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William Shakespeare 's Much Ado About Nothing

Satisfactory Essays

Danielle Silfies
An Issue of Deception and Morality In William Shakespeare 's play Much Ado About Nothing, many characters lack moral values and use deception as a tool to get a conclusion that they desire. Deceit is a concept that most of the characters experience in some form throughout the play. It is used to get Benedick and Beatrice to realize their feeling of love and admiration for each other. It is also used to pull characters like Claudio and Hero apart multiple times. Deceit is used in both positive and negative ways, depending on the distributor. The use of deceit is really the way that people lose their moral standing by allowing themselves to get to a conclusion faster or gain an outcome that they could not if they had not used deception.
In Much Ado About Nothing, the love story between Beatrice and Benedick only flourishes through the use of deceit. Claudio and party are trying to play matchmaker for Benedick and Beatrice. Deceit is a morality issue. Even though the characters in the play have the best intentions they are still lying. Claudio, Don Pedro, and Leonato tell each other false facts about Beatrice 's "Love" toward Benedick knowing that Benedick is eavesdropping. Claudio tells Don Pedro and Leonato that Hero said that Beatrice said that "surely she will die" (II.iii.175) if "he love her not" (II.iii.176). This is deceitful because the entire group knows that Hero did not hear this and Beatrice never spoke it. Deceit is the act of

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