Much Ado About Nothing Character Foil

A character foil is a pair of characters that portray opposite characteristics to highlight the other’s traits. The characters Don Pedro and Don John in the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare is a great example of such. Much Ado About Nothing is a play about deceit, conflict, and love. The conflict in this play can be easily avoided, hence the name Much Ado About Nothing. The meaning of the play is that conflict can oftentimes be easily avoided if thought through. This meaning is illuminated by the character foils Don John and Don Pedro by their opposite traits of honesty and dishonesty. To illustrate, Don Pedro is quite honest. We can see this when he finds out that Claudio’s accusations against Hero were untrue. “And yet to satisfy this good old man I would bend under any heavy weight that he’ll enjoin me to”(Shakespeare 90). Don Pedro admits that he was wrong and asks for just punishment. He does not make excuses or
For example, when Don John lies to Claudio and Don Pedro about Hero’s disloyalty. “For she has been too long a-taking of-the lady is disloyal”(Shakespeare 89-90). This shows how easily conflict could have been avoided because all Claudio and Don Pedro have to do is ask anyone and they would find out that Don John’s accusations were false. This is brought out by the character foil of Don Pedro and Don John because it is Don John’s deceit that is highlighted by Don Pedro’s honesty that creates this conflict that truly makes this meaning clear. Also, Don Pedro’s honesty could have also solved the situation. If he was immediately honest with Leonato and told him of Don John’s accusation, Leonato could have dug deeper and found out that it was untrue. This brings out even more the ease at which the problem could have been avoided. Without this character foil, the meaning would not be as clear as it