Playing Shakespeare

Who is Margaret

Margaret is Hero’s lady-in-waiting, and is a playful flirtatious woman who has clearly had some experience with men. She mercilessly teases the naïve Hero about Claudio, and brazenly answers back to Benedick. Game for fun, she is enlisted to help Hero trick Beatrice into believing that Benedick is secretly in love with her, and both Margaret and Hero enjoy this opportunity to poke some fun at Beatrice. Her romantic links to Borachio are the root of Don John’s orchestration of Hero’s unfaithfulness, as Borachio woos Margaret in the guise of Hero in order to persuade Don Pedro and Claudio that she is not all she seems. Although Margaret does this unknowingly, some blame is placed on her by Leonato, despite Borachio’s claims that she was innocent of his real intentions.