“Betrayal is a theme introduce at the beginning of this play. How does this constant stream of betrayal effect the out come of the plot and which characters are mostly affected by it”?
In this book “Much Ado About Nothing” betrayal is one of the major and most important theme of this play because if it was not for the constant stream of betrayal I don’t think that this book would be so effective to the readers. We could also see that the out come of the plot was greatly affected because we see marriage turn to death.
According to the Longman dictionary of contemporary English betrayal means to be disloyal to a friend, country or someone who trust you that they are harmed or upset. We first see betrayal in this book by Don John we wishes to get back at his brother. We also see betrayal between Don John and Borachio, Claudio and Hero and Leonato. Although betrayal was carried out in numbers of ways in the book I believe that Hero was the one it affected most. Don John was the bastard brother of Don Pedro who was the prince of Arragon. Don John and friends who where Conrade and Borachio wanted to betrayal Don Pedro’s trust by deceiving Claudio, this occurs in Act 1 scene 3. The plan that Don John made was to inform Claudio that Don Pedro was planning to woo Hero for himself and to her instead of him. Don John also went on with the plan to make Borachio and one of Hero servant to have sexual intercourse in Hero’s room so that Claudio and Don Pedro would see and believe it was Hero.
The betrayal between hero and Claudio was affected greatly because it was a day that every girl dream about Hero’s wedding day. The church was filled with people and when Friar Francis asked Claudio whether he wishes to marry Hero, Claudio reply was NO then he continued by saying that he is going to send her back to Leonato because outwardly she is pure and innocence but is unfaithful whore inwardly. The wedding which was supposed to be a happy and joyful ended in uproar. Leonato and Hero where both stock and surprise and asked what you mean by this, Claudio tells them that himself, Don Pedro and Don John had seen her the night before having sexual intercourse with a man. Claudio also stated that the man has confessed of having sexual intercourse with her more than once. This accusation was supported by Don John and Don Pedro where there then accuse her of sexual looseness. Leonato was ashamed, embarrassed and cried and for a dagger to commit suicide. Hero sinks to the ground unconscious. Don John, Don Pedro and Claudio walked out with out looking back. The Friar yells Leonato to plan that Hero had died after she was shamed at the wedding and Leonato went alone with it. We see in Act 4 scene 2 Dogberry interrogate Borachio and Conrade. Borachio confesses that he received money from Don John to pretend me made love to Hero.
In closing we can say that betrayal really played a major part in the out come of the plot in “Much Ado About Nothing”. We see that disloyalty was played out in a number of ways and because of this the comedy ended up into a tragic-comedy. Claudio losses a good woman or wonderful wife, Leonato was ashamed because of his position in society. And we see that Don John and friends where put away because of their action. Don John’s plans of getting back at his brother as also backfired on him.
