Examples Of Trickery In Much Ado About Nothing

Trickery And Deception

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.

Don John plays an essential role for nearly all of the trickery and deception in this play. He is the starter

for trouble. Don John tries his hardest to defeat love in any way possible. For example, when Don John says,” I am trusted with a muzzle and enfranchised with a clog; therefore I have decreed not to sing in my cage. If I had my liberty i would do my liking.” (Act 1. Scene 1. 22-30) As you can see Don John tells us that he can be trusted with a muzzle basically saying that we can’t trust what he says when he opens his mouth. Shakespeare makes the play very suspenseful with the Don John character because the foreshadows that he uses with him makes the audience guess what trickery is he going to use next and what does he do to trick them.
Deception takes place in act 4 scene 1 at the wedding when claudio and don pedro constantly insults hero for not being a virgin. In the scene don pedro wanted to prevent the wedding from occurring, so He suggests that Don John go to Claudio and Don Pedro and tell them that Hero is not a virgin but a whore, a woman who has willingly corrupted her own innocence before her marriage and at the same time chosen to be unfaithful to the man she loves. But that was all a lie in the cause of Don pedro wanting to ruin love in every way possible. Whether it hurt someone real bad or not.
Another conspiracy which, again, involves Don John and Borachio trying to sabotage Claudio and Hero’s relationship is in Act II Scene II, when Borachio suggests to Don John that they should convince Claudio and Don Pedro that Hero is no longer a maiden and has been unfaithful to Claudio with Borachio, vexing Claudio whilst also “misusing the prince, to undo Hero, and kill Leonato”.

Don John approves of this idea and offers to pay Borachio for his part in the plan. Borachio tells Don John that Hero is in love with Borachio. “Tell them that you know that Hero loves me”. Don John then informs Borachio of his payment for his part in the plan “a thousands ducats”. Don John leads Don Pedro and Claudio to under Hero’s window where they find Borachio and Margaret are having Sexual intercourse at the window of Hero’s bedroom. However, Don Pedro and Claudio are led to believe that the woman is in fact Hero. This plan is carried out in Act III Scene II, when Don John approaches Don Pedro and Claudio saying,”You may think I love you not. Let that appear hereafter, and aim better at me by that I now will manifest. For my brother, I think he holds you well, and in dearness of heart hath holp to effect your ensuing marriage-surely suit ill spent, and labour ill bestowed!” Don John (Act III, Scene II: Lines

81-85).
In act 1 scene 3 Don John is reported to by Borachio that, “...the prince should woo hero for himself, and having obtained her to count claudio.” After this Don John says,”...If i can cross him in any way, I bless myself in every way. You are both sure, and will assist me? (1.3.54-55)” Don John is using trickery in this scene by trying to make borachio fall in love for hero himself.
In conclusion, Much Ado About Nothing was a play that was full of trickery and deception. Trickery and Deception played a big role in this play. It caused relationship problems and a lot of misunderstanding to everything that was happening 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. In these situations trickery and deception were mainly used to have characters fall in love with the opposite ones that they wanted to. Trickery and deception is a motherfu*&%$!