Deception In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

Without the theme deception would the storyline of the play remain the same? Would the development of characters be affected? Would Beatrice and Benedick even be together? What about Hero, would she still be accused? There are just too many questions awaiting to be answered but first of all what is Deception? Deception is the act of making someone believe something that is not true and it has extensively appear throughout Shakespeare’s play ‘Much ado about Nothing’.

There are both negative and positive deceptions and each could lead to either a good or bad ending. There are various type of deception that have been explored thoroughly in Shakespeare's play such as self-deception, playful deception and malice deception. Throughout the play, each of the main characters fell victim of deception.

In Act 2 Scene 1, the characters playfully deceived Benedick and Beatrice as they plotted to bring the two together. As quoted “She were an excellent wife for Benedick” foreshadows Don Pedro’s plan to trick Benedick and “I will do any modest office, my lord, to help my cousin to a good husband” reveals Hero’s involvement to help Don Pedro. With the use of dramatic irony, it helps build suspense as the victims, Benedick and Beatrice knows not of what is going to happen. However, the audience is clearly aware of Don Pedro’s actions, as well as recognising possible consequences. “Bait the hook well, this fish will bite”, responded in figurative language by Claudio, to signal Don Pedro to keep talking about how Beatrice loves Benedick whilst he was swallowing all the lies about Beatrice's love for him. ‘He is the only man of Italy”, metaphorically deceiving Beatrice into thinking that he is the only worthy man in Italy besides Claudio. Dramatic irony, metaphor and figurative language presents deception playfully in the play as both Beatrice and Benedick was deceived into believing the