Characters

The cast of Much Ado About Nothing

The people who make Much Ado About Nothing move — what they want, who they love, who they hate, and how each one fits the story. Tap any name to read more.

leonato; heros

Antonio

Leonato's brother; a soldier and defender of family honor

Orphan; dependent on her uncle Leonato's household; cousin to Heros

Beatrice

Witty orphan; chief architect of her own romantic destiny · Unmarried; appears to be in her twenties or early thirties

A lord from Paduas

Benedick

Witty bachelor-soldier who trades cynicism for love; catalyst of the play's emotional and moral reckoning · Thirty-ish; worldly and unmarried

Florentine noble; no parents mentioned; becomes ward/relative of Leonatos

Claudio

Young soldier and tragic bridegroom, easily gulled by false appearance · Young man (early twenties)

Don John (brother, illegitimate)s

Don Pedro

Prince of Aragon; benevolent orchestrator of romance whose good intentions enable deception · Adult, in authority

Bastard brother to Don Pedro; recently reconciled to the princes

Don John

Malcontent bastard whose jealousy and spite orchestrate the play's central deception · Unspecified, but adult

Daughter of Leonato, cousin of Beatrices

Hero

The slandered bride; a dutiful but vulnerable young woman destroyed by false accusation and reborn through concealment · Almost fourteen

Antonio (brother); Hero (daughter); Beatrice (niece)s

Leonato

Governor of Messina; father to Hero; uncle to Beatrice · Elderly

Servant to Heros

Margaret

Hero's waiting-gentlewoman and unwitting accomplice in the deception

Attendant in Leonato's households

Ursula

Gentlewoman attendant to Hero; co-conspirator in the plot to make Beatrice fall in love with Benedick

Other characters

Dogberry

Master constable of the night watch; bumbling, vain, prone to malapropism

Borachio

Villain's hired hand; the architect of false accusation

Conrade

Don John's confederate; minor villain and accomplice

Verges

Leonato's elderly friend and Dogberry's deputy constable; foolish and verbose · old

Messenger

Courier bearing news of war and valor

Friar Francis

Wise counselor and architect of redemption

Balthasar

Court musician and singer; Don Pedro's attendant

Watchman

Member of the night watch; accidental witness to villainy

Sexton

Clerk and scribe; recorder of the watch's examination

First Watchman

Member of the night watch; one of Dogberry's constables who overhears and arrests the conspirators
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