Claudio And Benedick In William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

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Shakespeare’s comedy “Much Ado About Nothing” centers on two couples, Hero and Claudio and Benedick and Beatrice. The story is set in the sixteenth century in Messina and Sicily in Italy. The assortment of characters are introduced to each other when Leonato hosts a diner to some friends who come back home from a war. In this dinner includes Leonato’s daughter, Hero, his niece and her father, Beatrice and Antonio. Unbeknownst to the characters, this dinner will lead to a sequence of events that will become very big. Leonato receives a letter telling him that two of his friends, Claudio and Don Pedro, will be paying him a visit after surviving the war. Later, Don Pedro arrives with Claudio and some other acquaintances, Benedick and Don’s illegitimate…show more content…
This leads to a conclusion of a man who is a mix of Don John and Benedick. Like Benedick, Beatrice proudly proclaims she will never marry. As the ball begins, the men put on masquerades and Don Pedro dances with Hero while Benedick dances with Beatrice. Don John, pretending he does not recognize Claudio behind the mask, tells him that Don Pedro plans on wedding Hero that same night causing Claudio to storm out of the ball. However, Claudio, having returned after calming down, becomes ecstatic when he finds out that Hero will gladly marry him. Don John, angry and jealous about the fact that Claudio will marry Hero and not him, devises a plan to prevent the marriage from happening. Meanwhile, Benedick’s friends devise a plan to make Benedick an Beatrice fall in love with each other, which actually works. Hero and Ursula also try to trick Beatrice into thinking that Benedick loves her, but both decide against it, although for different reasons. However, Beatrice was eavesdropping and becomes overwhelmed by the news. Like Benedick, who had early experienced a similar situation, decides that she will love Benedick after all. In another place, Don John tells Claudio and Don Pedro that Claudio should not marry Hero because she is a whore. All of them perplexed, Don John leads them to the place where they will witness Hero loving someone else. Later, the three of them confuse…show more content…
The friar, who points out Hero’s total shock at the news, defends her innocence while Hero argues that she is still a virgin. The friar then comes up with a plan. Hero will fake her death and this will make the perpetrator incredibly guilty and crack up. Later, Benedick and Beatrice confess their love for each other. Beatrice tells Benedick to kill Claudio and, although initially enraged about the idea, agrees to it. Leonato, grieving for Hero’s death, challenges Claudio to a duel and claims he was a liar and the cause of her death. Claudio and Don Pedro leave the scene and Leonato and Antonio scheme their revenge. When Leonato an Antonio leave, Benedick challenges Claudio to a duel claiming he murdered Hero. However, Claudio and Don John conclude that his only intention for the duel was that he fell in love with Beatrice. When Leonato and Antonio return, Claudio an Don John confess to killing Hero and offer themselves up to their just punishment. In the end, Claudio will confess to the public that Hero was an innocent girl and must marry her niece who resembles her in terms of looks. However, when the two are married, Hero reveals herself as her niece and the two happily marry as Beatrice and Benedick are also
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