Two harmless gulling scenes take place in the play. Act 2 Scene 3 where Claudio, Don Pedro and Leonato deceive Benedick. In Act 3 Scene 1 Beatrice is deceived by Hero and Ursula. Both Benedick and Beatrice think they are eavesdropping on confidential conversations between characters but the others actually know that they are listening. This, however, makes it more believable for Beatrice and Benedick because they are not being directly spoken too.
Both scenes are single sex scenes. This is probably because the women and the men would handle the situation in two completely different ways and it is easier for people to relate to other people of the same.
Benedick's gulling scene is more of a comic scene rather than the more serious deception of Beatrice. This is probably because Benedick is a man and in this play men play a very insensitive, tough role. The men use reverse psychology. They said that Benedick was going to be a bachelor for the rest of his life. Benedick cannot believe they think this.
' When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married '
They torment him by saying he could never care about Beatrice and that he would just lead her on.
' He would make but a sport of it, and torment the poor lady worse '
At this point Benedick became intent on proving them wrong.
' I must not seem proud, happy are they that hear their detractions, and can put them to mending'
'for I will be horribly in love with her'
By emphasizing his worst characteristics and insulting him Benedick has deceived himself because he doesn't want to believe he could do and be such horrendous things. However he could also have deceived himself purely because he believed his close friends and be genuinely flattered that Beatrice was in love with him.
Bendick's gulling scene is written in prose. This is because it is more of a comic scene and is meant to be funny. This is a very comic scene because it is supposed to appeal to a male audience who could relate to Benedick, the situation he is in and the way he is feeling. This is the complete opposite of Beatrice’s' scene which is written in poetry. This makes the scene more serious and emotional for Beatrice because after they leave she has a soliloquy in blank verse, which shows that she has taken everything they have said seriously. Later on in the play there is a short conversation between Beatrice and Benedick showing that they are utterly convinced that they are in love with each other.
‘I do love nothing in the world so well as you’
This deception has worked but in a positive way for all concerned because Beatrice and Benedick are content with the arrangement and their friends are able to watch them being happy.
In Act 3, scene 2, Don John begins his plans. He invites Don Pedro to witness Hero’s disloyalty to Claudio.
‘the lady is disloyal’
The men respond to this by claiming that they will ‘ shame her’. This is exactly the effect that Don John wants to achieve and his plot is going to plan until the watch overhears Borachio confessing to Conrade that he pretended that Margaret was Hero and wooed her into Hero’s bedchamber so that Don John could pretend that Hero was unfaithful. The watch then arrests the two villains.
Later, Dogberry, the constable of the watch, who has deceived himself into thinking that he is cleverer than he is, tries to inform an impatient Leonato. However, he uses incorrect language and mixes up the meaning of words so Leonato impatiently leaves. If Leonato had been more patient and Dogberry less pretentious then a lot of confusion in the play would have been avoided.
Act 4, scene 1 is the wedding scene. In this, Claudio, Don John and Don Pedro cruelly ‘expose’ Hero. Only Benedick, Beatrice and Friar Francis believe in her innocence. Even Leonato, Hero’s father, is convinced of her guilt. Friar Francis and the remaining characters devise another plan in which they would deceive people. They will tell everyone that Hero has tragically died in hope that this will rekindle Claudio’s love for her, but if this fails, Hero can go to a nunnery.
Beatrice later asks Benedick to avenge Hero’s humiliation by asking Benedick to ‘Kill Claudio’ when he refuses she accuses him of having ‘no love’. He eventually agrees to ‘challenge him’. Using their relationship to manipulate Benedick is very unlike Beatrice. This shows how much harm Don John’s deception has caused.
In Act 5 Scene 1, Leonato begins Father Francis’ deception. At first Claudio is unaffected by the death of Hero until Borachio confesses to his role in Don John’s plot.
‘Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear
In the rare semblance that I loved it first’
This proves that he felt guilt for Hero’s death but only when he finds out that she was wronged. For consolation Leonato asks him to mourn at Hero’s tomb that night and marry his niece, Beatrice. At the beginning of act 5, scene 4, Leonato tells Hero, Beatrice, Margaret and Ursula to prepare for the wedding by masking themselves, once again masking their identities and deceiving others. Benedick then asks for Beatrice’s hand in marriage, which Leonato happily agrees too. Don Pedro and Claudio arrive and Antonio brings forward Hero, as Beatrice and Claudio agrees to marry her.
‘I am your husband if you like me’
When the deception is revealed, Claudio accepts Hero even more graciously. At the same time Benedick and Beatrice declare their love for one another and they too marry. The remaining punishment of Don John and Borachio are left for after the festivities.
It is ironic that in the play Balthasar sings a song saying ‘Men were deceivers ever’. This line describes the structure of the play. It takes the theme of deception and explains it in different ways. It was inevitable that to achieve what each person wanted others had to be deceived but later we discover the different intentions of the deceit.
The two brothers, Don Pedro and Don John both deceive people in their own ways, but for different purposes. Obviously, they will both gain from their deceptions. Don Pedro’s kingdom will increase as couples get married and have children. However, he does this at the same time as fulfilling other people’s lives. Don John has the opposite effect; by ruining other people’s lives he enriches his life. However, to get what they want they both have to work against each other. Even when Don John was believed, his plot was revealed and Don Pedro’s plans succeeded. The malevolent and benign deception run in parallel with each other so they can be compared as you watch the play. However, it is always the harmless deception which succeeds against the harmful deception. The theme of deception plays a major part in the plot of the play and without it the play would not have a story line.
