Much Ado About Nothing Act 5 – “… it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused; and Don John is the author of all, who is fed and gone…”

Much Ado About Nothing Act 5 –  “… it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused;

and Don John is the author of all, who is fed and gone…”

Years ago when I taught in the Middle-East, I taught Shakespeare to students including female Muslim students from Afghanistan to Lebanon and students from Indian and Anglo-Celtic backgrounds. All seemed to like ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Macbeth’, but what I was struck with is the powerful discussions that ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ would always evoke. The slandering of Hero for her alleged lack of virtue, the devastation this causes her father and cousin, the ease with which a woman’s reputation is sullied by a man, would always be a hot topic when reading or doing scenes from this play. Many students would think that Claudio and Don Pedro get off too lightly in the end of the play. Recently in Australia, doing  sections of this play with Middle School students, the reaction was once again passionate when concepts of cyber-slander arose. There are not many playwrights and plays that can still elicit such a strong response.

Despite going through with the plan of ‘staging’ his daughter Hero’s mock death, Leonato is still worried that his daughter has been virtuous. When Don Pedro and Claudio enter, Leonato and his brother Antonio confront them and although being old, Leonato challenges Claudio to a duel for the shame he has brought on Hero and claims that he is not so old that he will not kill or be killed for the honor of his daughter. Leonato and Antonio exit emphatic that they will have their revenge soon enough.

Enter Benedick. Claudio and Don Pedro try to engage in witty banter with him but Benedick will have none of it. Benedick calls Claudio aside and tells him that he Benedick will avenge the slander he has brought against Hero’s name and that he challenges Claudio to a duel. Benedick also tells Don Pedro that he can no longer serve him and that Don John has fled the city. Benedick leaves and Claudio and Don Pedro talk about how they think that Benedick is serious in his intentions and that they think that love for Beatrice has caused Benedick to take this course.

Resolution to the plotlines comes in the form of Dogberry and Verges and the Men of the Watch who enter with their prisoners Conrad and Borachio in tow. Claudio and Don Pedro hear how Borachio has confessed to crimes of treachery and lying but it takes a little while for Dogberry’s words and charges to be understood and the fact that Borachio has been part of Don John’s scheme to slander Hero, and undermine both Claudio and Don Pedro. Borachio more clearly confesses to Don Pedro, probably because he believes that he has caused Hero’s death (even though we know she is still alive), when he says:

“Sweet prince… I have deceived even your very eyes…

Don John your brother incensed me to slander the Lady Hero … court Margaret in Hero's garments… The lady is dead upon mine and my master's false accusation;

and, briefly, I desire nothing but the reward of a villain.”

When Leonato and Antonio enter again, Claudio and Don Pedro seem truly sorry and offer themselves to submit to any punishment which Leonato wishes to enact. The clearing and re-establishment of Hero’s name is Leonato’s first demand and he believes that a public poetic epitaph should be posted, read and sung at her tomb. Moreover, he demands that Claudio must marry his brother Antonio’s daughter who is very much like Hero in many regards (obviously he has suddenly come up with a clever plan to have Hero in disguise marry Claudio. Claudio accepts these demands. The scene ends with the villain Borachio being carted off for more questioning.

Back at Leonato’s mansion, Benedick requests that Margaret go and get Beatrice so that Benedick can have some private words to her. He bemoans his inability to put his intentions of love into a love poem for Beatrice and tells of how he earlier attempted to write a love sonnet for Beatrice but he failed in this earlier attempt also. When Beatrice enters, they amorously flirt with one another through wit and insults. Benedick reveals that he has already challenged Claudio to a duel for the honour of hero and to prove his love for Beatrice. The scene ends when Ursula, the maid, enters and urges Beatrice and benedick to come quickly to the house because:

“… it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused,

the prince and Claudio mightily abused;

and Don John is the author of all, who is fed and gone…”

As the sun rises, Claudio reads out, at Hero’s alleged tomb, the epitaph he has written for her, which decries her virtue and innocence. He promises that he will do this annually. Claudio then leaves to wed Leonato’s niece, who apparently looks like Hero (but is in fact Hero in disguise).

At the church, it is Claudio’s wedding Take 2. The Friar is not one to say “I told you so”, but he seems quite proud that his belief in Hero’s virtue was proven correct. We overhear that Margaret was interviewed and that she is innocent because she was not aware of Borachio and Don John plan. Benedick, relieved that he does not have to fight his friend Claudio, calls Leonato aside and asks for his permission to marry Beatrice. This is granted.

Enter Don Pedro and Claudio and soon after Hero, Beatrice and other women enter wearing masks to hide their identities. Claudio swears he will marry the masked women he think is Leonato’s niece, even without seeing her face. Hero reveals herself beneath the mask and Claudio is shocked but overjoyed that he should have his love and wife returned.

Benedick then asks Beatrice to declare in public that she loves him. She refuses to and benedick does the same. Claudio and Hero declare they know this is not the case and they reveal the draft of unsuccessful love poems written from Benedick to Beatrice and Beatrice to Benedick. Beatrice is finally silenced with a kiss. So the play ends with two weddings, a mock funeral, a cancelled duel, Benedick and Claudio friends again and soon to be cousins. This is finally topped off with the arrival of the final news that Don John has been caught. Benedick says to Don Pedro that Don John’s interrogation can wait until tomorrow when they will devise all means of suitable torture. In the meantime, he emphatically demands that they music strike up and they all dance.