Very Short Summary
Messina, Italy, Renaissance era. Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, arrived at Governor Leonato's house with his soldiers, including Claudio and Benedick. Claudio fell in love with Leonato's daughter Hero, while Benedick and Leonato's niece Beatrice resumed their ongoing battle of wits.
Don Pedro helped Claudio woo Hero, and they planned their wedding. Meanwhile, Don Pedro and his friends tricked Benedick into believing Beatrice was in love with him, while Hero and her companions did the same to Beatrice regarding Benedick. The two gradually fell in love, despite their mutual declarations against marriage.
Don Pedro's illegitimate brother, Don John, plotted to ruin Hero's reputation. He arranged for Claudio to witness what appeared to be Hero being unfaithful. At the wedding, Claudio publicly accused Hero of infidelity and abandoned her at the altar. Hero fainted from shock, and her family decided to fake her death while proving her innocence.
O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace... O that I were a man for his sake, or that I had any friend would be a man for my sake! But manhood is melted into curtsies.
The local watch accidentally uncovered Don John's plot and arrested his conspirators. Meanwhile, Benedick, moved by Beatrice's distress over her cousin's treatment, challenged Claudio to a duel. When the truth was revealed, Claudio repented and agreed to marry Hero's 'cousin' as penance - who turned out to be Hero herself, alive and innocent. Benedick and Beatrice finally admitted their love for each other, and both couples were married.
Detailed Summary by Acts and Scenes
Act titles and scene descriptions are editorial.
Act 1. Return of the Soldiers
In Messina, Leonato, the governor, received news that Don Pedro of Arragon was returning victorious from a military campaign. Among his soldiers was a young Florentine named Claudio, who had distinguished himself in battle.
Scene 1. Don Pedro's Arrival and Beatrice's Wit
When Don Pedro arrived with his men, including his illegitimate brother Don John, Beatrice and Benedick immediately resumed their 'merry war' of witty insults. Their verbal sparring revealed a long history of antagonism between them, though both claimed to be immune to love.
I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me... I thank God and my cold blood, I am of your humour for that. I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.
Scene 2. Claudio's Love for Hero
After the welcoming festivities, Claudio confided in Benedick about his attraction to Hero, Leonato's daughter. Though Benedick mocked the idea of love, Don Pedro overheard and promised to help Claudio win Hero's hand by wooing her on Claudio's behalf at a masked ball that evening.
Scene 3. Don John's First Plot
Meanwhile, Don John, recently reconciled with his brother Don Pedro but still bitter, learned of Claudio's interest in Hero. Determined to cause trouble, he began plotting with his follower Borachio to prevent the marriage.
Act 2. Love and Deception
Scene 1. The Masked Ball and Multiple Deceptions
At the masked ball, Don Pedro successfully wooed Hero for Claudio. However, Don John attempted to cause trouble by falsely telling Claudio that Don Pedro was wooing Hero for himself. Though briefly deceived, Claudio soon learned the truth, and Leonato agreed to the marriage between Claudio and Hero.
Scene 2. Don John's Evil Plan
Frustrated by his failed attempt to prevent the marriage, Don John devised a new plan with Borachio. They would arrange for Claudio to witness Borachio engaging in intimate behavior with Margaret, Hero's waiting gentlewoman, at Hero's window, making it appear that Hero was unfaithful.
Scene 3. Tricking Benedick
Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato executed their own benevolent deception. Knowing Benedick was hiding in the garden, they staged a conversation about how desperately Beatrice was in love with him, though too proud to show it. Their plan worked perfectly as Benedick fell for their trick.
The world must be peopled. When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here comes Beatrice. By this day! she's a fair lady: I do spy some marks of love in her.
Act 3. Love and Slander
Scene 1. Tricking Beatrice
Hero and her waiting gentlewomen executed a similar trick on Beatrice, ensuring she overheard them discussing Benedick's supposed secret love for her. Like Benedick, Beatrice was quickly convinced and began to reconsider her stance against love and marriage.
Scene 2. The Plot Against Hero
Don John put his malicious plan into action, telling Don Pedro and Claudio that Hero was unfaithful. He promised to provide proof that night by showing them Hero's disloyalty at her chamber window. The trusting Claudio, quick to doubt, agreed to watch.
Scene 3. Borachio's Boast Overheard
That night, Borachio boasted to his friend Conrade about earning a thousand ducats from Don John for his role in deceiving Claudio. Unknown to them, the night watchmen, led by the comically incompetent Dogberry, overheard this conversation and arrested them.
Scene 4. Preparing for the Wedding
The next morning, Hero and her attendants prepared for the wedding. Meanwhile, Beatrice was noticeably distracted, showing signs of her growing feelings for Benedick.
Scene 5. The Watch's Discovery
Dogberry and his partner Verges attempted to inform Leonato about their discovery of the plot against Hero, but their incompetent communication and Leonato's preoccupation with the wedding prevented the truth from coming to light in time.
Act 4. Hero's Shame and Redemption
Scene 1. The Wedding Scandal
At the wedding ceremony, Claudio publicly accused Hero of being unfaithful, claiming he had witnessed her dishonor the night before. Don Pedro supported his accusation. Hero fainted from shock, and Claudio, Don Pedro, and Don John left her for dead.
O! what authority and show of truth can cunning sin cover itself withal. Comes not that blood as modest evidence to witness simple virtue? Would you not swear, all you that see her, that she were a maid?
Friar Francis, observing Hero's genuine shock and distress, believed in her innocence and proposed a plan. The Friar suggested that Hero's death should be faked until her innocence could be proved and Claudio's love rekindled by remorse. Leonato agreed to this plan.
For it so falls out That what we have we prize not to the worth Whiles we enjoy it, but being lack'd and lost, Why, then we rack the value, then we find The virtue that possession would not show us.
Left alone together after this scandal, Beatrice and Benedick finally confessed their love for each other. Beatrice, enraged by the treatment of her cousin Hero, demanded that Benedick prove his love by killing Claudio. Though reluctant, Benedick agreed to challenge his friend.
Scene 2. The Truth Revealed
Meanwhile, Dogberry's interrogation of Borachio and Conrade finally revealed the full truth of Don John's deception. Margaret had unknowingly participated in the plot by speaking with Borachio at Hero's window while wearing Hero's clothes. When this news reached Claudio and Don Pedro, they were filled with remorse.
Act 5. Justice and Marriage
Scene 1. Leonato's Grief and Benedick's Challenge
Leonato and his brother Antonio confronted Don Pedro and Claudio, challenging them to answer for their treatment of Hero. Benedick then found Claudio and challenged him to a duel for slandering Hero. However, before any violence could occur, the full truth of Don John's deception was revealed to all.
Scene 2. Beatrice and Benedick's Love
Beatrice and Benedick met again, their love complicated by recent events. Despite their attempts to maintain their witty personas, they admitted their true feelings for each other.
Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably... It appears not in this confession: there's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself... An old, an old instance, Beatrice, that lived in the time of good neighbours.
Scene 3. Hero's Memorial
As penance for his actions, Claudio agreed to perform a public reading of an epitaph for Hero and to marry Leonato's 'niece' (actually Hero in disguise) the next day. That night, he held a vigil at Hero's supposed tomb, deeply remorseful for his actions.
Scene 4. The Double Wedding
At the second wedding ceremony, Claudio was overjoyed to discover that his new bride was Hero, alive and innocent. Benedick and Beatrice also agreed to marry, though they maintained their witty banter even as they declared their love. News arrived that Don John had been captured while trying to flee, but Benedick insisted that his punishment could wait until tomorrow - there was dancing to be done.
For man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion. For thy part, Claudio, I did think to have beaten thee; but, in that thou art like to be my kinsman, live unbruised, and love my cousin.