Essay about Much Ado About Nothing

The play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare consists of many themes which grow out of the ‘game of love'. The two main themes consist of perception and deception. Through the plot complications, character development and dramatic techniques these themes can be explored. In the play deception is shown on both good and evil sides, the game of love between Beatrice and Benedick and the Don John plot to split up Hero and Claudio. Perception is a theme used in most of Shakespeare's plays. Perceptive views by the characters help portray the game of love. Hero is perceived as dead which then Claudio is sorry and feels for her. Beatrice and Benedick's loved is clouded by each other's perceptions and arguments.

The first use of trickery in Hero and Claudio's relationship is when Claudio's friend, Don Pedro, pretends to be

In the play of Much Ado About Nothing, the characters of Benedick and Beatrice have a love-hate relationship. On the surface, it appears that their relationship is built on a war of wits and insults. However, in Benedick’s soliloquy, the reader discovers that at the core of their insults actually lie the true feelings of love. It is also apparent that Benedick even sees loving each other as a competition, in that he wants to love her to a point of outdoing her love for him. Not only is Benedick constantly warring with Beatrice, but he is also undergoing an internal struggle, which is made quite apparent in Benedick’s soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 3.

(pg 44-45 lll.1110-112) She believes that Benedick truly loves her, and is willing to marry her. “Hero’s account of Beatrice is when Beatrice is

Drama text, Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is a romantic comedy revolved around marriage, dishonesty and love. In 2007, the original play had been interpreted and adapted into a new film text; Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare Retold. This new film version is an adaption for the modern audience who’s views around love and marriage have changed since Elizabethan times. Brian Percival ‘Retold’ the original play, first published in 1623 by reinterpreting it into his own understanding of modern society with the focus of women’s roles nowadays. Whilst doing this Percival has maintained many of Shakespeare’s intentions.

Claudio had been tricked into believing he was going to marry “Antonio’s daughter”, who is really Hero. Claudio is easily tricked, but not always for bad causes.

The people throw a masquerade ball later that night where Claudio is deceived by Don John that Don Pedro is wooing Hero for himself. Luckily for Claudio this rumor is false, and Claudio and Hero were going to married in a week. Then Claudio is deceived once again by Don John that Hero is cheating on him, on the night before the wedding. Then on the wedding day he publicly shames Hero. In the end though, they realize the truth and end up getting married alongside Benedick and Beatrice.

She throws away her old self, stating "Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!"(3.1.109). She also choses not to be so protective of her independence and declares love for Benedick, claiming "I will requite thee, Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand"(3.1.111-112). However, the true change in Beatrice does not show until the first church scene in which Claudio publicly humiliates Hero. Beatrice shows deep concern for her cousin Hero, the first time in the play where Beatrice shows concern for another. She is the first to claim Claudio is a liar and declare "on my soul, my cousin is belied!"(4.1.145). Beatrice then proves once again that she is a better person by demanding justice for Hero is met. Through Benedick, Beatrice plots to right the wrong and asks Benedick to "Kill Claudio"(4.1.290). It is in this scene as well that Beatrice, proving a complete turnaround in behavior, confesses to Benedick that "I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest "(4.1.287-288). This shows Beatrice transforming from someone who would scoff at marriage and love, declaring things like "I may sit in a corner and cry heigh-ho for a husband"(2.1.312-313), to someone who easily embraces love from the person she once mocked. But such a dramatic change is seen in her love as well.

While Claudio and Hero were having fun matchmaking Beatrice and Benedick, Don John was devising a plan with the help of Borachio and Conrade to “… misuse the Prince, to vex Claudio, to undo Hero, and kill Leonato” (2.2.28-29). Don John tells Don Pedro and Claudio that Hero is disloyal. At first, they do not believe him, but when he leads them outside, to a place at a distance from Hero’s chamber window, he bears them witness to Hero’s disloyalty, as they see a woman who is supposedly Hero (but is actually Margaret), and another man (who is Borachio) with her. Since it is the night and it is dark, and because they see them from a distance, they are unable to discern that it is Margaret in Hero’s clothes. Claudio, believing that Hero is disloyal, speaks in front of everyone at the wedding with Don Pedro’s support about what he saw and ruins the wedding.

However, upon hearing of Beatrice’s love for him he is suddenly perplexed and it does not take him long to decide that he will give that affection back in return.  How easily persuaded Benedick is.  This may come from the way Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonato (Benedick’s associates) depict Beatrice as the most wonderful woman in Messina.  They talk of Beatrice as if she were the most magnificent woman so that Benedick will do exactly what he does indeed do.  When Benedick hears of this he must be thinking of what he has said before about his desire for the perfect woman.  In his speech he says that “the lady is fair . . . / . . . And virtuous. . . / . . . And wise[,]” which is exactly what Benedick demands in the woman that he will choose to be his wife.  However, Benedick only believes these things about Beatrice because of what Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonato have said about her.  They only said them to convince Benedick that Beatrice was deserving of him and that she loved him with all her heart.  They told Benedick just what he wanted to hear.  It is a scheme made of lies, but it works because Benedick is persuaded and begins to agree with what they have said.  By doing this he is already influencing himself to follow the opposite path from the one that he has adhered to for years.  Here he is already starting to fool himself into believing Beatrice is the one for him

In the particular case of Hero and Claudio, the people they surround themselves with try to sabotage their relationship. They do this by creating a misleading scene between Borachio and Margaret. In the middle of the night, when Claudio stumbles upon the scene, he is led to believe that Hero is cheating on him. He is then told more untrue information regarding Hero, and he believes every word. Upon hearing this, Claudio focuses on all of Hero’s supposed negative qualities.

Shakespeare uses the literary device, motif with the image of the masked characters and with the masked language of Benedick and Beatrice. In each instance that a masked character or masked language is used, deception intensifies. In Act I, Scene 1, Claudio says about Hero, “That I love her, I feel” (Shakespeare 1.1.205). Bear in mind, Claudio just arrived in Messina and laid eyes on Hero for the first time. Thus, his declaration of love seems impulsive and uncertain. Claudio knows little about Hero, so his desire to have her must rest on her appearance alone. Still, Don Pedro offers to help unite Claudio with Hero. He initiates a matchmaking scheme. He says, “I will assume thy part in some disguise / And tell fair Hero I am

"I will assume thy part in some disguise, and tell fair Hero I am Claudio." (Act | Scene |) The idea to disguise Don Pedro as Claudio at the masquerade ball was created so that Claudio wouldn't have to profess his love to Hero himself. When Don John hears of his brothers plan to help Claudio and Hero get together he decided to sabotage their relationship. Don John's manipulative mind comes up with a plan to destroy the relationship.

Don John's malevolent plan to ruin Claudio and Hero's wedding was to take effect the night before they were to wed. The malicious Don John constructed, or rather misconstructed, the scheme that insinuated Claudio's belief in Hero's faithlessness. It is Don John who reports to Claudio and Don Pedro that Hero is having an affair, and he who stage-manages an elaborate charade featuring his own henchman Borachio and an unwitting stand-in for Hero to lend credence to this fiction. Perhaps the most significant thing to be noted in connection with this deception is that the spectator does not witness the crucial scene in which Claudio overhears the counterfeit exchanges between Margaret and Borachio that persuade him of Hero's guilt. We learn of this episode only at second hand, when Borachio boasts of his exploit (Lucking).

Upon first sight, Beatrice and Benedict seem as if they abhor one another as they exchange several deriding remarks. The skirmish of wits is merely a facade of their underlying attraction to each other, and an ongoing struggle of