Examples Of Misunderstandings In Much Ado About Nothing

In Shakespeare’s enjoyable and loveable dramatic comedy, Much Ado About Nothing, misunderstandings and lies are used to forward the plot in an enjoyable way that makes sense to the audience. The basic misunderstandings in Much Ado About nothing are used to further the plot through the drama of the accusation, and they use the gender roles of the times to add fuel to the fire; however, they use these misunderstandings to add a comedic value to the play. In Much Ado About Nothing the characters are accused of assorted indecencies that arise off the smallest idea and word of mouth rumor. An example of these accusations could be when Don John tells Claudio that Don Pedro, instead of wooing Hero in his name, is wooing her in his.

She is no equal for his birth. You may do the part of an honest man in it. CLAUDIO: How know you he loves her? DON JOHN: I heard him swear his affection. BORACHIO: So did I too, and he swore he would marry her tonight.” (Act2 Scene 1;Lines 161-168) Claudio, although Don John was known to be a deceitful person, believed him and had become upset and angry until Don Pedro happily handed him Hero. Claudio is one who embraced these misunderstandings and enlarges the drama. When Claudio is told that Hero is seen with another man at night by Don John, he chooses to believe him: “DON JOHN: I came hither to tell you; and, circumstances shortened, for she has been too long a-talking of, the lady is disloyal. CLAUDIO: Who, Hero? DON JOHN: Even she: Leonato’s Hero, your Hero, every man’s Hero. CLAUDIO: Disloyal? DON JOHN: The word is too good to paint out her wickedness. I could say she were worse. Think you of a worse title, and I will fit her to it. Wonder not till further warrant. Go but with me tonight, you shall see her chamber window entered, even the night before her wedding day. If you love her then,tomorrow wed her. But it would better fit your honor to change your mind. CLAUDIO: May this be so?(Act 3 Scene 2; Lines 95-110)Don John leads forward the drama of the play by showing Claudio “Hero” on her balcony with Borrachio. Although we, the audience, know it is not her we still feel and see the tension it

Women, like Hero and Beatrice, are meant to be dainty sweethearts who bow to the will of the men. “CLAUDIO: Sweet prince, you learn me noble thankfulness.— There, Leonato, take her back again. Give not this rotten orange to your friend. She’s but the sign and semblance of her honor. Behold how like a maid she blushes here! O, what authority and show of trust can cunning sin cover itself withal! Comes not that blood as modest evidence to witness simple virtue? Would you not swear, All you that see her, that she were a maid, By these exterior shows? But she is none. She knows the heat of a luxurious bed. Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty. (Act 4 Scene 1;Lines 30-42)”While Hero does in fact fit into that code, they still believe it was truly her on the balcony with Borrachio. When this is believed it brings about more hatred for what she has done. However, when it was revealed to not have been Hero she is placed back in the pedestal she was on earlier in the play. Now the standards for women in this play are high and that's what Hero follows. Beatrice, on the other hand, does not follow these rules and will not bend to the will of a man. That is why she and Benedick argue throughout the play, although he also does not share those rules. This makes their later personalities interesting. When Beatrice and Benedick are tricked into love they begin to