Much Ado About Nothing Deception Essay

Riley Tallant

Mr. Geyer

English IV: Honors

20 February 2023

Appearance and Reality in Much Ado About Nothing

Appearance and reality are often different from one another. This is especially true for the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare, which is a play that is filled with deception and dramatic irony. Much Ado About Nothing is a play about two couples who are greatly affected by deception. Claudio and Hero’s relationship is hindered by the deception of Don John, while Beatrice and Benedick are brought together by the deception of some of the other characters. The majority of the characters either deceive others or are deceived themselves. The play shows how reality is often different than what it appears to be due to lies,

The whole concept of a masquerade is that everyone is in disguise, which already makes all of the characters have hidden identities, which is the basis for all of the deception that happens in that scene. First off, Beatrice doesn’t recognize Benedick, and Benedick pretends to be someone else. She insults Benedick to his face without even realizing it, calling him “the Prince’s jester, a very dull fool” (II, i, 122). Next, Don Pedro, who is pretending to be Claudio, attempts to seduce Hero for Claudio. That all goes well on Don Pedro’s end but not as well for Claudio. Borachio recognizes Claudio and tells Don John, so Don John decides to pretend he thinks Claudio is Benedick, and Claudio goes along with it. Don John tells Claudio that Don Pedro is attempting to seduce Hero for himself, and rather than believing in Don Pedro, Claudio believes Don John’s lie. Claudio then gives up on Hero for a little while, “This note of resignation does not mean that Claudio is indifferent to Hero; he is too disheartened to react aggressively. Even in ordinary circumstances this young man, it seems, has little confidence in himself, and on this occasion he has even less” (Girard). Claudio isn’t upset for too long though, Don Pedro reveals the truth to him later in the scene, that he seduced Hero for Claudio’s