Summaries of the first three acts in Much Ado About Nothing

Act 1

In this act Leanato the governor of Messina got a letter from the messenger informing him that Don Pedro the Prince of Arragon and his brother Don John, Benedick a young lord of Padua, and Claudio a young lord of Florence are coming to visit them, and they are hoping to stay for at least a month. In addition, Beatrice, Leanato niece began to express to her uncle and the messenger about Benedick and the kind of man he was. She later stated that she would never fall in love and marry a man. After, the arrival of the men, Claudio began to express his feeling to Benedick about he loved Hero Leanato daughter, but Benedick tried to influence him not to fall in love. Benedick even told him that he would never marry because he loved none. “… I had not a hard heart, for truly I loved none.” Additionally, after Do Pedro and Leanato found out that Claudio loved Hero, they made plans of they can get Hero to love Claudio so they can become husband and wife. This will be done by Don Pedro attending a mask party that they were all attending where Don Pedro acted as Claudio and try to woo Hero’s heart to Claudio. Also, Don John found out about the marriage by Barachio, follower of Don John and he seemed very displeasing by the news.

Act 2



This act begins with Leanato talking to Beatrice trying to convince her that marrying is not a bad thing. He also praised that one day he will find her a wonderful husband. However, Don John the bastard tried to mess up the marriage and told Claudio that he heard Don Pedro his brother confessing to Hero that he loved her although he knew that Claudio was in love with her. After hearing that Claudio became jealous and upset with Don Pedro he later confessed the news to Benedick where Benedick then told Don Pedro about what Claudio heard. Don Pedro later convinced Claudio that the news was false. Furthermore, Leanato informed his daughter Hero that he wants her to help them get Beatrice and Benedick together and she agreed to do so. On the other hand, Don John was planning along with Barachio how to deceive the marriage of Hero and Count Claudio. He also agreed to pay Barachio a thousand ducats if he agreed to do the plan. In addition, Benedick overheard Don Pedro and Claudio talking about how Beatrice loved him and what they are going to do to inform him of the message. They were also shocked that Benedick was actually in love and they wanted to know how Benedick was going to react.

As a result of all of that, they found out that Beatrice and Benedick was in love with each other and did not know how to say or express it.

Act 3

In this scene, Hero and Ursula made plans of how to inform Beatrice about the credits of Benedick. Afterwards, the men were planning the events set for Hero and Claudio’s wedding.  Also this is where Claudio and Don Pedro thought that Benedick was in love. In addition, Dogberry and Verges both had very interesting scenes, they were both having a conversation about what they were going to do pertaining to the wedding and the plan for the next day. Furthermore, Borachio confessed the plan that Don Pedro and he had in mind to the watchman. Being very talkative, he told him that he carried Claudio and Leonato to Hero’s window and they saw Margaret, who they thought was Hero with another man. Eventually, that got Claudio upset and he wanted to refrain from marrying Hero the next day. Also, Leonato, her father was disappointed to know that his daughter would do that the day before her own wedding. On the other hand, Hero along with Margaret, Ursula and Beatrice were all getting ready for the wedding.