Much Ado About Nothing Act 2 “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever, one foot in sea and one on shore, to one thing constant never…”

Much Ado About Nothing Act 2  “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,

Men were deceivers ever, one foot in sea and one on shore, to one thing constant never…”

There is a great artistry and ease that seems to have come to Shakespeare around the time he write ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. He uses more free verse in this play than almost any other before, yet the sense of emotional changes in characters and poetic weaving of intricate multiple plots is as strong as ever.

Act 2 of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ echoes with elements and sequences that resonated subtly in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. We start before the start of the masked ball with Hero and Beatrice floating the idea that the perfect man would be a combination between the almost completely silent Don John and the over-verbose Benedick. Beatrice declares that she will never marry even though Leonato and Antonio believe that Don Pedro will, that very evening, ask her to marry him.

The masked ball begins, the music strikes up, masks are put on and the men seek partners for a dance and a conversation. Balthasar (Don Pedro’s musician) finds a welcome partner in Margaret (Hero’s servant), while Don Pedro dances and flirts with Hero pretending to be Claudio. Beatrice is partnered with Benedick but pretends to not know him and insults Benedick pretending that her partner is some other stranger. Benedick is truly upset by Beatrice’s onslaught.

Don John is up to mischief and decides he will make Claudio jealous by claiming that his brother Don Pedro is trying to win Hero’s heart for himself and not for Claudio. Don John sidles up to the wallflower Claudio and pretends to think that he is Benedick. Claudio plays along with this. Don John declaims that Don Pedro is courting hero for himself and states that Don Pedro means to marry her this very night. Don John leaves. Claudio is taken in by this lie and when the real Benedick enters to strike up a conversation, Claudio storms out. Then Don Pedro joins Benedick with Hero and her father, Leonato, and Benedick sees that Don Pedro is true to his words and has wooed Hero for Claudio. Benedick then sinks back into hurt over Beatrice’s earlier statements when low and behold, Beatrice returns having retrieved Claudio. Benedick begs to be sent on some meaningless errand for Don Pedro and when this is refused, he goes anyway.

Claudio is informed of Don Pedro’s success in getting Hero to agree to marry him, Claudio, and Don Pedro announces that Leonato supports the marriage. Claudio is overjoyed. Beatrice declares again that she will never marry and when Don Pedro offers to marry her, Beatrice witterly rejects his offer:

“No, my lord, unless I might have another for

working-days: your grace is too costly to wear

every day.”

When Beatrice leaves, Leonato and Claudio discuss the wedding date which is finally fixed for the next Monday. Don Pedro suggests that in the meantime they should find a way to get Beatrice and Benedick to stop arguing and contrive a way for them to fall in love. They all agree to help Don Pedro with this.

With one opportunity lost, Don John decides to try another tact and his plans turn more sinister. With Borachio’s help he plans to make it look as if Hero is not virtuous and in one fell swoop.

Meanwhile Don John, with Borachio’s help, plots to ruin Claudio and Hero’s wedding by casting aspersions upon Hero’s character. They plan to have Borachio who courts Margaret, the chambermaid of Hero, call Margaret ‘Hero’ when they court next near Hero’s open bedroom window and then Don John will make sure Don Pedro hears and sees this and thus Don Pedro will think Hero unfaithful to Claudio. This way Don John will get the better of Don Pedro, thwart Claudio, undermine Hero reputation and he also insinuates that he will top all this off with killing Leonato for some obscure reason.

Later, in the garden, Benedick talks to himself about how men in love are idiots and how no intelligent man would fall in love. Then he hears Don Pedro and Claudio entering and he hides. After Don John’s manipulations and machinations, Don Pedro’s plans sound infantile by comparison. He. Leonato and Claudio move to a place in the garden where they know Benedick can overhear their conversation and they talk about how they have just heard that Beatrice is in love with Benedick but that she will never reveal this to Benedick for fear he would make fun of her. Don Pedro ends by stating that although he loves Benedick that he thinks he is unworthy of Beatrice’s love. They then leave for dinner and Benedick reveals himself and he is, for the first time in the play, lost for words. He decides that he will pity Beatrice and pander a bit to her desires. Fortunously, Beatrice has been sent to get Benedick for dinner and when scorns and then mocks him, Benedick treats it as a symbol of her true devotion to him. She leaves him perplexed and Benedick declares that he will take pity on her and even have a portrait made:

“Against my will I am sent to bid you come in

to dinner;' there's a double meaning in that… If I do

not take pity of her, I am a villain; if I do not

love her, I am a Jew. I will go get her picture.”