Through the superficial nature of Messina, William Shakespeare presents a community of honor, critical of Elizabethan society while, through the humor, addresses cultural apprehensions of having a woman as monarch. The tragic elements of Shakespeare's final play satirize the Elizabethan concern with appearances and the inevitable consequences of exclusive external judgment. Shakespeare hides many of his bold political points behind humor, often expressed as wit. This curious juxtaposition of contrasting genres defines the themes of deception and disguise prevalent in Much Ado About Nothing. And it is when this collision of antithetical genres reaches its climax that we see the shocking events of Act 4, Scene 1. Tensions between the characters have been building since the beginning of the play. Even the apparent nonchalance of the title is illustrative of the defamatory plot that the work entails, many of the tragic elements of Much Ado About Nothing being a consequence of ambiguity and misinterpretation. This is exemplified at the masquerade ball, when tragedy is narrowly averted when Claudio, if somewhat artificially, deduces that “the prince courts for himself.” (Act II, Sc. I, 80) A multitude of similar misinterpretations create further tensions, the accumulation of which results in the final censure of the female protagonist Hero. The events are even more tragic for the audience because of Shakespeare's use of dramatic irony. Tensions are created not only between the characters, but also among the audience. The prior knowledge of the malevolent gull that the bastard Don John created, combined with exclusive insight into how close the Guard had come to averting catastrophe, is difficult, even painful, for audiences to watch. Desp...... half of the sheet ...f laughing like, ah, ah, him." (Act IV, Sc. I, 15) Benedetto's request for resolution leads him to transgress the conventions regarding the genre and with them his chauvinistic ideals. Benedick comforts a distraught Beatrice, resulting in both confessing their love for each other, and is ready to believe Hero in his claims of being innocent. The events of Act 4, scene 1 are the result of a mischievous seagull played by a naive idealist. The situation inevitably worsens due to the hierarchical structure of Messina, giving rise to characters capable of solving the issue by acting selfishly incomprehensible, causing a certain loss of sympathy on the part of the public. Others, however, flourish in moments of tension and present themselves as the unexpected hero, capable of bringing normality back to the scandal...