While Claudio and Hero fall in love and get engaged, the villainous Don John tricks Claudio into believing Hero is unfaithful, leading him to publicly humiliate her at the altar. Meanwhile, their friends conspire to make the sparring Beatrice and Benedick fall in love, and they eventually confess their feelings for each other. The play’s climax, in pure Shakespearean form, involves a faked death, a confession of Don John’s plot, and a happy ending with a double wedding – of course!
