Original: Sweet prince, let me go no farther to mine answer:
Modern: Dear prince, let me not give you any more excuses:

Original: do you hear me, and let this count kill me.
Modern: listen to me, and let this confession destroy me.

Original: I have deceived even your very eyes: what your wisdoms
Modern: I have fooled even you: what your intelligence

Original: could not discover, these shallow fools have brought
Modern: couldn’t figure out, these simple fools have brought

Original: to light: who in the night overheard me confessing
Modern: into the open: they overheard me at night confessing

Original: to this man how Don John your brother incensed me
Modern: to this man how Don John your brother encouraged me

Original: to slander the Lady Hero, how you were brought into
Modern: to spread lies about Lady Hero, how you were led into

Original: the orchard and saw me court Margaret in Hero’s
Modern: the garden and saw me romance Margaret wearing Hero’s

Original: garments, how you disgraced her, when you should
Modern: clothes, how you humiliated her, when you were supposed to

Original: marry her: my villany they have upon record; which
Modern: marry her: they have proof of my evil deeds; which

Original: I had rather seal with my death than repeat over
Modern: I would rather end with my death than say again

Original: to my shame. The lady is dead upon mine and my
Modern: to my shame. The lady is dead because of mine and my

Original: master’s false accusation; and, briefly, I desire
Modern: master’s false charges; and, in short, I want

Original: nothing but the reward of a villain.
Modern: nothing but the punishment that a villain deserves.

In Act V, Scene 1 of “Much Ado About Nothing,” Leonato and his brother Antonio encounter Don Pedro and Claudio. Leonato confronts Claudio about the public shaming and accused death of his daughter Hero, challenging him to a duel to answer for his actions. Antonio joins in defending his niece’s honor and also challenges Claudio. Don Pedro attempts to calm the situation, but both older men persist in their accusations and challenges before eventually departing. Benedick then enters, and despite Don Pedro and Claudio’s attempts at their usual witty banter, Benedick remains serious and also challenges Claudio to a duel for his role in Hero’s disgrace. He announces that he has killed Don John’s man, though Don John himself has fled Messina.

The mood shifts when the constables Dogberry and Verges arrive with their prisoners Borachio and Conrade. Borachio confesses the entire plot: he was paid by Don John to deceive Don Pedro and Claudio by staging a false scene at Hero’s window with Margaret dressed in Hero’s clothes, making it appear that Hero was unfaithful. This revelation proves Hero’s innocence and exposes the villainous deception. Claudio and Don Pedro express immediate remorse upon learning the truth. Leonato returns and, though grief-stricken over his daughter, offers Claudio a chance at redemption: he must publicly announce Hero’s innocence and mourn at her tomb that night, then marry Leonato’s “niece” the following morning—a woman Leonato describes as almost the copy of his dead daughter.

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.