Introduction

Use this Real-Life Lens Plan to help students dive deep into Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and examine the play’s language, characters, and plot devices through the lens of tricks and lies. Why do people play tricks and games on others? Do most relationships begin with complete honesty? What makes a lie convincing? Why are some people more gullible than others?

Materials

  • Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
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Introduce the Lens

To activate students’ thinking, choose one or two of the following Real-Life Links to use in an engagement activity. Have students read or watch and discuss the content. Encourage students to jot down notes, or record class notes on the board for future reference.

Pose the following Big Idea Questions to the class:

Why do people tell white lies or play tricks to get someone to like them? Are tricks and lies necessary?  

Is it ever okay to dupe or tell lies to someone you care about?

Engagement Activity

Have students reflect on their own relationships or relationships in films or books to write quick initial answers to the questions. Then have them discuss the questions in small groups. Instruct students to decide as a group if relationships can ever be completely straightforward and honest. After groups have concluded their discussions and decided “yes” or “no,” have them share their ideas and conclusions with the class. Following discussion, give students time to revise their initial responses.

CCSS

Introduce the Driving Questions

Begin by having students write their own questions about the lesson topic. Encourage them to think about what they already know about playing tricks and/or telling lies in relationships and what they’re interested in exploring further. 

Hand out the Driving Questions Worksheet. Review the questions as a class. Students should enter initial answers to the questions as they read Much Ado About Nothing. They will revisit the questions and revise their answers following the lesson activities, classroom discussion, and completion of the text. Remind students to support their responses with text evidence.

Integrate the Driving Questions into your classroom discussions. Use them to help guide students’ thinking about the Big Idea Questions.  

1. Does Don Pedro need to wear a disguise and pretend to be Claudio to woo Hero for his friend? Why can’t Claudio woo her himself? 

2. Why does Don Pedro decide that Beatrice and Benedick should fall in love with one another, and how does he propose to make this happen?  

3. Don John resolves to play tricks to interfere in Hero and Claudio’s relationship. What motivates Don John? 

4. What tricks and lies does Don Pedro use to make Benedick believe that Beatrice loves him?  

5. What tricks and lies does Hero use to make Beatrice believe that Benedick loves her? 

6. What are the serious ramifications of the trick that Don John plays on Claudio regarding Hero? 

7. What is the lie the friar suggests telling about Hero? How does he expect the lie will uncover the truth and clear Hero’s good name?  

8. How does the wedding scene rely on tricks and lies?

CCSS

Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity

Activity: Tricks and Lies in Romance

In this activity, students will discuss the many different ways people play games and tell little lies to make their crush interested in them.

Ask students a series of questions and have them raise their hands if they agree: 

Do you know anyone who has ever played “hard to get,” for instance by ignoring a text from his or her crush? 

Do you know anyone who has “liked” a social media post to express interest in the person who posted it? 

Do you know anyone who has pretended they liked a band or a sport because his or her crush liked it? 

Do you know anyone who has pretended to ignore someone he or she had a crush on? 

Do you know anyone who has pretended to like someone else to make a crush jealous? 

Do you know anyone who has ever lied about someone’s appearance to make that person happy? 

Go through the questions quickly so students can see how prevalent playing games and telling white lies are in relationships. When you have completed the list, ask students if these tricks and lies generally worked by asking: Did the person get his or her crush to like him or her back? Invite students to share the results of the situations they know about with the class. 

Organize students into small groups and have them discuss what it would be like if, instead of playing games, people were completely honest in relationships. As an example, tell students to imagine he or she just got a text from a crush and responded immediately. Ask students: What would the crush think? Would the crush be pleased or scared away?  

Have students share and discuss a few more examples within their groups. Then have students write a paragraph sharing their opinion about whether playing tricks and telling little lies is helpful in developing relationships or whether it’s harmful. Invite volunteers to share their paragraphs with the class.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Instead of having students write a paragraph, each group will simply decide if playing tricks and telling lies is helpful in a relationship. Then take a quick class poll.

Increase difficulty

Instead of individuals writing a paragraph, each group will write a short script that shows how tricks and lies are used by people in relationships as well as the effects of these tricks and lies, either positive or negative. Groups can perform their scripts if you like.

Introduce the Final Project

Before moving on, introduce the final projects to the class (see below for details). Have students choose the project they will complete and encourage them to keep their project in mind as they read the text. Facilitate the formation of project groups if necessary.

Assign the Midpoint Activities

Activity 1: Beatrice and Benedick 

After finishing Act 3, Scene 1, students will pause their reading to analyze the efforts characters have made to trick Beatrice and Benedick into falling in love. Students will: 

Find and cite a list of at least three places in the text that describe the plot to bring the pair together, including Don Pedro’s plan, Hero and Claudio’s participation, and the results of the trick.  

Evaluate and make a list of reasons why Don Pedro, Hero, and Claudio are willing to tell lies to get Beatrice and Benedick together, and why they think Don Pedro’s trick will work.  

To facilitate student thinking, ask questions such as: Do Beatrice and Benedick seem right for each other? Why would they have to be tricked into falling in love in the first place?

Organize students with partners to share their lists and discuss whether they think Beatrice and Benedick make a good couple. Have pairs share their thoughts with the class.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Ask students the following questions to help them evaluate Beatrice and Benedick’s compatibility:

Do Beatrice and Benedick have similar personalities?
Is there evidence of a prior relationship between them?
Do Beatrice and Benedick seem to get along?
Do their friends and family think they are compatible?

If students have difficulty finding scenes in the play to help answer the questions, guide them to Act 1, Scene 2, in which Don Pedro introduces his plan, and Act 2, Scene 3, in which the men, while telling lies about Beatrice’s “feelings” for Benedick, still reveal truths about Beatrice’s and Benedick’s characters.

Increase difficulty

Have students write a short scene in which Beatrice and Benedick share their new feelings of love for one another, mimicking their specific speech styles.

Activity 2: The Role of Tricks and Lies

After finishing Act 3, Scene 3, students will pause their reading to analyze the role that tricks and lies play in the unfolding of the plots to bring Beatrice and Benedick together and to break Hero and Claudio apart. 

Students will review the text, looking for the key events in both plot lines while paying particular attention to the tricks and lies that were employed. Have students use The Path of True Love Worksheet to chart the development of the plots and the impact of tricks and lies.  

Once students have completed their graphic organizers, organize them into small groups so they can discuss what they’ve read of the play so far. Ask students to predict what will happen to the pairs of lovers in the second half of the play. Have groups write down their predictions and the text evidence that supports their predictions on their worksheets or in their notebooks.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Before reviewing the text, work with the class to recall how the dual plots unfold. Ask questions such as: Whose idea was it to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love? What was the plan? What happened after the plan was introduced? Who initiated the plot to divide Hero and Claudio? What was the plan? What actions did this person take? Write each chain of events on the board. Then organize students into small groups to find the text that supports each of these events and add more details. Students will complete their charts together and then proceed to discussion.

Increase difficulty

Point out that before Claudio and Hero got engaged, Claudio believed Don Pedro was wooing Hero at the dance for himself. Have students create another graphic organizer showing the events and the tricks and lies that pertain to that subplot.

Final Projects

Students will work on their final projects after they have finished reading the complete text of Much Ado About Nothing. Both projects call for small groups.

Final Project 1: Claudio in Love

Students will work in groups to come to a greater understanding of Claudio’s character by analyzing his response to the tricks played on him and the lies told to him. 

First, groups will find each instance in the text in which Claudio is tricked or lied to in his pursuit of love and then evaluate Claudio’s reactions. Have students locate an important passage, cite the text, and write a short response to answer the following questions: Does Claudio believe the trick or lie? Does he question what is happening? What does he learn from this experience, and how does it affect what happens next? Remind students to include scenes with Claudio and scenes in which events pertaining to him are described by other characters.  

Next, have groups reread and discuss Claudio’s words in Act 4, Scene 1, in which he denounces Hero. Have them consider the following questions: What is Claudio’s main message here? Why is he behaving as he is? What does this speech reveal about Claudio’s character? 

Have groups use their research thus far to come to an understanding of Claudio’s strengths and weaknesses. Students can create lists, brainstorm adjectives, write a paragraph, or use other methods to organize their ideas. 

Finally, groups will use their knowledge of Claudio’s character to create three profiles of Claudio for a fictitious matchmaking website. Profiles should be written from the point of view of Claudio, Don John, and the students themselves. Remind groups that each profile should highlight the way the “writer” perceives Claudio; for instance, Claudio might see himself as “romantic,” while Don John might perceive him as “gullible.” Students can use web software, presentation software, or poster paper to create their profiles. Have groups share their profiles with the class, and have the listening students guess the viewpoint.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Provide the locations of some key scenes to analyze: Act 3, Scene 2 (Claudio listens to Don John’s slander and agrees to spy on Hero); Act 3, Scene 3 (Borachio reports on Claudio’s reaction to the scene in Hero’s window); Act 5, Scene 1 (Claudio finds out the truth and agrees to marry Hero’s cousin); Act 5, Scene 4 (Claudio marries the masked Hero).

Increase difficulty

Have groups write short responses to one or more of Claudio’s profiles as if they were one of the other characters in the play. Responses can be from any character but must draw upon that person’s own temperament and personality. For instance, Beatrice would likely perceive Claudio as a man too weak to make a good match for her.

Final Project 2: A Dangerous Trick

Students will work in groups of five or six to study and understand how the trick Don John played on Claudio takes a serious turn after Hero is falsely and publicly denounced.

Groups will first perform a close reading of Act 4, Scene 1, in which Claudio explains his reasons for refusing to marry Hero and then find and enumerate possible consequences of Claudio’s accusation, both stated in the text (for example, Leonato killing Hero) and implied (for instance, Hero will become a social pariah). 

Groups will focus on this dramatic twist, discussing what impact it has on the tone and message of the play and advancing hypotheses about why Shakespeare made the decision to include this twist. Remind students to consider events in Act 5 to inform their analyses. All students in a group should take notes on their discussion, keeping track of important points. 

Groups will then use their analyses to write an alternate ending to the play, which can be in modern English, and act it out for the class. Each student should perform a different role.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Ask groups these questions to help them analyze the impact of Act 4, Scene 1:  

What words would you use to describe the tone of the play up through Act 3? What words would you use to describe the tone of Claudio’s accusation of Hero?  

What does Beatrice ask Benedick to do as a result of Claudio’s accusation? What does Leonato say he is going to do? How do threats of violence upend the tone of the play? 

How does the tone of Act 4 compare with the tone of Act 5? Does Act 5 continue to build the somber mood of Act 4, or does it reverse that tone? 

What do you think Shakespeare’s message was up through Act 3? What message does Shakespeare share in Act 4? What is his message in Act 5?

Increase difficulty

Challenge students to write in imitation of Shakespeare instead of using modern English.

Assess the Assignments

Use the Rubric for Student Assessment to evaluate student work on the lesson assignments. 

Distribute the Student Reflection Worksheet. Guide students through the self-assessment and reflection questions.

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