Comedy in Much Ado about Nothing
Explore the importance of disguise and deception in Much Ado about Nothing. Are they merely effective plot devices?
Much Ado about Nothing was written by William Shakespeare in 1598, towards the middle of his career and during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Disguise and deception are used to great comic effect, as well as to drive the main and sub-plot forward. However, an attentive audience may notice how disguise and deception can also be seen to develop characters and relationships, and show some serious underlying concerns that Shakespeare may be trying to express.
An instance where disguise and deception are used to fuel the main plot is at the masked ball. The simple fact that everyone there is wearing masks, or ‘visors’ symbolises deception itself, and means characters are able to disguise themselves as someone else, such as when Don Pedro plans to ‘tell fair Hero I am Claudio’. Here he walks with Hero ‘in (his) company’, whilst disguising himself as Claudio in an attempt to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf. The use of the word ‘fair’ here accentuates the fact that their marriage only seems to be formed on appearances, on how things look from the outside. This foreshadows the later events of the scene including Don John’s minor attempt to sabotage the marriage, using deception and disguise to his advantage. Here, Don John asks Claudio ‘Are not you Signor Benedick?’, whilst knowing of course, that it is Claudio, yet seizes his chance to play the mischievous character. Claudio replies ‘You know me well, I am he’, thinking that he is the deceptive one in disguising himself as another character, when in fact Don John’s plans are far more scheming than that. Not only does this create dramatic irony for the audience, who know the truth about both characters’ disguises, but it also pushes the plot forward by setting the audience up for the larger obstacle in their marriage by creating a minor version of the main obstacle we see later. If it wasn’t for deception at
Much Ado about Nothing was written by William Shakespeare in 1598, towards the middle of his career and during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Disguise and deception are used to great comic effect, as well as to drive the main and sub-plot forward. However, an attentive audience may notice how disguise and deception can also be seen to develop characters and relationships, and show some serious underlying concerns that Shakespeare may be trying to express.
An instance where disguise and deception are used to fuel the main plot is at the masked ball. The simple fact that everyone there is wearing masks, or ‘visors’ symbolises deception itself, and means characters are able to disguise themselves as someone else, such as when Don Pedro plans to ‘tell fair Hero I am Claudio’. Here he walks with Hero ‘in (his) company’, whilst disguising himself as Claudio in an attempt to woo Hero on Claudio’s behalf. The use of the word ‘fair’ here accentuates the fact that their marriage only seems to be formed on appearances, on how things look from the outside. This foreshadows the later events of the scene including Don John’s minor attempt to sabotage the marriage, using deception and disguise to his advantage. Here, Don John asks Claudio ‘Are not you Signor Benedick?’, whilst knowing of course, that it is Claudio, yet seizes his chance to play the mischievous character. Claudio replies ‘You know me well, I am he’, thinking that he is the deceptive one in disguising himself as another character, when in fact Don John’s plans are far more scheming than that. Not only does this create dramatic irony for the audience, who know the truth about both characters’ disguises, but it also pushes the plot forward by setting the audience up for the larger obstacle in their marriage by creating a minor version of the main obstacle we see later. If it wasn’t for deception at