Much ado about Nothing Act 1

Act 1 Scene 1

Much Ado About Nothing starts with a messenger bringing a letter of good news to Leonato. In the letter, Leonato learns that Don Pedro of Arragon (for some reason the script spells it ‘Don Peter’) comes to visit them in Messina that night. Leonato’s group of friends are joyous in the news and quickly celebrate. While Leonato and the messenger converse about the war, Beatrice – Leonato’s niece – asks the messenger if a “Signior Mountanto” returned from the wars. At first, when Beatrice referred to Benedick with that name, I assumed “Mountanto” was another name of his but after searching around the Internet, I found out that “Mountanto” means stuck up. This was the first of many insults Beatrice vomited out about Benedick in this scene.  We learn that Beatrice and Benedick have this sort of war of wits going on between them, implying that the two shared a history together.

When the Don Pedro’s men finally arrive in Messina, Leonato welcomes them with open arms. Along with Don Pedro, Claudio, Benedick and his bastard brother Don John had come with him to Messina. Leonato tells Don Pedro’s men that they are to stay with him for a month. Naturally when Benedick and Beatrice meet their childish little war of wits continue with a fast paced string of insults spewed at each other. After the men exit scene, Claudio and Benedick remain. Claudio, who is evidently a shy person, asks Benedick of his opinion on Hero, Leonato’s daughter. Claudio claims to be in love with Hero (despite the fact that they hadn’t yet said a single word to each other). Horrified at the thought of Claudio settling down to become a tame husband, Benedick almost angrily tries to dissuade him from loving Hero. When Don Pedro returns, Benedick tells him of Claudio’s love of Hero, and somehow Don Pedro tells the two that Claudio would be well suited for Hero.

Benedick is quite a cynical character when it comes to love and this cynicism is probably due to his history with Beatrice. The two had obviously courted once and it obviously did not end well. While I tend to agree with Benedick’s attitude towards marriage, he seems to have a deeper hidden feeling concerning love and whatnot. Their war of wits aside, Benedick and Beatrice still have feelings towards each other. This first scene introduces us to all the major characters and sets the stage for the rest of the play. It gives us a glimpse of the history shared between the many characters – such as Benedick and Beatrice’s obviously failed romance, and Don Pedro and Don John’s (you know nothing, Jon Snow) complex brotherly relationship. As far as I can tell, this play will be about romance, bastards and broken things.

Act 1 Scene 2

Leonato and Antonio are in a room together. One of Antonio’s men had overheard Claudio and Don Pedro talking in an alley of orchards. Antonio tells Leonato “the prince discovered to Claudio that he loved my niece your daughter”.  With the way that Antonio words this sentence, Leonato could easily assume that he meant to say Don Pedro loved Hero, and not Claudio. Assuming that this is what Leonato heard, a lot more mischief will ensue.

Act 1 Scene 3

Don John (who is officially my new favourite character) is talking with his servant Conrade. His servant asks him why he always looks so sad and angry. Don John replies that he is naturally this depressed. After having been a pawn in his brother’s game for a while, he feels as though he must conform to his brother’s expectations – laugh when he is bid to, eat when his stomach calls him and smile at no man’s jest. Conrade reminds him that since Don Pedro had just recently begun to be friendlier with him, Don John should show more merriment (and less “I will kill you all”) in his presence.

            Borachio, another one of Don John’s servants enters, bringing news of Claudio’s love for Hero. He had hidden in the orchard alley when Don Pedro and Claudio talked of his love for Leonato’s daughter. Seeing a chance for mischief to be made, Don John asks his loyal servants to help him ruin Claudio, who he hates for being so well respected and loved.

In both scene two and scene three, there is a lot of spying, whispering and plotting going on. In scene three, we learn of Don John’s true evil nature, something that seems to be caused by both his illegitimacy and his bitterness towards that. In this scene, we learn who the real villain of the play is. While he does not seem to have any real motive for his evilness, Don John himself admits that he is a “plain-dealing villain” who is not trusted very well by his own comrades.  I personally love this character already, despite him being the villain of the play. Every other character feels so fluffy and unreal, while Don John is a refreshingly evil, albeit a bit exaggerated, crash of reality.