The “sophisticated aristocrats of Messina are revealed as grossly hypocritical, for beneath their glittering and refined manners lies a moronic and vicious ethic” (Magill 3903). By creating his deceptions, he is making a clear statement of perception and it is directed at the moral attitudes of this type of society.
By the end of the play, another deception occurs when Friar Frank convinces Leonato to create the deception that Hero has died and that Claudio must marry Hero’s cousin. In Act V, Scene IV, Hero comes to him masked and Claudio still plans on marrying who he thinks is her cousin. Of course, the audience knows of the disguise and deception and once again, the audience questions Claudio’s response and judges his moral values. When …show more content…
Trickery is used to fuel the plots and test the main character in both works. Much Ado has scenes of trickery and seduction that create conflict in the plot. One example of trickery is the plot device of overhearing. Shakespeare develops comic situations from misinformation being overheard during the play. The audience would be aware of it but the characters would not. What appears to be spoken as truth is in reality a deception geared to make the characters behave in new ways. For instance, overhearing is used to create a deception for Beatrice and Benedick. Early on in the play, Don Pedro reveals a plan that he will trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love with one another. Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato all know that Benedick is hiding in the arbour but they speak loudly enough for him to hear, and they discuss Beatrice’s love for Benedick. Likewise, the women do the same to Beatrice and trick her into believing that Benedick loves her. The outcome is that they are tricked into thinking the other has feelings and they profess their existing love. One critic contends the characters have “an obsession with appearances”, and “So many of the characters in Much Ado about Nothing base their actions on how others will respond to them” (McClinton-Temple 956). This is stressed in not only Beatrice and Benedick’s responses but also with the false …show more content…
Gawain is tricked by Lady Bertilak and is given three tests to pass. All of these center around her seduction of him. The tests are designed to see if he is really as virtuous as his reputation says he is. Lady Bertilak says, “Ye are welcome to my person, to do whatever you wish; I am perforce, and must remain, your servant” (Fitt iii, line 1211, page 211). In reality, this is just a test and she is just trying to see what he will allow. Each time she tries to trick him to see if he will fail the code of chivalry. Three times he is tested and he passes the tests, except when given the sash that is supposed to save his life. So, the only test he fails is to save his life by not telling his host about the green girdle. Also, the Green Knight tricks Gawain into thinking that he will die with an axe blow returned. The host tells Gawain, “And all I give you for by our plighted covenant you can claim it as your own” after he kills the game in the forest. (Fitt iii, 1390, page 215). But in reality this is a misdirection because he is setting him up to test his morality. By actions the Green Knight knicks Gawain with the ax to represent the that he passed his tests and Gawain. He says, nobody has mishandled Gawain, but really they did by the trickery. He then reveals the truth and says that it was his own wife that gave him the green sash. Just as Shakespeare uses trickery and
By the end of the play, another deception occurs when Friar Frank convinces Leonato to create the deception that Hero has died and that Claudio must marry Hero’s cousin. In Act V, Scene IV, Hero comes to him masked and Claudio still plans on marrying who he thinks is her cousin. Of course, the audience knows of the disguise and deception and once again, the audience questions Claudio’s response and judges his moral values. When …show more content…
Trickery is used to fuel the plots and test the main character in both works. Much Ado has scenes of trickery and seduction that create conflict in the plot. One example of trickery is the plot device of overhearing. Shakespeare develops comic situations from misinformation being overheard during the play. The audience would be aware of it but the characters would not. What appears to be spoken as truth is in reality a deception geared to make the characters behave in new ways. For instance, overhearing is used to create a deception for Beatrice and Benedick. Early on in the play, Don Pedro reveals a plan that he will trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love with one another. Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato all know that Benedick is hiding in the arbour but they speak loudly enough for him to hear, and they discuss Beatrice’s love for Benedick. Likewise, the women do the same to Beatrice and trick her into believing that Benedick loves her. The outcome is that they are tricked into thinking the other has feelings and they profess their existing love. One critic contends the characters have “an obsession with appearances”, and “So many of the characters in Much Ado about Nothing base their actions on how others will respond to them” (McClinton-Temple 956). This is stressed in not only Beatrice and Benedick’s responses but also with the false …show more content…
Gawain is tricked by Lady Bertilak and is given three tests to pass. All of these center around her seduction of him. The tests are designed to see if he is really as virtuous as his reputation says he is. Lady Bertilak says, “Ye are welcome to my person, to do whatever you wish; I am perforce, and must remain, your servant” (Fitt iii, line 1211, page 211). In reality, this is just a test and she is just trying to see what he will allow. Each time she tries to trick him to see if he will fail the code of chivalry. Three times he is tested and he passes the tests, except when given the sash that is supposed to save his life. So, the only test he fails is to save his life by not telling his host about the green girdle. Also, the Green Knight tricks Gawain into thinking that he will die with an axe blow returned. The host tells Gawain, “And all I give you for by our plighted covenant you can claim it as your own” after he kills the game in the forest. (Fitt iii, 1390, page 215). But in reality this is a misdirection because he is setting him up to test his morality. By actions the Green Knight knicks Gawain with the ax to represent the that he passed his tests and Gawain. He says, nobody has mishandled Gawain, but really they did by the trickery. He then reveals the truth and says that it was his own wife that gave him the green sash. Just as Shakespeare uses trickery and