The document provides costume design suggestions for several characters in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. For Beatrice, a fiery and independent woman, the costume should use a mix of red fabrics, with a stronger red for her bold personality and softer shades representing her hidden affection. Hero, who is gentle and innocent, should wear white or light pastels. Benedick also has a fiery personality but undergoes a change after falling for Beatrice; his costume should hint at his relationship with her using complementary colors. Claudio, though softer than Benedick, matches Hero in his love for her, so his lighter costume could incorporate her fabric or color. The villain Don John should stand out

1. Costume Design

2. Beatrice
• Beatrice is a fiery,
independent woman. She
has a very strong will and is
not afraid to speak her mind,
as is shown in her witty banter
with Benedick.
• Beatrice also has a less
pronounced side of affection
and vulnerability as is shown
when she falls in love with
Benedick, whom she
originally claimed to hate.
• Beatrice’s costume should
have mixed shades of red. A
stronger red should be used
in the majority of the
costume to represent her
fiery personality, while a few
smaller areas of a more
subdued red, or even white
or pink, will represent the less
pronounced softer side to
her personality. The material
should also be fairly rigid to
represent to aversion to love.
--“I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me.”

3. Hero
• Hero is gentle, innocent,
and soft-spoken, a very
contrasting personality to
Beatrice.
• Ideally, Hero’s gown
should be white, since it is
usually associated with
innocence. Light pastel
colors would also work
well to portray hero’s soft-
spoken and gentle
personality. Her dress
should be more
conservative than
Beatrice’s. The material
could also have a softer,
more flowing look that
Beatrice’s to further
portray the gentleness of
her personality.
--“In mine eye she is the sweetest lady that ever I looked on.”

4. Benedick
• Benedick, like Beatrice has a
fiery personality, is always
making witty remarks, and
believes he will never fall in
love or be married.
• Benedick’s character
undergoes a dramatic
change after allowing himself
to love Beatrice, as well as
challenging Claudio to a
deal after he speaks against
Hero’s character, even
though he himself said at the
beginning of the play that all
women were unfaithful.
• Benedick’s costume should
have hints of red to represent
his strong personality as well
as his relationship with
beatrice. It should be more
vibrant in color than
Claudio’s and have a
contrasting color to represent
his change in character.
--“Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust any, I will do myself the right
to trust none. And the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a
bachelor.”

5. Claudio
• Claudio is a well respected soldier.
He has a more gentle personality
like Hero, but does not have her
innocence. His suspicious nature
leads him to assume the worst of
Hero, and even slander her
character by leaving her at the
alter.
• Claudio is also softer-spoken than
Benedick and has no aversion to
love as he quickly falls in love with
Hero.
• His costume should be light, and
colorful, but not totally white, since
he does not have Hero’s
innocence. It should also be less
colorful/vibrant than Benedick’s,
since his personality is less fiery.
Although both costumes will be
lighter in color, Claudio’s
relationship to Hero should be
further represented by a matching
fabric or color from Hero’s
costume.
--“He hath borne himself beyond the promise of his age, doing in the figure of a lamb
the feats of a lion. He hath indeed better bettered expectation than you must expect
of me to tell you how.”

6. Don John
• While the other costumes
should be light and colorful to
fit in with the genre of
comedy, as the villain Don
John should have the only
dark costume. It should be in
shades of black or gray. Other
colors would work as long they
are very dark, but white or
vibrant colors should not be
used.
• His costume should also be less
extravagant, with a lower class
of fabric, since as a bastard he
does not have the social status
of the rest of the characters in
the play.
--“There is no measure in the occasion that breeds. Therefore the sadness is
without limit.”