Trickery and deception has been around since the dawn of human society. The majority of humans have used a form of trickery and deception once in their lives. It can be something as simple as tricking your parents you are sick to skip school to deceiving you someone into thinking another person is betraying them. Trickery and deception can be used for good and evil, depending on how it is used. Trickery and deception is a major theme in the play Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. Trickery and deception were used for both good and evil, but in the end it had led to love and romance betwixt characters in the play, including two of which did not believe in marriage to begin with.
Trickery and deception were first used to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love
…show more content…
with each other. Don Pedro had devised a clever plan to make this happen. Don Pedro’s plan was to have Benedick and Beatrice overhear a conversation about how Beatrice loves Benedick so much or vice versa. The first conversation was betwixt (between) Leonato, Don Pedro, and Balthasar. They knew that Benedick was hiding near so they staged a conversation for him. “Come hither, Leonato. What was it you told me of today, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signior Benedick?” (2.3.95-97) Don Pedro had asked about Beatrice's “love” towards Benedick. This will cause confusion to Benedick since he is eavesdropping. He will start to reconsider if he should stay a bachelor forever or stop his ways and settle down for Beatrice, who he believed did not believe in marriage as well. Now that they had tricked Benedick into believing Beatrice loved him, they had to trick Beatrice into thinking Benedick loves her. “No, rather I will go to Benedick and counsel him to fight against his passion…” (3.1.87-88) Hero knew that if Beatrice just had heard Benedick loved her she would not believe it, so she had said that Benedick should not love her. This conversation was staged to make Beatrice believe she is hurting Benedick for not wanting love. This plan actually works and makes Beatrice fall in love. For Beatrice and Benedick trickery and deception had led to love and romance for two people who never believed in marriage or love and are now in love. Trickery and deception were not always used to make people fall in love, but was also used to destroy love.
Don John had despised the idea of Claudio and Hero getting married. He had conceived a plan to split up Hero and Claudio and to stop their marriage from happening. “...I am sick in displeasure to him, and whatsoever comes athwart his affection ranges evenly with mine. How canst thou cross this marriage.” (2.2.5-8) Don John is enraged at the idea of Claudio and Hero being together so he made a plan with Borachio to stop this marriage from happening. Borachio is going to sleep with Margaret, a friend of Hero, and pretend that Margaret was the innocent Hero so Claudio can witness that Hero is “cheating” on him. This obviously is not true, but Don John is deceiving Claudio and the Prince as well since they both witness what happened. This caused Claudio to make a scene during the wedding and accused Hero of cheating on him with another man. The wedding was no cancelled and everyone was in shock at this accusation towards Hero. Don John is an evil man who sole purpose was to destroy the love betwixt Hero and Claudio. His plan had actually worked, but Leonato did not approve of what was
happening. Leonato had came up with the plan to fake Hero’s death in order for the truth to present itself. Leonato solely wants his daughter Hero to be happily married, but cannot since she is being accused of being known, sexual relations, with another man. Leonato and his brother had confronted Claudio and the Prince, revealing to them about the death of Hero. “...Thous hast so wronged mine innocent child and me… And she lies buried with her ancestors… Save this of hers, framed by thy villainy.” (5.1.65-79) Leonato has told Claudio of Hero's death and that he is a villain for saying false information. Leonato is saying these things to make Claudio feel guilty for what he had done to Hero. Leonato tells Claudio he needs to come to the funeral to give a speech. Claudio agrees and therefore gives a speech that leads to the truth. Claudio announces that Hero did not cheat on him and she was innocent and was framed. The truth later comes out also from Borachio and states that Margaret had nothing to do with it, it was all a lie. Leonato tells Claudio that he has to marry Beatrice now in order to get Leonato's forgiveness which Claudio agrees to. This was not the end of trickery and deception because Leonato is tricking Claudio into marrying Beatrice, but in reality it is Hero, disguised as Beatrice, who Claudio will marry. Hero reveals herself to Claudio and he is ecstatic to see her alive. They make up and get happily married together. Trickery and deception can be used to get anything you want essentially. It can be used for both good and evil, just depending on what kind of person you are. In the play it was used to make love and romance betwixt characters in the story even betwixt two people who did not even believe in marriage or love. It was also used for evil, but love triumphed over the evil in the story. In the end trickery and deception had led to love and romance, but I do believe Beatrice and Benedick already had loved one another, but they needed that extra push to get their love out. Occasionally trickery and deception are needed to get positive result just like in Much Ado About Nothing.
Hero is resembled by Claudio as a “well-mannered young lady” who is content with her own unchangeable, elegant personality. This quote shows Hero is matron, and consistent of her elegance throughout the book and it is because of her personality that causes Claudio to be drawn to her. Claudio on the other hand, admits to Don Pedro that he is “hasty in (his) emotions”, which resembles his skeptical and uncertain personality when it comes to actually admitting his love for Hero. This evidence supports how Claudio is unsure of himself, and because of Claudio’s doubtful and unsure qualities he is quick to believe Don John when he says Hero has been unfaithful.
He becomes jealous and he tries to take it away or make them feel inferior in some way. Seeing people that have something he didn’t, makes him feel like he is below them and he makes them an enemy. Don John shows this trait in ACT 2 Scene 2 when he says “ Any bar, any cross, any impediment will be/ mendicable to me. I am sick in displeasure to him,/ and whatsoever comes awart his affection ranges/ evenly with mine. How canst thou cross this marriage?”(Shakespeare 30). Since Claudio and Hero love each other and he has never experienced love he tries to ruin their wedding. He feels jealous and therefore thinks he has to intervene and that they should not love each other anymore either. This shows another Machiavellian trait of Don John as his selfishness and self-centeredness come through simply because they have what he wants and doesn't know how to get. Another thing that he wants is the throne. His brother Don Pedro is the current king. Don John goes to war with his brother Don Pedro over this. In ACT 1 Scene 1 Leonato asks the Messenger about the war, “How many gentlemen have you lost in this action?”(Shakespeare 1). Don John’s brother has the throne but he believes he is entitled to it. Don John is jealous of what his brother has and is willing to do anything he can to get it. This shows that he is Machiavellian because he tries force people to comply to his
In was in Act 2 Scene 3, when Don John came up to both Claudio and his brother Don Pedro to discuss what he saw, Hero “supposedly” cheating on Claudio with another man the night before their wedding. Even though Claudio is naturally very gullible and naive, he first trusted Don John, who is known as the “Bastard,” when he was told that Hero was cheating on him and not Hero, herself. Also, in Act 4 Scene 1, the actual wedding day is when Claudio confronted her in front of an entire audience when Hero clearly states that what he speaks is completely false information given by Don John. Hero said, “I talk’d with no man at the hour, my lord.” (85) The non-exist amount of trust and loyalty they have for each other is unimaginable
Have you ever been tricked or deceived? Have you ever been tricked into dating someone you like because you thought what you were told was true? In the book Much Ado About Nothing trickery and deceit is used a lot to get the characters to fall for one another even the ones who say they don’t love one another end up getting involved intimately with each other. For Example, trickery and deception takes place when Don Pedro tells Claudio that he will woo Hero for Claudio to marry her. Tricking her to believe that Don Pedro has feelings for Hero. Don Pedro says Claudio, I will assume thy part in disguise and tell fair Hero that I am Claudio, and in her bosom I’ll unclasp my heart, and take her prisoner with the force and strong encounter of
...ce Borachio confesses about his and Don John's plot, everyone lays their grudges and challenges aside. Claudio still marries Hero while Benedick and Beatrice also wed together.
Evidence to support this reason says, “How you know he loves her? I heard him swear his affection. . . But hear these ill news with the ears of Claudio. ‘Tis certain so; the prince woos for himself. . . trust no agent; for beauty is a witch. . . Farewell, therefore, Hero” (Shakespeare pg. 23). This quote shows how Claudio was easily convinced to believe that Don Pedro loves Hero for himself, even though there wasn’t anything to prove of this, and how he doesn’t even try to ask Don Pedro if this is true or not. Another piece of evidence says, “If I see anything tonight why I should not marry her tomorrow, in the congregation where I should wed, there will I shame her” (Shakespeare pg. 50). This quote shows how again, Claudio was easily convinced by Don John that he will not wed Hero if he sees her being disloyal towards him. This quote also shows how he’s easily convinced to do something due to someone telling him to do so. To sum this all up, Claudio’s manipulation is his second most major tragic
Don John’s follower Borachio reports to Don John, leading to a first attempt of deception to be set up by Don John. The news goes to Don John who says “ Come, come, let us thither. This is food to my displeasure. That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow. If I can cross him any way, I bless myself every way…” (Shakespeare 15). Don John immediately sees this plan as an opportunity to do harm both to Claudio- honored for his actions against Don John- and to Don Pedro. Don John is setting the tone of his character as a villain while his brother Don Pedro, is the prince and is very active in the other character’s
The first instance of trickery and deception is when Don Pedro tells Claudio that he will woo Hero for Claudio to marry her in Act I Scene I. Tricking her to believe that Don Pedro himself has feelings for Hero:
They had been to the town before, and this time Claudio confessed his love for the governor’s daughter, Hero. Because Leonato is so fond of Claudio, the wedding is set to be a few days away. This gives Don John, Claudio’s bastard brother, a chance to show his true hatred for Claudio. He comes up with a scheme to make Claudio think that Hero is cheating by dressing Margaret in her clothing and perching her near the window with another man. When Claudio sees this, he says that he will humiliate Hero instead of marrying her.
As the story goes on, Don John gets more determined to bring down his brother, and he succeeds in doing so halfway through the book, as shown in, “Not to be married, / Not to knit my soul to an approved wanton… I stand dishonour’d, that have gone about…” (Shakespeare 66-67). In this piece of text, Claudio is confronting Hero of “cheating on him”, and this hurts Don Pedro’s reputation, because he was the one who brought Hero and Claudio together and seeing that one of his close friend’s daughter betray his trust, it damaged Don Pedro’s reputation. Now, it may seem that Don John is having all that he wants, and that he really isn’t that tragically flawed, but this victory leads onto worse circumstances for him, than how it would have been for him if he did not have these flawed traits. At the end of the book, in Act 5, Scene 4, the Messenger arrives saying, “My lord, your brother John is ta’en in flight, / And brought your armed men back to Messina,” (Shakespeare) with Benedick replying back, “I’ll devise thee brave/ punishments for him.” (Shakespeare). This shows how badly things ended for Don John. He was so stubborn to hurt his brother’s status, that he himself ended up getting hurt. His plans and schemes worked for awhile, but eventually karma got him back, and his plan backfired, bringing him to his downfall. Due to his determination to get revenge on his
Even though Don Pedro is a friend to Claudio, and they are from a different city as seen in the movie, he acts more like a father figure to Claudio. He influences Claudio’s political and social circle because he is politically and socially powerful. He encourages Claudio to woo Hero when he professes his love for her. He woos Hero for Claudio and speaks on behalf of Claudio to Leonato to allow Claudio to marry Hero. Don Pedro supports Claudio’s decision to shame Hero by dumping her at the altar on their wedding day, due to the rumor and false witnesses that she has been having an affair with another man. As a father figure, Don Pedro and Claudio plead with Leonato after they find out that the rumor about Hero is not true. Don Pedro supports Claudio moral decision to atone for the part he played in the supposed death of Hero by placing flowers on her
In ”Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare there is a lot of trickery deception in the play. There are many occasions that trickery and deception takes place such as, Don Pedro wooing for claudio, Don Pedro wooing for himself, claudio pretending to be benedick to find out information from don john and borachio, Don John and Borachio both know that claudio is not benedick but trick claudio into thinking that they believe that claudio is in fact Benedick, benedick pretending to be somebody else. I will explain the trickery and deception that took place in these situations and how it affected the play.
In Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Lady Macbeth challenges her husband by saying, “When you durst do it, then you were a man and, to be more than what you were, you would.” (1.7) By insulting his masculinity, she makes Macbeth feel defensive and manipulates him into killing King Duncan to prove his strength. In the works Macbeth, Jekyll and Hyde, and Part Time Indian, people trick others in order to obtain what they want. However, the characters who have used deception or manipulation ultimately experience consequences ranging from mild to severe. When people deceive or manipulate others, they ultimately don’t just hide the truth, but hide their true form in order to conceal something much larger.
Deception is sometimes used by researchers when they conduct psychological experiments. Deception occurs when the participant is misled about the purpose, design, of the experiment, or when the researcher uses deliberate misleading to persuade the subject into believing a certain view (McLeod). Many people believe deception is ethically wrong, and psychologists should not use it to obtain important information. I believe psychologists should be able to use deception if the participant is not psychologically harmed. It is believed that deception is the only way we can obtain true information (Connolly). The knowledge we are able to obtain about psychological tendencies outweighs the temporary effects of deception.
People of wealth and stature are more likely to lie and deceive to get what they want, then people of middle and lower classes. The most common consensus for this is greed. Although greed applies to both lower and upper class, Studies conducted at the University of California, Berkeley showed that upper-class individuals were more likely to exhibit unethical decision-making tendencies, take valued goods from others, lie in a negotiation, cheat to increase their chances of winning a prize, and endorse unethical behavior at work, than were lower-class individuals. However the lower class individuals who almost never lied in the