History Theatre / MuchAdoAboutNothing

* BastardBastard: Don John.

* DisorganizedOutlineSpeech: Dogberry, in the very same quote as noted above.
* DoesNotLikeMen: Beatrice, at least at first.

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Beatrice and Benedick. Dear ''god'', Beatrice and Benedick.
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Well, sort of.

* TheChessmaster: Borachio. Were he not overheard by the watch he would have gotten away with it all.

* BelatedLoveEpiphany: Invoked. Hero is falsely accused of cheating on her fiance Claudio and he stops their wedding to call her a whore in front of everyone. The friar, who believes Hero is innocent, comes up with a plan to fake her death. His reasoning is that grief will make people forgive her for her alleged infidelity. In particular, he hopes to make Claudio regret publicly rejecting her. Incredibly, it works.

-->-- '''Leonato''', ''Much Ado About Nothing''

* WedLocking: Shakespeare even used this. Claudio thinks that he's caused Hero to die of sadness after wrongly accusing her of betraying him with another man on the eve of their wedding. Hero's father Leonato says that he can make it right by marrying his niece Beatrice. Claudio agrees.

* BelatedLoveEpiphany: Invoked. Invoked. Hero is falsely accused of cheating on her fiance Claudio and he stops their wedding to call her a whore in front of everyone. The friar, who believes Hero is innocent, comes up with a plan to fake her death. His reasoning is that grief will make people forgive her for her alleged infidelity. In particular, he hopes to make Claudio regret publicly rejecting her. Incredibly, it works.

* BelatedLoveEpiphany: Invoked. The friar, who believes Hero is innocent, comes up with a plan to fake her death. His reasoning is that people will feel so sorry for her, that they'll forgive her for her alleged infidelity. In particular, he hopes to make Claudio regret publicly rejecting her.

* BelatedLoveEpiphany: Invoked. The friar, who believes Hero is innocent, comes up with a plan to fake her death. His reasoning is the people will feel so sorry for her, that they'll forgive her alleged infidelity. In particular, he hopes to make Claudio regret publicly rejecting her.

* BastardBastard: Don John.

--->Speak, cousin, or if you cannot, stop his mouth with a kiss and let him not speak neither.

* HotAndCold: Beatrice.

* ActorAllusion: The part of Dogberry was written for William Kempe, the actor who played Bottom in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', which adds a whole new level to the "I am an ass" rant.

* SuspiciouslyAproposMusic: Balthazar has a song with the line "Men were deceivers ever." Coincidence? In a scene about pulling an elaborate practical joke? In a play full of deception and distrust of every kind? Not ruddy likely!

* TheChessmaster: Borrachio. Were he not overheard by the watch he would have gotten away with it all.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Borrachio to Don John, except when he grabs the idiot ball and reveals his plan where the watch can hear him.
** Possibly justified as him being drunk, as Borrachio means drunkard.

* ManipulativeBastard: Borrachio again. He manipulates Don John into paying him huge amounts of money to cause mischief, he convinces Margaret to pretend to be Hero whilst he seduces her, he convinces Claudio and Don Pedro that he has seduced Hero and at the end of the play he convinces Don Pedro that it was all Don John's fault and that Claudio is as much to blame for Hero's apparent suicide. And he seems to get away with it all too.

* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Nearly averted. Don John is merely spiteful and petty, content to cause minor trouble now that he's been defeated. He's also rather stupid, and his minion Borrachio comes up with all the evil plots, and fleeces his boss while he's at it. But in the end, he's the one who expresses remorse and confesses, while John flees for freedom.

* MoralityPet: Margaret to Borrachio.

* PetTheDog: Borrachio may have come up with the plan that framed Hero, but he vehemently defends his UnwittingPawn lover Margaret when Don Pedro asks if she was aware of the plot.

* PoorCommunicationKills: The whole debacle at the wedding, and a lot of heartache, could have been averted if Leonato had actually taken some time to listen to Dogberry's and Verges' report of the arrest of Borrachio and Conrad.

** Borrachio pretty much does all his thinking, and ultimately turns on him when he believes Hero to be dead.

* TemptingFate: Near the climax, Don Pedro defends his and Claudio's actions at the first wedding by insisting their accusations were "full of proof". Cue the guards bring Borrachio to them and confessing what ''really'' happened.

* TheTrickster: One can certainly interpret Borrachio this way. Notice he's the one who comes up with all the evil ideas, yet he's willing to be second fiddle to Don John, and is quick to claim he's only acting on his orders. However, he's also quick to clear Margaret of blame when his and Don John's plan is discovered.

* UnwittingPawn: Margaret to Borrachio.

* CaptainObvious: Benedick helpfully tells us that Claudio rejecting Hero and calling her a slut "looks not like a nuptial". In his defense, he ''has'' just that second walked in on it.

-->'''Don John:''' "It must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain. If I had my mouth, I would bite; if I had my liberty, I would do my liking: in the meantime let me be that I am and seek not to alter me."
* TheChessMaster: Borachio. Were he not overheard by the watch he would have gotten away with it all.

-->'''Constable Dogberry''': Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves.

--> '''Don Pedro''': First, I ask you what they’ve done; thirdly, I ask you what offense they’re charged with; sixth and lastly, I ask you why they’ve been committed here; and, in conclusion, I ask what they’re accused of.
* CoupledCouples: With the requisite double wedding at the end--Claudio and Hero, followed by Beatrice and Benedick.
* DancePartyEnding: "Let’s have a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our own hearts and our wives’ heels...Strike up, pipers!"

-->'''Dogberry:''' "Marry, sir, they have committed false report; moreover, they have spoken untruths; secondarily, they are slanders; sixth and lastly, they have belied a lady; thirdly, they have verified unjust things; and, to conclude, they are lying knaves."

** And the "Series/{{ShakespeaRe-Told}}" version has Hero refusing to take him back, even though she forgives him.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: Beatrice and Benedick. Dear god, Beatrice and Benedick.

-->Friar Francis: You come hither, my lord, to marry this lady?
-->Claudio: No.
-->Leonato: To ''be'' married to her--Friar, you marry her.
* {{Expy}}: Friar Francis is [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Friar Laurence]] all over again. He's the one who suggests that a girl faking her own death will make everything better (although his ZanyScheme fares better than that of his counterpart)

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Benedick and Beatrice both have lines that indicate their affections for each other well before the ZanyScheme: Benedick says that Beatrice "exceeds [Hero] as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December," and Beatrice teases a disguised Benedick saying that she wishes Benedick had "boarded" her. Also noteworthy is that one of Beatrice's very first lines in the play involves asking after Benedick's well-being under the pretense of mocking his military service.

* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: Don Pedro just doesn't seem to understand that as Don John has betrayed him before that he us untrustworthy and any accusation he makes should be viewed with suspicion.

* HurricaneOfPuns: In scenes with Beatrice and Benedick.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Boraccio to Don John, except when he grabs the idiot ball and reveals his plan where the watch can hear him.
** Possibly justified as him being drunk, as Boraccio means drunkard.
* IdiotBall:

** Also Don Pedro for believing his already proven untrustworthy brother over Hero's dishonour.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Yes, what Claudio did was horrible, but he thought Hero was cheating on him with another man ''the night before their wedding,'' What's more, he thinks he's seen it with his own eyes.

* ManipulativeBastard: Borachio again. He manipulates Don John into paying him huge amounts of money to cause mischief, he convinces Margaret to pretend to be Hero whilst he seduces her, he convinces Claudio and Don Pedro that he has seduced Hero and at the end of the play he convinces Don Pedro that it was all Don John's fault and that Claudio is as much to blame for Hero's apparent suicide. And he seems to get away with it all too.

* MoralityPet: Margaret to Borachio.

* PetTheDog: Boraccio may have come up with the plan that framed Hero, but he vehemently defends his UnwittingPawn lover Margaret when Don Pedro asks if she was aware of the plot.
* PlayingCyrano: Not only does the Prince provide the words for Claudio to woo Hero, the Prince actually does the wooing--pretending to be Claudio while talking to Hero at a masquerade. Naturally, the villainous Don John convinces Claudio that the Prince has actually fallen in love with, and become engaged to, Hero. Unusually, this plot twist lasts only one scene, until the next time Claudio sees the Prince--and the Prince assures him that he did, indeed, woo Hero on Claudio's behalf. (In fact, since the Prince gives this reassurance in Hero's presence, it's likely that she knew all along that (a) she was really talking to the Prince, and (b) he was pretending to be Claudio as a favor.)

* ShutUpKiss: Benedick to Beatrice
--> Peace! I will stop your mouth.

--> Speak, cousin, or if you cannot, stop his mouth with a kiss and let him not speak neither.

** Boraccio pretty much does all his thinking, and ultimately turns on him when he believes Hero to be dead.
* StupidGood: Don Pedro. He knows Don John is untrustworthy, yet he still brings him to Leonato's house and believes the rumours spread about Hero.

* TakingTheVeil: It is suggested that Hero can do this, to escape the slander.
* TemptingFate: Near the climax, Don Pedro defends his and Claudio's actions at the first wedding by insisting their accusations were "full of proof". Cue the guards bring Borachio to them and confessing what ''really'' happened.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Claudio goes from a sweet, naive NiceGuy to an abusive fiancee after he believes Hero has cheated on him, giving her no opportunity to defend herself. Again, in all fairness he thinks he's seen her cheating with his own eyes. And frankly he's not all that bright anyway.
* TheTrickster: One can certainly interpret Borachio this way. Notice he's the one who comes up with all the evil ideas, yet he's willing to be second fiddle to Don John, and is quick to claim he's only acting on his orders. However, he's also quick to clear Margaret of blame when his and Don John's plan is discovered.

* UnwittingPawn: Margaret to Borachio.

--> '''Beatrice''': Scratching could not make it worse, an 'twere such a face as yours were.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Benedick and Beatrice both have lines that indicate their affections for each other well before the ZanyScheme: Benedick says that Beatrice "exceeds [Hero] as much in beauty as the first of May doth the last of December," and Beatrice confides to someone she thinks is a stranger (actually Benedick in disguise) that she wishes Benedick had "boarded" her. Also noteworthy is that one of Beatrice's very first lines in the play involves asking after Benedick's well-being under the pretense of mocking his military service.

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Claudio wanted to marry Hero the vert next day but Leonato insisted that they marry on the coming Monday. Had they married the very next day, John never would have had the time to concoct the plan to make Hero seem unfaithful.