Not all people do good things to get what they want. William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is a play about love and deception, and two of the main villians in the story are Don John and Borachio. Borachio is the more machiavellian villain than Don John because, think about it, who actually devises the big plan to destroy Hero and Claudio’s marriage?
First, let’s talk about Borachio, and why he is more machiavellian than Don John. According to Dictionary.com, the definition of machiavellian is “cunning, scheming, and unscrupulous, especially in politics or in advancing one's career.” which basically just means to do something devious for self benefit. In the second act of the play, Don john and Borachio scheme their plan to spoil the aforementioned marriage. Then, in act 2, scene 2, Borachio says, “...hear me call Margaret Hero, hear Margaret term me Claudio. And bring them to see this before the intended wedding…” (Shakespeare 31).This quote is from Borachio’s monologue to Don John, explaining the plan to him and making sure that Don John approves of the plan.
…show more content…
As stated before, Don John is portrayed in the book as the main villain of the story. He is also the illegitimate brother of Don Pedro, one of the protagonists of the play. In the same scene as mentioned before, Don Pedro asks Borachio, “How canst thou cross this marriage?” (Shakespeare 30) to which Borachio explains the thwarting of the wedding. Basically, Don John is asking Borachio of how he can ruin the marriage, not thinking about other devious ways he can crash the event himself. Additionally, Don John didn’t even take part in the act, but Borachio and Margaret did. Around the the end of the play, Don John escapes Messina, and Borachio confesses to Leonato that he had made the scheme to destroy his daughter’s reputation. Not long after, Don John is caught and arrested, ending the antagonist’s evil plans once and for