Several characters used this scene to deceive each other.
The ‘truths’ the audience have learned about Beatrice and Benedick is that they used to have feelings for each other but Benedick was not as committed as Beatrice. We learn this from the following quote.
‘Indeed, my lord, he lent it me a while, and I gave him use for it, a double heart for his single one. Marry, once before he won it off me with false dice. Therefore your grace may well say I have lost it.’
Benedick played around with her feelings, and Beatrice thought she was in love.
The audience also learns that the reason Beatrice insults Benedick a lot is to get her revenge on him. It shows that she is not anti-‘man’ but has a real motive to mistrust Benedick.
The scene on the deception of Benedick takes place in Leonato’s Orchard. This setting helps Don Pedro and others to allow Benedick to eavesdrop because he can hide behind ‘trees’ and listen to them and they know he can hear. This setting allows the audience to see Benedick’s expressions as he listens and watches the main action because it allows characters to hide and the audience can see both sets of actors.
The audience can also see the deception clearly as well.
Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio are talking aloud so Benedick can hear them.
‘What was it you told me of today, that your niece Beatrice was in love with Signor Benedick?’
They announce that Hero has said that Beatrice is love with Bendick.
Benedick believes this, as Hero is trustworthy, quiet and very close to Beatrice so she wouldn’t lie about it.
The characters say he is ‘too proud’ and that this is one of the reasons that Beatrice has not admitted her love for him.
Benedick believes what he has heard and is deceived into believing that Beatrice loves him from these quotes because he knows they are true.
He has always put women down and always said he would never get married. This could be a reason of why Beatrice has kept back from admitting her love, as she is scared she will get rejected.
‘A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age. Shall quips and sentences and these paper bullets of the brain awe a man from the career of his humour? No. The world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live until I were married.’
Benedick is deceived and is a changed man so quickly and is keen to believe what has been said because he agrees he is destined to get married to Beatrice. It seems he has been deceiving himself about his love for Beatrice because he was too proud to admit it and at the same time scared of rejection. He now knows of Beatrice and wants to be truthful about his feelings.
This setting is reused to deceive Beatrice. This adds humour because the audience know what to expect because it has happened before. It is basically joke upon joke.
This scene also represents that Beatrice and Benedick have similar personalities.
Hero and Ursula manage to deceive Beatrice by using their knowledge of her personality.
They say ‘she is too disdainful… her spirits are as coy and wild as haggards of the rock.’ Hero and Ursula mean that Beatrice’s personality is wild like a hawk and can and will never be tamed by man.
‘He doth deserve as much as may be yielded to a man, but nature never framed a woman’s heart of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice.’
They say her that Benedick deserves to be happily married but Beatrice is proud and unapproachable. She is sarcastic about everything and can’t love anyone as much as herself.
This deceives Beatrice into believing them because she will realise that this has kept Benedick away from her.
When Hero and Ursula mix lies and truths together it makes the plot more believable.
‘O, do not your cousin such a wrong. She cannot be so much without true judgement, having so swift and excellent a wit as she is priz’d to have, as to refuse so rare a gentleman as Signor Benedick…he is the only man of Italy, always excepted my dear Claudio.’
Hero and Ursula say that they can’t believe Beatrice would refuse Benedick as everyone says she has a good judge of character, and that Benedick has the reputation of being brave and intelligent and he is praised, throughout Italy.
Beatrice is deceived into believing them because she realises that what they are saying is sort of true.
After hearing these things, Beatrice is in a different mood. She is more excited and her language changes. Shakespeare writes her lines in rhyme.
‘ What fire is in my ear? Can this be true? Stand I condemn’d for pride and scorn so much? Contempt, farewell; and maiden pride, adieu. No glory lives behind the back of such. And, Benedick, love on. I will requite thee, taming my wild heart to thy loving hand. If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee to bind our loves up in a holy band. For others say thou dost deserve, and I believe it better than reportingly.’
Beatrice’s lines were written in blank verse before. Shakespeare changes his writing style to reflect Beatrice’s mood. Her feelings are under control. She is happy she can finally admit her feelings for Benedick.
Don John’s evil plot to split Claudio and Hero up is in contrast to Don Pedro’s romantic plot to bring Beatrice and Benedick together. This is because they are both using deception to get what they want.
The difference is that Don John is deceiving people for unhappiness and Don Pedro is deceiving people to bring something good.
Borachio and Margaret’s actions at the window have been used to deceive Claudio.
The scene is set at night to help even more with deception because it is dark and unclear to see exactly what is happening.
When Borachio and Margaret are at Hero’s chamber window having sex, Don John brings Claudio and Don Pedro to see this. From their views they can see Hero and Borachio. In some productions Margaret looks like Hero from the back, which is the first way Claudio is deceived. The second way was the darkness, which played a big part in the scene of deception. The third way Borachio deceived Don Pedro and Claudio was by shouting Hero’s name out while they were having sex. We know this because Borachio quotes:
‘ Two of them did, the prince and Claudio. But the devil my master knew she was Margaret. And partly by his oaths, which first possessed them, partly by the dark night, which did deceive them, but chiefly by my villainy, which did confirm any slander that Don John had made-…’
Altogether these things played a big part in the deception of Claudio.
This scene is only mentioned/ reported in the play’s text but many directors choose to act this scene out. This is because they want the audience to see what Claudio and Don Pedro sees. Another reason is that nowadays it is normal for scenes like this to be shown. In Shakespeare’s time it would only be spoken out, as it would be too explicit and vivid to show.
At Hero’s first wedding, Claudio decides that he will get his revenge on Hero. He does this by telling everyone that Hero has committed adultery and that she is no longer a virgin.
‘ There, Leonato, take her back again. Give not this rotten orange to your friend! She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour. Behold how like a maid she blushes here. O, what authority and show of truth can cunning sin cover itself withal! Comes not that blood as modest evidence to witness simple virtue? Would you not swear—all you that see her—that she were a maid, by these exterior shows? But she is none. She knows the heat of a luxurious bed. Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.’
Claudio chooses this setting to confront Hero with his accusations because there are more people and he wants her to be shamed. Another reason he choose this setting is because everyone will know what Hero is like and her reputation will be ruined.
This scene reveals the society’s expectations of women. They are expected to remain virgins until after they are married and if they do not their reputations are ruined. When a woman’s status is ruined no one would want to marry into the family. The woman wouldn’t only shame herself but her whole family.
This scene reveals that Claudio, Don Pedro and Leonato believe anything and are deceived very quickly. They are not a good judge of character and do not really trust people around them.
Benedick is different because he doesn’t act modest and doesn’t tell everyone that this was inevitable.
This is surprising because at the beginning of the play he was against women and always put them down. He used to say that women could never be trusted as they always cheat on men.
Benedick stands by Hero and realises that this was all a plot by Don John. He is not deceived easily because he knows that Don John is evil.
Hero’s funeral is another scene of deception. This is because she is not really dead.
Hero is deceiving Claudio in this scene. This scene is necessary because Claudio is full of sadness and regret after finding out that Hero was innocent.
This scene also shows us that Hero has been deceived and that this is the end of deception.
Claudio must prove to society that Hero was innocent and falsely accused. He must also prove that this all happened because of Don John’s evil plot.
At Hero’ second wedding masks are used again. This is because if Claudio knows he is going to be marrying Hero, he might hold back and Hero will have to go through the sorrow and pain a second time.
The others continue to deceive Claudio despite his apology because they do not trust him and are scared he will refuse marriage, putting Hero through pain a second time.
This is why Claudio is not allowed to see Hero’s face until he promises to marry her in front of the friar.
The final deception that Beatrice and Benedick uncover is that they were both fooled into loving each other. They uncover the trick that has been played on them.
Beatrice becomes unsure of Benedick at this moment because she is scared that she has opened up her feelings too much and is worried that she is going to be hurt again. She is worried that she is going to be hurt and that Benedick will not love her as much as she loves him.
Hero and Claudio bring them back together. They prove to Benedick and Beatrice that they have authentic feelings for each other because they have written lame poems for each other that are true and not artificial.
Beatrice and Benedick are no longer deceiving themselves about their true feelings.
The atmosphere is happy and joyful at the play’s end.
Don John has been captured, so Messina now knows that there will be no deception ever again.
The dancing at the end of the play symbolises the happiness and unity of Messina now that evil has been conquered and all of the lies have been uncovered. They join hands to illustrate that they are a happy family and community again.
In my view the dark setting contributes largely to the overall atmosphere of the play because it symbolises the evil nature of deception.
