Much ado about nothing
Analysis of act 4 scene 1
This scene is related to the play as a whole because we see both sides of most of the characters in this particular scene;
- E.g. CLAUDIO is a young lord of Florence and one of don Pedro’s close friends who falls in love with Hero but he changes his feelings when he falsely accuses her of infidelity
- HERO is the daughter of leonato and she falls in love with Claudio and is to marry him but then she is suddenly accused of infidelity. She pretends to be dead until the truth about her character is revealed.
- LEONATO is the governor of Messina.Hero’s father and Beatrice and don Pedro’s uncle, he is engraved when Don Pedro and Claudio accuse his daughter Hero of such disgrace and he defends her honour.
- BEATRICE is hero’s cousin, she is leonato’s niece. She initially hates benedict but in this scene we see her true feelings to him as she has fallen in love with him.
- BENEDICT is a young lord of Padua and one of Don Pedro’s close companions, he also initially hates Beatrice but as we see in this scene his love for her is further revealed.
- DON JOHN who is don Pedro’s brother hates don Pedro’s friend Claudio and he plots to ruin Claudio’s marriage to Hero. We don’t really see much change in don john in this scene.
- DON PEDRO a prince of Arragon and a special soldier returns to his uncle in Messina. He helps his friend Claudio to woo hero, he also helps Beatrice and benedict to become closer. We don’t really see a change in Don Pedro’s character during this scene.
- The two ladies who are used for this plot, which don john has planned are MARGARET and URSULA. These women also attend on Hero, but against her will Margaret pretends to be Hero and she kisses Conrade near her window, which is in full view of Claudio and Don Pedro. These women don’t really change in this scene either.
