Act 1, scene 1 The army of Don Pedro of Aragon arrives in Messina and is welcomed by Leonato, Messina’s governor.

With Claudio forgiven, both couples are ready to get married. Tragedy is averted when the bumbling city watch, having discovered Don John’s treachery, arrives and clears Hero’s name. Claudio believes Don John’s deception, is convinced Hero has a lover, and, at the wedding, brutally rejects her.With Hero in hiding and falsely reported dead, Beatrice persuades Benedick to fight Claudio. Meanwhile, Don Pedro’s disgruntled brother, Don John, plots to ruin Hero and halt her wedding. To fill in the time until the wedding, Don Pedro and the others set about tricking Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love with each other.

After Don Pedro woos her in disguise for Claudio, the two young lovers plan to marry in a week. Count Claudio is smitten by Leonato’s daughter, Hero. Benedick, a gentleman soldier, resumes a verbal duel with Beatrice, the niece of Messina’s governor, Leonato.

Entire Play The primary plot of Much Ado About Nothing turns on the courtship and scandal involving young Hero and her suitor, Claudio, but the witty war of words between Claudio’s friend Benedick and Hero’s cousin Beatrice often takes center stage.Set in Messina, the play begins as Don Pedro’s army returns after a victory.

The play suggests that love is not love without its masquerade-like sequence of poses and appearances, even if they must be imagined or faked. Don Pedro manipulates Benedick and Beatrice like a scientist conducting an experiment, or a playwright setting a scene. The lover is a piece in the game, a mask in the crowd, and everyone-no matter who they are-falls victim in the same way. Lovers in the play are like masked dancers: the pose and the situation matter more than who the other dancer really is. If you put people together in a certain way, a certain result occurs. Altogether, these things suggest that love-like a play or masquerade-is a game based on appearances, poses and the manipulation of situations. Claudio can be reconciled with Hero only after her faked death. Benedick and Beatrice are brought together through an elaborate prank. Hero is won for Claudio by Don Pedro in disguise.

Every step in romance takes place by way of masquerade. Love, in Much Ado About Nothing, is always involved with tricks, games and disguises.

William shakespeare much ado