Deceit In William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

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In William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, the theme of deceit is heavily portrayed throughout this famous play, and is one of the main themes. In fact, the word “nothing” from the plays title is believed to be a pun off the word “noting”, which means eavesdropping or spying. In the play, all the characters are hiding something at one point or the other – whether it’s riddled with lies or swallowing the truth. The deception lies either with the “villain”, whom makes trouble and chaos occur for all, or with innocent and concerning friends, whom try to make a certain duo stop being stubborn and admit to the feelings they are hiding. Also coincidently, all acts of bad deception are made right again by more acts of good deception. Taking place in Messina, a town in Italy, it follows the story of a group of soldiers that come back from war to visit friends and rejoice of their journeys. Immediately, it is all about parties, gallivanting, and drinking. However,…show more content…
The main soldiers are Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick, and Don John. They come to Messina to stay with a man by the name of Leonato, who is a close friend of Don Pedro. After the soldiers visit the house of Leonato, Claudio, a young soldier under Don Pedro, immediately falls in love with a young woman named Hero. Hero is the beautiful daughter of Leonato. Immediately Claudio wants to ask Hero to be his and confronts Don Pedro and Benedick about it. Don Pedro, referred to most as “Prince”, being a good friend and a strong believer in love, persuades Claudio that he shall get Hero to accept his hand for him. Benedick, on the other hand, who just has another confrontation with Beatrice, niece of Leonato, believes that love is a waste of time. Right away there is an assumption that Benedick and Beatrice are hiding behind hatred. The proof is how they immediately act out with rough words and throwing wit at one
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