Essay on Much Ado About Nothing

Betrayal is a theme introduced at the very beginning of this play. How does this constant stream of betrayal affect the outcome of the plot and which characters are most affected?

In the play entitled “Much Ado About Nothing” by William Shakespeare one can see that betrayal one of the major themes in this play affects the outcome of the plot and also many of the characters.

In the beginning of the play we see betrayal being introduced when Don John tries to convince Claudio that Don Pedro has betrayed him by wooing Hero, the girl that Claudio is in love with for himself. However, further into the play reveals that Don Pedro did indeed woo Hero for Claudio and not himself. This shows us that Claudio, though he felt like he was betrayed actually betrayed the trust between Don Pedro and himself. Reason being, Claudio was willing to trust what Don John Said and ruin his friendship instead of addressing Don Pedro privately about the matter.  Hence, the reason why I say it is seen as Claudio betraying the trust between himself and Don Pedro.

Another character that we see affected by betrayal in this play is Hero. Hero was betrayed by both Claudio and Leonato her own father. In order to ruin Claudio life Don Pedro persuaded him that Hero was impure and even got Margaret to pretend to be her so that he could prove that she was impure. Similarly to the situation with Don Pedro, Claudio again chose to trust the words of Don John without asking questions or confronting Hero privately about it. Furthermore, he chose to embarrass or publicly shame her infront of her father, the rest of her family and the general public. This is seen as betrayal to Hero’s trust since she would have probably expected him to do the right thing and address her privately or at least listen to her explanation but he did the opposite.

Additionally, her father also betrayed her because instead of siding with her he disowned her. You would not expect that from a father but because he felt so embarrassed he chose to listen to Claudio’s accusations instead of his daughter whom he knew longer and better. So therefore he also betrayed he trust.  This constant stream of betrayal affect the outcome of the plot in that it sums up all the conflicts and it helps bring the plot and play to a resolution.  Also, it enhancing the outcome of the plot and therefore makes it more interesting to readers.

In conclusion, we see that betrayal does indeed affect many of the characters in Much Ado About Nothing and also the outcome of the plot. Characters such as Don Pedro and Hero were affected by betrayal and these betrayals enhance the plot and therefore make the play more interesting.