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.
Benedick
Witty bachelor-soldier who trades cynicism for love; catalyst of the play's emotional and moral reckoning · Thirty-ish; worldly and unmarried
Don Pedro
Prince of Aragon; benevolent orchestrator of romance whose good intentions enable deception · Adult, in authority
Claudio
Young soldier and tragic bridegroom, easily gulled by false appearance · Young man (early twenties)
Leonato
Governor of Messina; father to Hero; uncle to Beatrice · Elderly
Beatrice
Witty orphan; chief architect of her own romantic destiny · Unmarried; appears to be in her twenties or early thirties
Dogberry
Master constable of the night watch; bumbling, vain, prone to malapropism
Hero
The slandered bride; a dutiful but vulnerable young woman destroyed by false accusation and reborn through concealment · Almost fourteen
Don John
Malcontent bastard whose jealousy and spite orchestrate the play's central deception · Unspecified, but adult
Borachio
Villain's hired hand; the architect of false accusation
Margaret
Hero's waiting-gentlewoman and unwitting accomplice in the deception
Antonio
Leonato's brother; a soldier and defender of family honor
Conrade
Don John's confederate; minor villain and accomplice
Ursula
Gentlewoman attendant to Hero; co-conspirator in the plot to make Beatrice fall in love with Benedick
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
Hear every line of Much Ado About Nothing, narrated.
