Play Synopsis Don Pedro’s friends arrived masked for a dance and, in the confusions of identity the masks create, Beatrice mocks Benedick, Don Pedro woos Hero for Claudio, while Don John tells Claudio, pretending to mistake him for Don Pedro, that Don Pedro woos Hero for himself, leaving Claudio depressed. But, to Claudio’s relief and general rejoicing, Don Pedro unites Hero and Claudio for marriage. Don Pedro decides on a new plot: to convince Beatrice and Benedick that each is in love with the other, even though both have vowed never to marry. Don Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio discuss Beatrice’s “love” for Benedick, knowing that Benedick is overhearing their words; Benedick takes the bait. Then Hero and her servant Ursula talk about Benedick’s “love” for Beatrice, while Beatrice listens; she too takes the bait. Don John, still determined to prevent Claudio’s marriage, tells Don Pedro and Claudio that Hero is promiscuous and will be meeting her lover that night, the very night before her wedding. At night, Dogberry and Verges, town officials, instruct the Night Watch in their duties. In hiding, the watchmen hear Borachio tell Conrad how he wooed Margaret, Hero’s servant, at Hero’s bedroom window, thereby convincing Don Pedro and Claudio that Hero is unfaithful. The watch arrests Borachio and Conrad but, when Dogberry and Verges try to tell Leonato the news, he, rushing to the church for the wedding, shrugs them off.

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