Summary Of The Acts

Act One

Act one begins with the arrival of Don Pedro, the Prince of Arragon. Don Pedro was to arrive in Messina to dwell with Leonato, the Governor of Messina. With him was his brother Don John, Benedick, Claudio and other unnamed men. Beatrice was the niece of Leonato who hated Benedick with a passion. It was displayed in act one where they always cursed each other with fury but deep down it was described as being a secret love affair or a ‘merry war’.

It is also seen in act one that Claudio fell in love with Hero, Leonato’s daughter and desired her hand in marriage. He sought advice from Benedick but with Benedick’s hatred for relationships he tried to discourage Claudio. Claudio then asked Don Pedro what were his views on the matter. Don Pedro practically encouraged him but Claudio did not know how to go about romancing Hero so Don Pedro devised a plan for him. The plan was for him, Don Pedro, to act as Claudio at the great supper and woo Hero (it was a mask ball so nobody would notice) and when that was over let the real Claudio join her.

Reports went back to Don John (the bastard) about this plan and because he had hatred in his heart for his brother he devised a plan to cause chaos between his brother and Claudio.

Act Two

The setting of act two was at the great supper. Here is where Don Pedro disguised himself as Claudio to win Hero’s heart. It was also where Don John carried out his plan to cause chaos between Claudio and Don Pedro.

Don Pedro was successful in capturing Hero’s heart as Claudio whereas Don John was also successful in causing a bit of a tension between Don Pedro and Claudio. This was seen when Benedick was asking Claudio about Don Pedro and Claudio told him to leave him alone.

In act two, Leonato gave his daughter the Claudio; he gave permission to Claudio to marry Hero. Deceit was also seen in this act. It was portrayed where Don John wanted so badly to break up Claudio and Hero, that he and his companion Borachio devised yet another plan. Their plan was for Borachio to romance Margaret (an attendant of Hero) in Hero’s chamber. While romancing her, he will call Hero’s name and she would call Borachio’s name so that it looked like it was Hero and Borachio was making love instead of he and Margaret. Don John’s role was to get Claudio and Don Pedro to the go to Hero’s window to see what was happening in the chamber. When that was done, Don John was to pay Borachio a thousand ducats for his work.

While Don John and Borachio were devising their plan to cause mischief, Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro was devising a plan to make Benedick fall in love with Beatrice. Their plan was to talk about how Beatrice loves Benedick with all her heart, knowing that Benedick was there but pretending that they didn’t see him. They also got Hero to join with them so that Hero would be the one to fool Beatrice into loving Benedick.

After all was said and done it was now time to put the plan into play. Borachio romanced Margret as Hero and Don John got Don Pedro and Claudio to see it all. Claudio and Don Pedro were outraged. Claudio was so outraged that instead of confronting Hero, he planned to embarrass her at the wedding in front of everyone.

Act Three

It was now time for Hero to fool Beatrice into loving Benedick. In act three, Hero along with her gentlewoman Ursula had a conversation of how Benedick loved Beatrice (knowing that she was listening) so that she would fall in love with him. They were very successful because at the end of the conversation, Beatrice started to develop feelings for Benedick.

Borachio and Don John were also found out in this act. Watchmen were placed at the door to take watch over the chamber. Borachio, being drunk, was talking to his friend about the plan Don John and he devised. Unaware of the presence of the watchmen, Borachio told his friend everything he did to cause chaos between Hero and Claudio and that Don John paid him to do it.

The watchmen overheard them and arrested them. They then in turn told Verges and Dogberry what they overheard. Both Verges and Dogberry went to tell Leonato but he was in a rush to get to the church for Hero’s wedding that he didn’t stop to listen to them.

In this act also, Hero was selecting her dress that she would wear to the wedding. Her gentlewomen were also there to assist her as well as her cousin.