William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is a comedic play with a slight undertone of mystery, it follows the characters’ pursuit of love, lies and honor. The play follows a common theme of lies and deception and its effects on the relationship between the characters, most notably Claudio and Hero. This is explored thoroughly in the play, with Claudio being tricked by Don John into believing that Hero was having an affair behind his back, which resulted to him shaming Hero at the altar. However, in the case of Benedick and Beatrice, who start out as enemies, the lies and deception of their friends led to them accepting their love for one another. This essay will go through the following theme of lies and deception and its effects on the characters, both positively and negatively. Lies and deception has been presented throughout the play multiple times, the first being …show more content…
In the play, masks are used to symbolize the deception of the characters and to show just how simple it is to deceive someone. This is demonstrated in the following quote, “I will assume thy part in some disguise and tell fair Hero that I am Claudio,” here, Don Pedro deceives Hero by courting her under the disguise of Claudio with the intent of bringing him and Hero together. Although his deception is out of goodwill for Claudio, Don John disrupts his plan by convincing Claudio that Don Pedro is out to get Hero for himself. During the ball, Don John takes advantage of the masks worn by the characters to trick Claudio by claiming to be unaware of who he is, asking Claudio, "Are you not Signor Benedick?". Claudio falls for his scheme and is resentful of Don Pedro, but he is quickly soothed after finding that he has Hero's hand in marriage. Claudio and Hero's