart from falling in
love with Benedick again. When they are tricked
into loving one another, the sharp jabs relax into
playful banter peppered with "Sweet Beatrice" and
"Alas, poor heart." Beatrice and Benedick
maintain their witty repartee throughout the
wooing phase, simply softening their words into
those of love.

Language is also an indicator of social class in

Much Ado About Nothing. The high-born nobles
such as Don Pedro, Beatrice, and Leonato all
speak gracefully, even when telling dirty jokes.
Characters of the serving class, including
Margaret, use language not as refined. Margaret,
in particular, tries to match Beatrice's wit, but her
delivery isn't nearly as smooth. The plainest
language comes from the working class,
represented by the watch. They don't sugarcoat
sentiments with extra words or syllables. That's
left up to Dogberry, who basically destroys the
English language in an attempt to seem more
important than he really is. He wants to be
respected by his inferiors, the watchmen, and his
superior, Leonato, so he uses big words he doesn't
understand, a verbal style frequently associated
with social climbers who then end up looking
foolish.

Language is also used to delineate the difference

between comedy and tragedy in Much Ado About
Nothing. The majority of the play is written in
prose, but the tragic parts—for example, when
Claudio is accusing Hero of being unchaste—are
written in verse. This shift signals to the audience
that the tone of the play is changing. For the most
part Claudio and Hero speak in verse, while
Beatrice and Benedick speak in prose.

https://redruth.s3.amazonaws.com/upload
s/document/Eng-Much-ado-quotes-
1.pdf?ts=1530110338

‘I pray you, is Signior Mountanto returned

from the wars or no?’ Beatrice (Act 1 Scene
1)

‘I would my horse had the speed of your

tongue.’ Benedick (Act 1 Scene 1)

‘I thank you. I am not of many words but I

 thank you.’ Don John (Act 1 Scene 1)

‘She told me, not thinking I had been myself,

that I was the Prince’s jester.’ Benedick (Act 2
Scene 1)

‘Speak low if you speak love.’ Don Pedro (Act

2 Scene 1)

‘There’s a double meaning in that.’ Benedick

(Act 2 Scene 3)

‘bid her steal into the pleachèd bower where

honeysuckles ripened by the sun forbid the
sun to enter.’ Hero (Act 3 Scene 1)

‘The body of your discourse is sometime

guarded with fragments.’ Benedick (Act 1
Scene 1)

‘… secondarily, they are slanderers; sixth and

lastly, they have belied a lady.’ Dogberry (Act
5 Scene1)

3.1.7 Gender Politics https://redruth.s3.amazonaws.com/upload

s/document/Eng-Much-ado-quotes-
1.pdf?ts=1530110338

‘Didst thou note the daughter of Signior

Leonato?’ Claudio (Act 1 Scene 1)

‘Or would you have me speak after my

custom, as being a professed tyrant to their
sex?’ Benedick (Act 1 Scene 1)

‘It is my cousin’s duty to make curtsy and say

‘Father’, as it please you.’ Beatrice (Act 2
Scene 1)

‘No, uncle, I’ll none. Adam’s sons are my

brethren, and truly I hold it a sin to match in
my kindred.’ Beatrice (Act 2 Scene 1)

‘Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, men

were deceivers ever.’ Balthasar (Act 2 Scene
3)
‘… but till all graces be in one woman, one
woman shall not come in my grace.’ Benedick
(Act 2 Scene 3)

‘Oh God! That I were a man. I would eat his

heart in the marketplace.’ Beatrice (Act 4
Scene 1)

‘manhood is melted into curtsies, valor into

compliment.’ Beatrice (Act 4 Scene 1)

‘Oh, God defend me! How am I beset! —

What kind of catechising call you this?’ Hero
(Act 4 Scene 1)

https://katieterbeest.weebly.com/much-
ado-about-nothing--gender-roles.html

Much Ado About Nothing is one of

Shakespeare’s more popular plays, a comedy
loved by many, and produced still to this day.
However, behind all the wordplay,
misconception, and pranks Shakespeare
successfully exposes the dark, ugly truth about
gender roles and inequality within the
Elizabethan society. The inequality of genders
is prevalent in Beatrice’s language, how the
male characters view women within the play,
and the concept of honor.

Beatrice is easily one of the biggest and

roundest characters in Much Ado About
Nothing. Shakespeare created Beatrice’s
character in order to bring to the stage
opposition to the “traditional woman” of the
Elizabethan time and shed light on gender
inequality. Hero seems to be the ideal woman,
polite, respectful, obedient, and quiet. She
follows societies patriarchal views, submitting
first to her father, who commands her to accept
Claudio’s hand when he proposes, and
submissive to her new fiancé, even after he
publicly shames her. Beatrice, on the other
hand is cynical, sharp, witty, and a feisty
woman. It first becomes apparent that she is
not the “norm” and does not follow society’s
gender roles when in Act 1 when she speaks
of Benedick, Leonato apologizes on her behalf
to the Messenger. “You must not, sir, mistake
my niece. There is a kind of merry way betwix
Signor Benedick and her” (Act 1, Scene 1,
Lines 49-51). A woman legitimately criticizing
a man does not go with gender roles in this
society, and therefore Leonato feels the need
to cover it up, belittling and dismissing what
Beatrice has to say -- her honest opinion of
Benedick. The same issue seems to arise
when Beatrice and Benedick banter back and
forth. Beatrice takes jabs at Benedick’s
character, and unable to handle a woman
insulting him, he gives up, or cops out. “You
always end with a jades trick”, Beatrice
complains. In the many film adaptations of the
play, it is obvious that Benedick is trying to
entertain the crowd, who “ohh” and “ahh” after
his wordplay, while Beatrice is in to insult
Benedict, standing alone and not getting much
reaction from the crowd of listeners. Beatrice
stands out as a character in Much Ado about
nothing because she is a proud, strong female
character, rare during Shakespeare’s time.
She refuses to marry because she hasn’t found
a perfect equal partner and is unwilling to
submit her control and freedom to a husband.
She yearns to be equal with men, something
that challenges the gender inequality of
Elizabethan time.

The way Shakespeare has the men

view the women characters in Much Ado About
Nothing also gives insight into Elizabethan
gender equality as well. Throughout the play
women are referred to objects, and
untrustworthy ones at that. Claudio asks
Benedick early on his opinion of Hero, and the
conversation turns quickly to talk of buying her
and her “worthiness” of love and marriage. Her
beauty and obedience are things that these
men seem to value and think make her
“worthy”. In Act 2 when Claudio is led to
believe that Don Pedro stole Hero for himself,
Benedick proclaims Don Pedro “stole your
meat”. Objectifying the women makes it
evident that the men believe the women have
no real voice in any matter; they are there for
the taking and meant to be submissive. The
frequency of cuckolding jokes suggests that
the men also believe that women by nature are
untrustworthy and unfaithful. Benedick
basically compares marriage to a prison –
saying a married man is a man who gets
cheated on. And before the men even “see”
Hero in the window having sex, they are very
quick to believe Don John’s claims, already
vowing to shame her when it’s proven true.
None of the men try to defend Hero before that
night, because it would make perfect sense for
a woman to be unfaithful in their eyes. Once
the men “see” that Hero has in fact had
premarital sex while she is engaged to marry
Claudio, they don’t hold back in punishing and
exposing her by brutally publicly shaming her.
Even Hero’s father Leonato believes the lie at
first, “Could she here deny the story that is
printed in her blood? Do not live, Hero, do not
ope thine eyes…” (Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 120-
123) It can also be argued that Don John used
Margaret as an object or pawn to ruin Claudio
and Hero’s relationship. Margaret was
convinced to dress in Hero’s clothing, yet
Borachio is the one rewarded by Don John for
assisting in the act to fool Claudio.

Gender roles are also highly evident

when it comes to the theme of honor in Much
Ado About Nothing. In this society, honor is
everything. But it’s interesting that it depends
so much on women. For instance, Claudio’s
fear of honor comes from women. If Hero truly
did have sex prior to marriage and he knew
and still willingly wed her, he would be shamed,
his honor lost. So in order to keep his honor,
he must shame Hero because it would be far
more embarrassing for him to lose his honor to
a woman. Another interesting thing is how
valuable honor is to women in the play. Men
are able to win back their honor/their family’s
honor by fighting in a battle or a duel.
However, once a woman’s honor is destroyed,
so is her family’s and there is no coming back
from that. Beatrice highlights that she is aware
of this when after Claudio shames Hero, she
explodes with rage, “O that I were a man for his
sake!” “I cannot be a man with wishing,
therefore I will die a woman with grieving.” (Act
4, Scene 1, Lines 312-318) Women aren’t able
to stand up for themselves or challenge
accusations; only men have a voice in this
society.

Through his play Much Ado About

Nothing, Shakespeare exposes the dark, ugly
truth that is gender inequality of the
Elizabethan time. He does so through the
character Beatrice, with her language that
speaks and yearns for gender equality. She
considers herself to be equal of some sorts
with her wits, and attempts to defy the norms
by vowing to not marry in order to keep her
independence, but is aware that society does
not allow her a true voice when it comes to
defending herself or her friends. The way that
the men treat the women in this play also gives
insight into how women of this time were
viewed. It is made clear that they are viewed
mostly as objects that tend to not be loyal. It’s
no surprise if they are found to be dishonest,
but at the same time the men must constantly
keep their honor in tact. Honor is everything,
but can only really be defended or saved by
men who challenge other men. A man’s honor
can depend on a woman, but she cannot have
a say in her honor if it’s criticized. Characters
are susceptible to limitations and expectations
based on gender, which is a major theme of
Much Ado About Nothing.