Masks and mistaken identities

Bonus points if you can guess the identity of
this beautifully mysterious woman!

So the themes of masks and mistaken identities come up a LOT in Shakespeare's work, but in Much Ado About Nothing, the plot hinges upon it. The main conflict of the play is when Margret is mistaken for Hero when Borachio seduces Margret. Claudio then assumes that his beloved Hero is impure and rejects her at the altar and Hero's family spreads the rumor that Hero died of shame. Later the mixup is revealed and Claudio swears to marry "Hero's cousin" who arrives at the wedding masked. When Hero's mask is removed, there is much rejoicing and they all dance in celebration.

But that isn't the only time we see people hiding behind masks. In the beginning of the play, we have a masquerade, during which Beatrice and Benedick meet, Benedick bemasked and hiding his identity while Beatrice expresses her disdain for Benedick, seemingly to a random stranger.

I was rather amused by the choice of masks in the Kenneth Branagh film. Benedick has kind of a creepy, clownish mask that rather fit his sense of humor and his ability to make amusement out of almost anything. It's rather fitting.

Claudio's mask also rather intrigued me. It's quite cherubic in appearance, characterizing him as the young, naive, innocent babe. This could suggest that he truly was innocent in Hero's disgrace and that he was not truly at fault. It also suggests purity and youthfulness, making Claudio the archetypal young lover. The cherubic baby face could also be a type of Cupid, which brings up completely different characterizations and could foreshadow the trickery involved with getting Benedick and Beatrice together.

Don Pedro, the prince, wears a lion's head, which symbolizes his power and royalty. For some reason, Don Pedro, Spanish royalty, is played by Denzel Washington, which plays off of the lion mask in a totally weirder way, seeing as the actor is African-American.

One thing, however, that somewhat disappointed me was the final scene where Claudio marries "Hero's cousin." When I read the play, I expected Hero to be wearing a full on mask, not just a bridal veil over her face. So what I think I would like to do is design and make a wedding mask for Hero as my final project, since I was so unsatisfied with Kenneth Branagh's portrayal.




Be on the lookout for updates on how the mask is going, a few friends and I are making Halloween masks tomorrow, so, while I'm at it, I'll make the base for my Hero mask. I'll probably post pictures of how it's going on Monday! If any of you want to try your hand at mask making, I'll be following the directions on this website and I'll let you all know how well this stuff works.