Shakespeare's Use of Deception in Much Ado About Nothing

Shakespeare's Use of Deception in Much Ado About Nothing

In the Play ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ the role of deceit is an

important one that is played to its fullest. The play is based upon

deliberate deceptions and numerous schemes that are used to manipulate

the thoughts of nearly every character and the characters deceive

themselves by putting on a different public facade instead of showing

their true feelings and personalities. The play also involves an

elaborate arrangement of trickery to achieve a humorous effect that

perhaps portrays deceit as something that is not necessarily corrupt,

but rather as a means to an end.

The first example of deception in Act 1, involves Beatrice and

Benedick. Although the main plot focuses on the drama between Claudio

and Hero, Beatrice and Benedick are vital characters that provide some

of the wittiest dialogue in the play. They are more worldly and both

of them protest that they never intend to marry. This makes the

audience enjoy even more, their rapid acceptance of each other’s

affection when they are tricked into falling in love with each other.

In the opening scene, Beatrice begins a sequence of insults by asking

Benedick why he is talking as no one listens to him. He responds "Lady

Disdain! Are you yet living?" and she replies by asking how could such

disdain die when Benedick is there to feed it? Through the dialogue of

these two characters, the audience can sense that there was once a

relationship between these characters, romantic or not, that went

awry.

This is proven in Act Two when Beatrice says ‘Indeed, my lord, he lent

it me awhile; and I gave him use for it, a double heart...

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... brother hath a daughter’. Leonato proposes that Claudio marries

Antonio’s daughter as a way of redeeming himself, although it is Hero

that will marry him. At the wedding the women come out wearing masks

to hide their identities, believing that he is about to wed Antonio’s

daughter, Claudio asks ‘Sweet, let me see your face’. This is a great

scene because it builds up excitement within the audience, as they

know that Hero will be the one to marry him instead. When Hero

unmasks, Claudio is overjoyed to witness ‘another Hero!’

In ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ deception is used tactfully to manipulate

the thoughts of nearly every character. It is ironic and a comical

essential in the play that nearly every character is too distracted by

trying to deceive other characters to realise that they are being

deceived themselves.