Deception is a key element in most of the Shakespeare plays. It is done in many different ways and has special purposes like creating confusion between characters and leading them into making certain decisions. Deception can be done with the help of physical disguise as we see in the two plays The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing. We have to keep in mind that it is not only the characters deceiving each other but also the author himself attempts to deceive the audience. In both plays The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado About Nothing we experience deception as a major concept.
In the first comedy deception in commonly used throughout the play. Disguise by changing clothes and behavior of characters creates confusions and twists
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They deceit Benedick by making him think that she likes him too, but she doesn’t express her love just because she is certain that he doesn’t like her back. They make this complot in the garden while Benedick was overhearing them but they continue talking as he was not, even though they know the he could hear them. In this way Benedick is persuaded by Don Pedro and Claudio that Beatrice likes him back so he must talk to her. This is a clear example of deception used to set two people together. In this case I believe that deception is justified and in a way positive because is done in order to spread love. We also observe a parallel situation in the play Much Ado About Nothing. Here we have Hero and Margaret using the same tactic to reach the same goal. On the other hand we have Don John who uses deception for cruel purposes. His plans to interfere in the relationship between Claudio and Hero led to devastating results and of course the embarrassing weeding ceremony. Another point turning deception is Hero’s death. If it was not for this deception her virtue would not be restored and wouldn’t be reunited with Claudio. Also we might question the necessity of some of the deception in the play like the conversation between Don Pedro and Beatrice at the ball. In my opinion deception in this play creates mixed messages and it is up to the characters as well the audience what to consider of those mixed and sometimes confusing messages. So the purpose of deception will vary between the characters and situations in the two