Much Ado About Nothing is a Shakespearean comedy that combines.
Many serious questions such as honor, shame and .
court politics are defused by comedy, as well as by the "Forms of Confusion" John .
Creaser discussed in his essay. Creaser defined the word confusion, as used by .
Shakespeare, in many ways: ruin, shamefulness, embarrassment, disorder, com-.
motion. All of these definitions are invoked by Shakespeare in Much Ado.
About Nothing. The plot of this play is based upon deliberate deceptions and.
misconceptions.
The major misunderstanding of the play is that of a main female character's,.
Hero, chastity or lack of it. During the Renaissance a woman's chastity was .
extremely important and marriage to an unchaste woman was socially .
unacceptable. Claudio, the young man who is in love with and engaged to Hero, is .
duped into believing that she has been unfaithful. This resulted in Hero's disgrace .
and was the crux of the story.
The play revolved around this confusion brought about by Don John, the .
play's villain, and the deceit he perpetrates against Hero and Claudio. Don John .
conspired with Borachio and Margaret to trick Claudio and Don Pedro, an.
important nobleman and the most politically and socially powerful character,.
into seeing what they believed was a liaison between Hero and Borachio. .
Borachio is a associate of Don John and the lover of Margaret, Hero's servant.
Claudio's quick acceptance of Hero's "unfaithfulness" relates back to .
his own internal confusion. He is young, naive, and of a suspicious nature.
He was easily deceived, and he quickly judged the woman he supposedly loved.
Because of this all too quick judgment, Claudio turns on Hero and she becomes .
his victim. With his accusations, he shames her and her family at the altar, thus .
the happy wedding becomes a chaotic and tragic event. This event leads to even.
more confusion. At the insistence of the friar, Hero is told to stay out of sight.
