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it appear that Hero is unchaste.

Don Pedro and Claudio make Benedick believe that Beatrice is dying
of love for him.

Ursula and Hero make Beatrice believe that Benedick is dying of
love for her.

The disdainful couple make friends. Don John thwarts the marriage
of Claudio by his tale of Hero's unchastity. Claudio casts off Hero
at the altar. Hero swoons, and is conveyed away as dead. Beatrice
and Benedick are brought into close alliance by their upholding of
Hero's cause.

Proof is obtained that Hero has been falsely accused. She is
recovered from her swoon. Claudio marries her. Benedick and
Beatrice plight troth.

In this play Shakespeare writes of the power of report, of the thing
overheard, to alter human destiny. Antonio's man, listening behind a
hedge, overhears Don Pedro telling Claudio that he will woo Hero. The
report of his eavesdropping conveys no notion of the truth, and leads,
no doubt, to a bitter moment for Hero. Borachio, hiding behind the
arras, overhears the truth of the matter. The report of his
eavesdropping leads to the casting off of Hero at the altar. Don John
and Borachio vow to Claudio that they overheard Don Pedro making love to
Hero. The report gives Claudio a bitter moment. Benedick, reporting to
the same tune, intensifies his misery.

Benedick, overhearing the report of Beatrice's love for him, changes his
mind about marriage. Beatrice, hearing of Benedick's love for her,
changes her mind about men. Claudio, hearing Don John's report of Hero,
changes his mind about his love. The watch, overhearing Borachio's
report of his villainy, are able to change the tragedy to comedy.
Leonato, hearing Claudio's report of Hero, is ready to cast off his
child. Report is shown to be stronger than any human affection and any
acquired quality, except the love of one unmarried woman for another,
and that strongest of all earthly things, the fool in authority. The
wisdom of Shakespeare is greater and more various than the brains of
little men can imagine. It is one of the tragical things, that this
great man, who interpreted the ways of fate in glorious, many-coloured
vision, should be set aside in our theatres for the mockers and the
accusers, whose vision scatters dust upon the brain and sand upon the
empty heart.

Though the play is not one of the most passionate of the plays, it
belongs to Shakespeare's greatest creative period.