Original: Wherefore! Why, doth not every earthly thing
Modern: Why is this happening! Doesn’t everything on earth

Original: Cry shame upon her? Could she here deny
Modern: Shout shame at her? How could she possibly deny

Original: The story that is printed in her blood?
Modern: The evidence written all over her face?

Original: Do not live, Hero; do not ope thine eyes:
Modern: Don’t live, Hero; don’t open your eyes:

Original: For, did I think thou wouldst not quickly die,
Modern: Because if I thought you wouldn’t die quickly,

Original: Thought I thy spirits were stronger than thy shames,
Modern: If I thought you were tougher than your disgrace,

Original: Myself would, on the rearward of reproaches,
Modern: I myself would, after all these accusations,

Original: Strike at thy life. Grieved I, I had but one?
Modern: Kill you myself. Did I grieve that I only had one child?

Original: Chid I for that at frugal nature’s frame?
Modern: Did I complain to nature for being so stingy?

Original: O, one too much by thee! Why had I one?
Modern: Oh, one child was too many! Why did I have any at all?

Original: Why ever wast thou lovely in my eyes?
Modern: Why did you ever seem beautiful to me?

Original: Why had I not with charitable hand
Modern: Why didn’t I instead, out of charity,

Original: Took up a beggar’s issue at my gates,
Modern: Take in some beggar’s child at my door,

Original: Who smirch’d thus and mired with infamy,
Modern: Who, when stained and covered with shame like this,

Original: I might have said ‘No part of it is mine;
Modern: I could have said “None of this disgrace is mine;

Original: This shame derives itself from unknown loins’?
Modern: This shame comes from strangers, not from me”?

Original: But mine and mine I loved and mine I praised
Modern: But you were mine, and I loved you as mine, and I praised you as mine,

Original: And mine that I was proud on, mine so much
Modern: And you were mine, and I was so proud of you, so much mine

Original: That I myself was to myself not mine,
Modern: That I didn’t even belong to myself anymore,

Original: Valuing of her,.why, she, O, she is fallen
Modern: I valued her so much. But now she has fallen

Original: Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea
Modern: Into a pit of darkness, and even the vast ocean

Original: Hath drops too few to wash her clean again
Modern: Doesn’t have enough water to wash her clean again

Original: And salt too little which may season give
Modern: And not enough salt to preserve and purify

Original: To her foul-tainted flesh!
Modern: Her corrupted, poisoned body!

In Act IV, Scene 1 of “Much Ado About Nothing,” the wedding ceremony between Claudio and Hero begins in the church with Leonato, Hero, Beatrice, Benedick, and the Friar present. When the Friar asks if anyone knows of any impediment to the marriage, Claudio dramatically stops the proceedings and publicly accuses Hero of being unchaste. He claims he witnessed her talking with a man at her chamber window the previous night, describing in vivid detail what he alleges to have seen. Don Pedro supports Claudio’s accusations, and both men reject Hero, with Claudio refusing to marry her and declaring her to be promiscuous and unfaithful.

Hero faints from the shock of these accusations, and chaos erupts as the men exit, leaving behind Leonato, Beatrice, Benedick, and the Friar with the unconscious Hero. Leonato initially believes the accusations against his daughter and expresses his shame, even suggesting he wishes Hero were dead. However, the Friar, who has been observing Hero closely, believes in her innocence based on her reactions and proposes a plan: they should announce that Hero has died from the shock of the accusations. The Friar suggests this false report of her death will cause Claudio to remember her virtues and feel remorse, potentially clearing her name. Benedick, now convinced of Hero’s innocence, agrees to help, and the scene concludes with Beatrice and Benedick finally confessing their love for each other, leading to Beatrice’s demand that Benedick challenge Claudio to prove his devotion to her.

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.