Original: What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?
Modern: What burning shame do I feel? Can what I just heard really be true?

Original: Stand I condemn’d for pride and scorn so much?
Modern: Am I really being criticized for being so proud and scornful?

Original: Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!
Modern: Goodbye to my scornful attitude! And farewell to my stubborn pride!

Original: No glory lives behind the back of such.
Modern: There’s no honor in behaving that way.

Original: And, Benedick, love on; I will requite thee,
Modern: And Benedick, keep loving me; I will return your love,

Original: Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand:
Modern: I’ll control my stubborn heart and give it to your gentle care.

Original: If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee
Modern: If you truly love me, my affection will encourage you

Original: To bind our loves up in a holy band;
Modern: To unite our love in marriage;

Original: For others say thou dost deserve, and I
Modern: Because others say you deserve love, and I

Original: Believe it better than reportingly.
Modern: Believe it’s true from my own experience, not just from what I’ve heard.

In Act III, Scene i of “Much Ado About Nothing,” Hero and Ursula execute their part of the plan to make Beatrice fall in love with Benedick. The scene takes place in Hero’s orchard, where Hero instructs Ursula to walk with her among the honeysuckles while ensuring that Beatrice, who is hiding nearby and eavesdropping, can overhear their conversation. Hero begins by telling Ursula that she has learned Benedick is desperately in love with Beatrice, but that he dare not reveal his feelings because he knows Beatrice would mock him cruelly.

The two women continue their fabricated conversation, with Hero describing how Benedick suffers from his unrequited love, writing love letters that he tears up and staying awake at night in torment. They discuss Beatrice’s proud and disdainful nature, agreeing that she would never be able to love any man because she is too self-absorbed and sharp-tongued. Hero suggests they should never tell Beatrice about Benedick’s supposed affection, as she would only turn it into jest and torment him further. After Hero and Ursula exit, Beatrice emerges from her hiding place and delivers a soliloquy in which she resolves to abandon her proud ways and requite Benedick’s love, completely taken in by the deception she has overheard.

Much Ado About Nothing takes place in Messina, where Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, arrives with his companions Claudio and Benedick after a military victory. Claudio immediately falls in love with Hero, daughter of Leonato (the governor of Messina), and Don Pedro arranges their engagement. Meanwhile, Benedick and Beatrice, Leonato’s niece, engage in a battle of wits, trading insults and declaring their mutual disdain for love and marriage. Don Pedro, Claudio, and Leonato conspire to trick Benedick and Beatrice into falling in love by staging conversations where each overhears how the other is supposedly lovesick for them.

Don John, Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother and the play’s villain, plots to destroy Claudio’s happiness by making him believe Hero is unfaithful. With his accomplices Borachio and Conrad, Don John arranges for Claudio and Don Pedro to witness what appears to be Hero meeting with another man at her window the night before her wedding. In reality, it is Hero’s waiting-gentlewoman Margaret being wooed by Borachio in disguise.

At the wedding ceremony, Claudio publicly accuses Hero of infidelity and rejects her. Hero faints from shock, and Friar Francis suggests they pretend she has died from the shame while they investigate the truth. Benedick, now in love with Beatrice, promises to challenge Claudio to a duel when Beatrice demands he prove his love by defending Hero’s honor. Meanwhile, the bumbling constable Dogberry and his watchmen accidentally overhear Borachio boasting about the deception to Conrad and arrest them both.

Through Dogberry’s interrogation, the truth emerges about Don John’s plot. Claudio learns of Hero’s innocence and agrees to make amends by marrying Leonato’s “niece” (actually Hero in disguise) the next day. At this second wedding ceremony, Hero reveals herself, and she and Claudio are reconciled. Benedick and Beatrice finally admit their love for each other and agree to marry as well. The play concludes with news that Don John has been captured while trying to flee, and the couples celebrate their double wedding.