Appearances vs. Reality in Much Ado About Nothing Essay Sample

Have you ever taken a test expecting yourself to get a bad score because you didn’t study the night before but got a decent score (or got a score better then what you had anticipated)? This is an example of appearance and reality, appearances can affect first impressions in multiple ways. A different perspective can change your whole opinion and your depth of understanding and knowledge. You can easily go from sorrowfulness to hatred within seconds of hearing the reality, or vice versa. Shakespeare utilizes the concept of “appearances vs reality” as a recurring theme throughout Much Ado About Nothing to create drama in the play and to show the importance of this concept. In Much Ado About Nothing, Claudio thinks Hero is cheating on him because of Don Jon’s wicked plan. Claudio is a reflection on how easy it is to be misled and believe a deceiver, this tells us how a character can effortlessly be manipulated and how much it can affect people.

There have been plenty of times misunderstanding has taken a place in the play. One that has greatly impacted the story was Claudio’s understanding of Hero cheating–the whole plot was twisted causing the marriage to be canceled. The idea of creating an appearance can be used by creating a misunderstanding which is expressed during the play by Don Jon: “You shall see her chamber window entered even the night before her wedding. If you love her then, tomorrow wed her. But it would be better fit your honor to change your mind” (3.2.88-90) This shows how much doubt Claudio has even if he trusts Hero, he has never thought of Hero as a bad person so this thought has never come into his mind. Claudio starts to second-guess himself because Don Jon tells him he has proof. This also shows how a viewpoint can increase your level of doubt, the more Don Jon gives, the more Claudio thinks.

Throughout the play we start to better understand the idea of appearances and reality, Shakespeare is showing how easy having an appearance is. Setting up appearances isn't that hard at all, unless you make it. In this play, Shakespeare shows the building up of the image the villains created: “Offer them instances, which shall bear no less likelihood than to see me at her chamber window, hear me call Margaret ‘Hero’, hear Margaret term me ‘Claudio.’” (2.2.33-35) This shows how easy it is to deceive someone (in this case). This is important because the use of creating an appearance ties in with creating a sly deception. Shakespeare connects these ideas together to create a big picture of something that can occur in the real world.

In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare showed how appearances versus reality can shift one’s mindset. Claudio self doubted himself because of his understanding of Hero and the incident, causing the marriage to be called off. People tend to not notice or think about the deception that goes on in their lives because they have only experienced their own viewpoint. Shakespeare uses this play as an opportunity to show you what happens on both the side of appearance and the side of reality.