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Deception In Much Ado About Nothing

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Recommended: Analysis of much ado about nothing

As a Christian community, with a Christian worldview, it is vital to invest Biblical values and beliefs into the minds of the new generations. As King’s Christian College, it is also ideal to give a clear representation of these morals to students. Much Ado about Nothing provides a humourous portrayal of humanity, in which life is purely superficial. Whilst deception and manipulation may appear charming on the surface, the veracity and intensity of it lies beneath the hollow values of idealistic Christian community, and it must be uncovered to “educate” the students in “Christian leadership” for the future generations. The play signifies themes and representations that have resonated throughout history and are still prominent in today’s society. …show more content…

Aside from the dominant repetition of those themes throughout the comedy, there is another crucial motif in this play: ‘deception’ as a “two-sided coin”. (Lawson, 2009) Richard Henze outlines in his article, ‘Deception in Much Ado about Nothing’, that, “… deception in Much Ado is of two sorts – one leads to social peace and the other breeds conflict and distrust.” Deception itself is not candidly condemned by the play – but the negatives of this attribute by far exceed the ‘truth of deception’, and effectively portrays that deception, as a whole, is a caustic thing. A clear representation of destructive deception is shown through the characterisation of Don John, “the Bastard”, who believes that “any impediment [to others] would be medicinal” to him. (I,i,71) Don John is the ‘Satan’ to Claudio and Don Pedro’s Adam and Eve. Don Pedro knows that Don John is untrustworthy, the “villain” who was “… sick in displeasure,” for other’s misfortunes, and Eve – represented within the play by Claudio - knew that the snake was spitting lies; nevertheless, they believed him and were cuckolded. (II,ii,5) Through this, the audience is able to distinctly extract that deception, comparable to the lies told by the snake, leads to

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Shakespeare 's Much Ado About Deceit Lying, it seems to be a common phenomenon in human’s daily lives. In a recent study made by the University of Massachusetts, it found that 60% of adults can not have a ten-minute conversation without lying at least once. The most common lies that are told in the present day include “I like your hair today” or “I am leaving in 5 minutes”. In William Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, a common theme followed is deceit. Much Ado About Nothing takes place in the late 1500s and follows the story of soldiers going to Leonato 's home in Messina.

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