Beatrice, Benedick, Leonato, and the Friar try to understand what has happened. They begin to suspect that Don John is behind the accusations. The Friar suggests a strategy: let people think Hero has died. Remorse will begin to work on Claudio, and they will have time to find out what has happened.
Leonato believed it would be better had Hero died, as it would protect her (and him) from an awful lot of ridicule.
‘Death is the fairest cover for her shame / that may be wished for.’
Benedick has been an almost silent bystander in this scene, and then admits after Leonato’s long speech proclaiming Hero’s innocence that he really doesn’t understand, and has been rendered speechless.
‘For my part I am so attired in wonder / I know not what to say.’
Claudio's belief in Hero's infidelity is of course a misunderstanding, caused by the fact that Don John allowed Claudio to see Borachio and Margaret. It is Don John who reports to Claudio and Don Pedro that Hero is having an affair, and he who stage-manages an intricate charade featuring his own henchman Borachio and an unwitting Margaret to lend credibility to this fiction. Perhaps the most significant thing to be noted in connection with this deception is that the audience does not witness the crucial scene in which Claudio overhears the counterfeit meeting of Margaret and Borachio that persuade him of Hero's guilt.
Claudio has almost been possessed by the evil of Don John and Borachio and leaves with Don John, leaving Leonato to think about his daughter’s predicament.
When Hero comes round from her faint, she is suddenly subjected to a flood of questions from Beatrice, Benedick, Leonato, and the Friar.
Left alone together Benedick confesses his love to Beatrice; this is another key climax because Beatrice finally admits that she loves him too.
This scene has been building up over several scenes, with conspiracies and hints towards disaster, but Beatrice and Benedick’s long conversation at the end of the scene completes one good conspiracy, the one formed by Hero and Claudio to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love, it worked and now Beatrice is making Benedick show his love by taking revenge for the wrong done to Hero. He promises to challenge Claudio, and attempt to kill him.
This plan of theirs forms another plot in the already complicated system of trickery and backstabbing plans, making this scene the most action packed scene so far, as all the plots come to a conclusion, what makes it more interesting is that not everybody knows what is going on, the separation has become clear between good and evil, with only Claudio hovering in between these boundaries.
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