Act 4 Scene 1 in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

Act 4 Scene 1 in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

The play is a comedy, which centres on two couples and their love

affairs, although there are other subplots, which involve disguise and

trickery. The scene itself focuses on the wedding of Claudio and Hero

during which Claudio strongly rejects Hero. It is a dramatic scene

where the tension of the audience is most raised during the play. This

is due to the characters theatrical behavior and language. It also

opens new doors for other relationships to evolve such as Beatrice and

Benedick, who overcome their hatred for each other and fall in love.

In some ways this scene has its advantages and disadvantages. If this

scene had not happened in such a dramatic way then Claudio and Hero

would have been married straight away and the ceremony would have been

very ordinary with no excitement or tension and Beatrice and Benedick

probably wouldn't of come together in such an unexpected way.

Before the scene commences Dogberry, known as the local

policeman/detective tries to tell Leonato that he has arrested Don

John's followers who thought up the plan. Don John has wrongly accused

Hero by deceiving Claudio and Don Pedro. He did this by showing

Claudio and Don Pedro one of his three followers at the window making

love to Margaret, who's hair looked similar to Hero's. Don John's plan

worked and he deceived his fellow friends. Dogberry uses persuasive

language to try and get Leonato to listen, however Leonato won't

listen because he his too busy with preparations for the wedding. This

builds up the tension in the audience as they already know about what

Don John has done and in somewa...

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feels that anyone who could hurt Hero in such a way should be punished

severely; such is the proposal to Benedick to kill Claudio. However

she has to be careful because, she is only Hero's cousin and being a

woman, she could lose her home and family, if she were to react with

vengeance.

I think this scene is brought alive very much, in that strong,

physical behavior is used as well as the powerful language in which

the characters speak. It portrays each character in a way that you

don't expect and gives them a different identity. Hero is one of the

few characters who doesn't change her character, but still keeps her

honest, innocent, gentle loving behavior in tact. The men have the

strongest change in character and it takes a while for the audience to

get used to it because their language and behaviour changes.