Margaret is not present at the wedding although we would expect her to attend her mistress at the wedding. Because she does not hear the question about who was in the window the preceding night, Margaret cannot protest the accusation against her mistress, admitting it was she, Margaret, at the window with Borachio.
Almost every character in the play reacts in a significant, character-defining manner to the denunciation of Hero — some predictably, some quite surprising:. Hero has her most dramatic moments of the play in this scene but is still quite subdued in her reactions, including a ladylike faint.
As we knew from a preceding scene, Claudio and Don Pedro are prepared to denounce Hero, believing they have seen her infidelity with their own eyes. Although Claudio's vehemence is a little surprising, the behavior of Claudio and Don Pedro at the wedding is predictable.
Don John twists the blade a little further in his pleasure at how well his conniving has worked. Don Pedro only serves to back up Claudio, never suspecting his brother's sudden loyalty and support. He seems a weaker man for having been so readily taken in by his brother. Leonato demonstrates how susceptible he is to the opinions of others. He is so eager to have the wedding take place that he first asks for a short ceremony; later he tries to hasten the wedding along by putting words in the mouths of both Claudio and the friar.
After Claudio's angry name-calling of Hero, Leonato immediately accepts the accusations about his own daughter and wishes her dead for her disgrace, demonstrating how quickly he ignores all his history as Hero's father to accept the word of a young nobleman. Soon the fickle Leonato changes again, agreeing to follow the friar's scheme to hide Hero and hold Claudio responsible for her "death.
Friar Francis emerges from being a necessary but insignificant character in the play, to being the voice of reason that changes the course of events with his plan for uncovering the truth. Beatrice emerges as the strongest character of all. Never does she doubt her cousin's innocence. In addition, parentage could never be truly identified at this time, so the identity of a child's father was often called in to question. Mistaken Identity 2: Don Pedro tells Claudio that he will dress in a costume and pretend to be Claudio, so to speak.
He will woo Hero for himself and then turn her over to Claudio. This confusion of identity will cause slight problems for the friends during the party. Mistaken Identity 3: Leonato and Antonio believe to have overheard the prince's conversation with Claudio.
They think that the prince is in love with Hero and plans to woo her for himself, not for Claudio. They instruct Hero to accept the proposition of the prince and do not know that Claudio is the man in love with Hero. Mistaken Identity 4: Claudio temporarily assumes the role of Benedick.
He is in costume, as is everyone else at the party, and therefore can pretend to be any man he chooses. Don John and Borachio tell Claudio mistakenly represented as Benedick that the prince woos Hero for himself. Not only is Claudio supposedly mistaken for Benedick, but he also mistakes the prince's purpose in wooing Hero. This confusion and mistaking of identity causes Claudio to become enraged and jealous.
Mistaken Identity 5: Don John tells Borachio of his plan to cause mischief. The root of his evil scheme lies in the mistaking of identities by the principle players in the plot. He intends to instruct Borachio to show affection towards one another in plain view at Hero's window and call Margaret by the name of Hero. This intended mistaking of identity is designed to provoke anger and destroy a marriage.
Mistaken Identity 6: A drunk Borachio proudly tells Conrade of his affair of the evening. He mistook Margaret for Hero on purpose so that the prince and Claudio would see the encounter from a window. He also explains how the two honest men believed what they saw and completely mistook Margaret for Hero.
Everyone in Messina will believe Hero to be dead because of the slander she endured at her wedding; her name and her blessed life will be remembered well. Although different people are not confused in this scenario, one person's life is mistaken for death. Mistaken Identity 8: When Antonio and Leonato confront Claudio and Don Pedro for the death of Hero, the two young soldiers again hold firm to their belief that they witnessed Hero with another man.
The mistaken identity of Hero has not changed over time because they return to the fact that they witnessed the disloyalty with their own eyes.
They believe their sight would not fail them to identify the true culprits. Mistaken Identity 9: Leonato tells Claudio that he will be exonerated if he marries his niece, Antonio's daughter, who is supposedly a carbon copy of Hero. Hero is excited, but she is also uneasy for reasons she cannot name; she has a strange foreboding of disaster.
Beatrice arrives, and Margaret, in high spirits, teases her about her changed personality, saying that now Beatrice too desires a husband. Beatrice expresses annoyance, but Margaret is sure that she is right, and so she continues to tease Beatrice about Benedick—but in a manner subtle enough that Beatrice cannot accuse Margaret of knowing anything completely. Soon enough, Claudio arrives with his friends, accompanied by the large wedding party, apparently ready to take Hero to the church.
They all set off together. They explain that they have caught two criminals and want to interrogate them in front of him. However, their attempts to communicate their message are so long-winded, foolish, and generally mixed up that they fail to convey how urgent the matter is—and, in fact, they may not understand its importance themselves.
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