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Revision:Much Ado About Nothing - Scene by Scene Analysis
From The Student RoomTSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > English > Much Ado About Nothing - Scene by Scene Analysis
Act 1, Scene 1This opening scene introduces all of the major characters, as well as the play’s setting—Leonato’s welcoming, friendly house in Messina. Don Pedro and the others are just returning from a war in which they have been victorious, seemingly setting the stage for a relaxed, happy comedy in which the main characters fall in love and have fun together. While the play opens with a strong feeling of joy and calm, the harmony of Messina is certainly to be disturbed later on. Beatrice and Benedick are perhaps Shakespeare’s most famously witty characters; neither ever lets the other say anything without countering it with a pun or criticism. One notable characteristic of their attacks upon each other is their ability to extend a metaphor throughout lines of dialogue. When Benedick calls Beatrice a “rare parrot-teacher,” Beatrice responds, “A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours” (I.i.114). Benedick continues the reference to animals in his response, saying, “I would my horse had the speed of your tongue” (I.i.115). It is as if each anticipates the other’s response. Though their insults are biting, their ability to maintain such clever, interconnected sparring seems to illustrate the existence of a strong bond between them. Beatrice and Benedick have courted in the past, and Beatrice’s viciousness stems from the fact that Benedick previously abandoned her. When she insists that Benedick “set up his bills here in Messina and challenged Cupid at the flight, and my uncle’s fool, reading the challenge, subscribed for Cupid,” she describes a “battle” of love between herself and Benedick that she has lost (I.i.32–34). The result is what Leonato describes as “a kind of merry war betwixt Sir Benedick and [Beatrice]. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them” (I.i.49–51). Another purpose of the dialogue between Benedick and Beatrice, as well as that among Benedick, Claudio, and Don Pedro, is to explore the complex relationships between men and women. Both Benedick and Beatrice claim to scorn love. As Benedick says to Beatrice, “It is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted. And I would I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none” (I.i.101–104). Benedick thus sets himself up as an unattainable object of desire. With her mocking reply that “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me,” Beatrice similarly puts 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 1, Scenes 2-3Overhearing, plotting, and misunderstanding occur frequently in Much Ado About Nothing, as characters constantly eavesdrop or spy on other characters. Occasionally they learn the truth, but more often they misunderstand what they see or hear, or they are tricked into believing what other people want them to believe. In these scenes, Antonio’s servant and Don John’s associate both overhear the same conversation between Don Pedro and Claudio, but only Borachio understands it correctly, while Antonio’s servant (and, consequently, Antonio himself) misunderstand. He carries this incorrect information onward, first to Leonato and then to Hero. It appears that Don John has no strong motive for the villainy he commits and that his actions are inspired by a 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 behaviour 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 labelled “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 favour 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 2, Scene 1This long scene resolves the first of the play’s important questions: whether Claudio will receive Hero’s consent to love and marry her. When the two lovers are finally brought together, Claudio is too overwhelmed with joy to profess his love in elevated language, saying to Hero simply, “Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much” (II.i.267–268). While Claudio can find few words to express his joy, Hero can find none. Indeed, it is Beatrice who formalizes Hero’s return of Claudio’s love, commenting to Claudio, “My cousin [Hero] tells him [Claudio] in his ear that he is in her heart” (II.i.275–276). We never hear Hero’s acceptance of Claudio, but nonetheless we know what occurs. These two quiet characters—Claudio and Hero—seem well matched, and Claudio’s addressing of Beatrice as “cousin” confirms that he will soon marry into her family (II.i.277). Nonetheless, a troubling element of Claudio’s character comes to light in this scene. Don John’s attempt to thwart the match has come to nothing; although he does manage to trick Claudio into believing that Don Pedro has betrayed him and is going to marry Hero himself, Claudio learns the truth before anything bad can happen. But here we see that Claudio is prone to making rash decisions. He is very quick to believe that his friend has betrayed him, not even questioning Don John’s claims. Acknowledging that Don Pedro seems to be wooing Hero for himself, Claudio declares that Claudio’s readiness to believe that his friend would betray him is disturbing, and Don John’s plotting coupled with Claudio’s gullibility ominously foreshadows worse things to follow. Beatrice and Benedick continue their “merry war” of wits with one another, but it seems to veer off course and turn into a much more hurtful competition. This time, Beatrice gets the better of Benedick while Benedick cannot defend himself. Dancing with him during the ball, while masked, she insults Benedick by mocking his “wittiness” and declaring his jokes boring. Beatrice’s jabs at Benedick are psychologically astute. We see how apt her comments are when Benedick cannot stop repeating her words to himself later in the scene. Moreover, the fact that Benedick begs Don Pedro frantically to let him leave so he will not have to talk to Beatrice suggests that he finds her company not simply annoying but also damaging. Though Beatrice repeats in this scene her intention never to marry, her attitude seems a little changed. A certain wistfulness marks her words as she watches the betrothal of Hero to Claudio: “Good Lord, for alliance! There goes everyone to the world but I, and I am sunburnt. I may sit in a corner and cry ‘Heigh-ho for a husband!’” (II.i.278–280). Beatrice jests, as always, but it is hard to tell how seriously she takes this matter. Don Pedro’s sudden offer of himself to her in marriage also seems both light-hearted and serious, and Beatrice’s gentle rejection of him compels us to wonder whether she really does want to get married.
Act 2, Scenes 2-3Don John’s malice resurfaces in Act II, scene ii, as we see him plotting to split Hero and Claudio. Once again, we must wonder about his motives, as his desire to hurt others so badly is inconsistent with his claim to be a low-grade villain. Borachio’s statement that his plan, if it succeeds, is sure “to misuse the Prince, to vex Claudio, to undo Hero, and kill Leonato” makes it clear that Don John’s schemes have some darker purpose in mind (II.ii.24–25). In the Renaissance, the virginity of an upper-class woman at the time of her marriage carried a great deal of importance for not only her own reputation but also for that of her family and her prospective husband. Adultery, unchaste behaviour, or premarital sex in a noblewoman could be a fighting matter—one that could spur a parent to disown or even kill a daughter, a betrayed husband to murder his wife or rival, or a defender to challenge a woman’s accuser to a duel to the death in order to clear her name. If the entire community were to believe Hero unchaste, then her honour, name, and reputation would suffer permanently; Claudio would suffer considerably more than simple vexation; and the stress might well “kill” Leonato. This plot is far more than a merely troublesome game. Meanwhile, a different kind of trick occurs in the garden, as Leonato, Claudio, and Don Pedro work together to try to convince Benedick that Beatrice is in love with him. Benedick, of course, unknowingly finds himself caught in the position of being the one deceived. He believes that he is eavesdropping upon his friends, but, because they are aware of his presence, they deliberately speak louder so that he will hear them. It is not difficult to imagine the speakers—Leonato, Don Pedro, and Claudio—trying hard to stifle their laughter as they speak in serious voices of Beatrice falling upon her knees, weeping, tearing her hair, and crying, “‘O sweet Benedick, God give me patience’” (II.iii.134–135). Don Pedro understands Benedick’s psychology so precisely that his trick works on his friend just as he hoped it would—upon hearing that Beatrice is in love with him and that other people think he will be foolish enough to turn her down, Benedick realizes that it is not so difficult for him to find it in his heart to love Beatrice after all. In a speech memorable for both its humour and its emotional glimpse into Benedick’s genuinely generous and compassionate heart, Benedick decides that there is no shame in changing his mind about marriage, and declares, “I will be horribly in love with her. . . . The world must be peopled. When I said I could die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married” (II.iii.207–215). By the time Beatrice herself appears to order him in to dinner, Benedick is so far gone that he is able to reinterpret all her words and actions as professions of her love for him—doubtless a hilarious scene for the audience, since Beatrice is hostile to Benedick, and the audience knows that she is not at all in love with him. But the buoyant Benedick can hardly wait to “go get her picture”—that is, to go and get a miniature portrait of her (II.iii.232). Later on, Benedick even tries his hand at writing a sonnet to Beatrice. Sonnets and miniature portraits were the typical accoutrements of the Renaissance lover, male or female. By carrying around these objects, Benedick becomes a cliché of Renaissance courtship.
Act 3, Scene 1The trick that Hero and Ursula play upon Beatrice works just as well as the one Don Pedro and Claudio play upon Benedick in the preceding scene, as Beatrice, just as Benedick does, decides to stop resisting marriage and return her supposed pursuer’s love. Clearly, the friends of these two characters know them well. The conversations that Benedick and Beatrice are allowed to overhear are psychologically complicated, appealing to both the characters’ compassion and their pride. Beatrice, like Benedick, cannot help but be flattered to hear that her supposed enemy is in fact dying for love of her. But her sensitive side has been targeted: she is disturbed to hear that he is in such distress, and that she herself is the cause. Moreover, it seems likely that her pride is wounded when she hears people say that she has no compassion and that she would mock a man in love instead of pitying him. Just as Benedick is moved to prove the talkers wrong, so Beatrice seems to be stirred to show that she does have compassion and a heart after all. When Hero says, “Therefore let Benedick, like cover’d fire, / Consume away in sighs, waste inwardly. / It were a better death than die with mocks,” Beatrice is motivated to “save” poor Benedick and also to show that she is not heartless enough to be as cruel as Hero seems to think she is (III.i.77–79). Of course, all of these complicated motivations in the friends’ plans to dupe Beatrice and Benedick into falling in love with one another relate to the same essential cause: their friends are trying to make Beatrice and Benedick realize that each, in his or her private heart, does have the potential to love the other profoundly. The tricks could hardly work otherwise—Beatrice and Benedick both seem too mature and intelligent to be deluded into thinking that they are in love. Their friends are simply trying to make them realize that they already love each other. Beatrice’s speech at the end of the scene is much shorter than Benedick’s in the preceding one, but the gist of it is the same. Profoundly affected by what she has heard, she decides to allow herself to change her views about marriage in order to accept Benedick. She has learned how others perceive her—”Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much?”—and has decided to change these perceptions: “Contempt, farewell; and maiden pride, adieu. / No glory lives behind the back of such” (III.i.109–111). Now, she decides she will accept Benedick if he courts her, “taming my wild heart to thy loving hand” (III.i.113).
Act 3, Scene 2In this scene, however, the atmosphere grows dark. Don Pedro and Claudio’s merry teasing of the subdued Benedick amuses, but Don John’s shocking accusation against Hero suddenly changes the mood from one of rejoicing to one of foreboding. We also see Don Pedro and 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 3, Scene 3Dogberry and Verges provide welcome comic relief amid Don John’s evil plotting. Their brand of humour is completely different from that provided by Benedick and Beatrice; while the two witty antagonists spar with a brilliant display of wit, Dogberry and Verges get half their words wrong, providing humour with their ignorance. Yet, like Benedick and Beatrice, they are in their own way good-hearted and sincere, and the humour of both duos, sophisticated and unsophisticated, hinges on punning and verbal display. Borachio’s account of the events of that night inform us that Don John’s plans have been put into action and that everything is working out as he intended. Once again, however, we are faced with a disturbing element in this action: Claudio and Don Pedro both believe Don John’s claims and are willing to believe that they are watching Hero without investigating the matter more closely or interrogating Hero herself about it. When we see how ready Claudio is to believe that the woman he supposedly is in love with is betraying him, we are likely to be deeply troubled about him, even though we know that the play—being a comedy—has to end happily. Borachio lists a few factors that might make the deception of Claudio and Don Pedro more understandable. He suggests that we should blame Don John’s “oaths,” which first made Don Pedro and Claudio suspicious of Hero’s guilt; the “dark night, which did deceive them” (III.iii.136–137); and Borachio’s own flat-out lies when he testified to them that he had made love to Hero. Some critics focus on the fact that Claudio is quite young and that he does not really know Hero very well as mitigating his distrust of her. Indeed, he seems hardly to have spoken any words to her before they become engaged, although presumably they have conversed more in the week that has passed since their betrothal. Nevertheless, Claudio’s swift anger and the terrible revenge he has vowed to take—shaming Hero in public and abandoning her at the altar—has remained troubling to generations of critics and readers, as has Don Pedro’s complicity in this desired revenge. Don Pedro, after all, does not have the excuse of youth and inexperience. The brutality of the principal male characters remains a problem with which readers of Much Ado About Nothing must grapple. It is difficult to feel sympathy for Claudio and Don Pedro after seeing how quickly they believe evil of Hero—and after what they do to her in Act IV, Scene i, on the day of the wedding itself.
Act 3, Scene 4The 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 non-stop 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 3, Scene 5Act 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’ 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 hears 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 4, Scenes 1-2With the wedding scene—the climax of the play—the tone takes an abrupt turn, plunging from high comedy into tragedy. Claudio’s rejection of Hero is designed to inflict as much pain as possible, and Hero and Leonato’s reactions to it seem to make things even worse. Few accusations could cause a woman more harm in the Renaissance than that of being unchaste, and Claudio uses deliberately theatrical language to hurt Hero publicly, in front of friends and family. The rejection scene also throws other relationships in the play into question: Claudio and Don Pedro both suggest that it reflects badly on Leonato’s social manners to have tried to foist off a woman like Hero on Claudio, and Don Pedro implies that his own reputation has suffered by way of the apparent discovery that he and Claudio have made regarding Hero’s virginity. Claudio assaults Leonato by denigrating Hero: “Give not this rotten orange to your friend. / She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour” (IV.i.30–31). Although the usually quiet Hero speaks up in her own defence, Claudio does not allow her even the possibility of defending herself. When she blushes in shock and humiliation, he cries:
The scene also marks a critical turning point in the relationship between Benedick and Beatrice. Benedick seems to make an important decision when he stays behind in the church with Beatrice and her family instead of leaving with Claudio, Don Pedro, and Don John. His loyalty, which lies with his soldier friends when he arrives in Messina, now draws him to stay with Beatrice. In their elliptical ways, Beatrice and Benedick confess their love to one another after everyone else has left the church. Beatrice’s confused answer to Benedick’s blurting out that he loves her reveals that she is hiding something. Indeed, when Benedick exultantly exclaims that she loves him, she finally admits it: “I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest” (IV.i.284–285). Lost in his 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 5, Scene 1By showing Leonato’s grief and anger to the audience, Shakespeare drives home the intensity of the pain and distress that Claudio’s accusation against Hero has caused Hero and her family. Although Hero is not really dead, Leonato grieves as if she were, because she has lost her reputation. He has come to her side, believing that Claudio must have been wrong about her—“My soul doth tell me Hero is belied,” he confesses to Antonio (V.i.42). But his concern for her, coupled with the shock of Claudio’s public humiliation of her, is enough to overwhelm him with grief. He rejects Antonio’s attempts to make him feel better, telling him that “men / Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief / Which they themselves not feel” (V.i.20–22). He suggests that once a person actually becomes unhappy, good advice does him or her no good: “For there was never yet philosopher / That could endure the toothache patiently” (V.i.35–36). His anger at Claudio for ruining his daughter is very real, and this scene provides the audience with a fascinating view of Leonato. He is powerful here in his righteous anger, just as much as he is overwhelmed with despair in Act IV, scene i. The revelation of Borachio’s crime to Claudio and the rest marks another turning point in the play. Don John’s deception has led inexorably to Claudio’s rejection of Hero, darkening the play’s atmosphere of light-hearted comedy. Dogberry and the Watch’s accusation of Borachio and Conrad seems to open the way to understanding and resolution. Claudio’s reaction to the information mirrors what the wise friar predicts in Act IV, scene i: he begins to remember Hero’s good qualities. “Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear / In the rare semblance that I loved it first,” he says to himself (V.i.235–236). The punishment that Leonato extracts from him might seem light revenge for the death of a daughter, but, of course, we know—as he knows—that Hero isn’t really dead. The punishment obviously establishes the grounds for a happy ending. If all goes well, it seems, Claudio is being set up to marry Hero, in a sort of redemptive masquerade.
Act 5, Scene 2Act V, scene ii, which develops the growing relationship between Benedick and Beatrice, is one of the funniest and most touching courtship scenes in Shakespeare’s works. It gives the audience a chance to laugh at Benedick and Beatrice as they grapple with the apparent folly of their love for one another, and also to see that their relationship is developing into one that is both affectionate and mature. Moreover, somehow they manage to speak sweetly to each other without losing their biting wit. Benedick, in fact, laughs at himself when he laments his inability to write love poetry. “No,” Benedick concludes, “I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo in festival terms” (V.ii.34–35). Benedick’s inability to write underlines the difference between the witty and improvisatory court rhetoric that he is so good at and the very stylized conventions of Renaissance love poetry. Beatrice and Benedick interlace their conversation with news about developments in the main plot of the play, but, throughout, they tease one another with gentle affection—and, of course, with never-ending insults. Benedick sums up their situation by saying, “Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably” (V.ii.61). This assessment seems to be true in several respects—they will never have peace, for both are too lively and independent. But both are also wise, and it looks as if their love will grow into a deep, mature relationship in which both will continue to sparkle in the other’s company. The two also express genuine fondness. To Beatrice’s assertion that she feels unwell psychologically, Benedick asks her to “serve God, love me, and mend” (V.ii.78). When she invites him to come with her to talk with Leonato, he answers, “I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes. And moreover, I will go with thee to thy uncle’s” (V.ii.86–87). Here Benedick plays with a typical Renaissance sexual euphemism, the idea of dying referring to a -sexual orgasm.
Act 5, Scenes 3-4This final scene brings the play to a joyous conclusion, drawing it away from the tragedy toward which it had begun to move and letting everyone wind up safe and sound. Claudio and Hero are about to be happily married, as are Benedick and Beatrice. The deception has been revealed, and Don John has been caught and brought to justice. Everybody has made friends again, and the final dance symbolizes the restoration of order and happiness in a world that has been thrown into chaos by Don John’s accusation and Don Pedro and Claudio’s rash action. But in order for the play to reach this point, Hero must go through a symbolic death and rebirth, washing away the taint of the accusation of her supposed sin. Claudio’s writing and reading of an epitaph at her tomb seems to create a sense of closure, in relation to his false accusation of Hero and her supposed death. He acknowledges his error in having accused Hero: “Done to death by slanderous tongues / Was the Hero that here lies” (V.iii.3–4). The song similarly pleads, “Pardon, goddess of the night, / Those that slew thy virgin knight” (V.iii.12–13). When dawn arrives at the end of the scene, and Don Pedro says, “Good morrow, masters, put your torches out,” we can literally see the plot emerging from darkness (V.iii.24). It is now time to attend the wedding meant to release Claudio from his guilt for Hero’s death. From darkness and pain, the story now returns to daylight and happiness. The emotional dynamics of the masked wedding must be complicated, and many readers wonder why Hero still loves Claudio after what he has done to her. The story can be read as one of real love that has been tainted by misunderstanding, paranoia, and fear but that has miraculously ended happily. Hero does seem to love Claudio still, and they are joyful at being reunited. Claudio’s amazement, awe, and wonder at finding Hero still alive may serve to wipe out any last traces of resentment or anger on either side. Beatrice and Benedick finally profess their love in public—amid the laughter and teasing of all their friends—and are clearly happy to be marrying one another. Unlike Hero and Claudio, they are both very communicative people, and there is little doubt as to how they feel about one another. Benedick’s long struggle with his aversion to marriage is also finally brought to an end. Just as he privately declares his decision to change his mind after he comes to believe, through Claudio and Don Pedro’s trick, that Beatrice loves him, he now announces to the entire world that he is determined to get married, in spite of everything he has said against the institution. Benedick also renews his friendship with Claudio, and the two of them note with considerable pleasure that they are now relatives. Leonato partakes in this sentiment as well, since Benedick will be Leonato’s nephew-in-law. Benedick is so fully changed from a wilful cavalier into a submissive lover that he even commands Don Pedro, “Prince, thou art sad, get thee a wife, get thee a wife” (V.iv.117). This order serves partly as a joke, but it contains a drop of melancholy. Perhaps Don Pedro really is sad—an idea that seems even more probable when we recall his light-hearted, but perhaps not entirely joking, proposal to Beatrice, in Act II, scene i, and her gentle rejection of it. As so often happens in 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.
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CommentsThese notes are aimed at people studying Much Ado About Nothing for AS English Literature. Originally posted by sweetlovinchick2k1 on TSR Forums. | 
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