"They will scarcely believe this without trial: offer them instances; which shall bear no less likelihood than to see me at her chamber-window, hear me call Margaret Hero, hear Margaret term me Claudio; and bring them to see this the very night before the intended wedding" - Borachio, Act II, Scene 2.
There was an alcove where the front doors of the church met the wooden pews of the inside, and that was where Margaret crouched, horrified, listening to Beatrice wailing for her cousin. Her lady, Hero, had been slandered, shamed, and berated by her groom-to-be, who had stormed out of the church with his entourage only moments before. Ursula was flitting around her fainted mistress, face pale above her starched collar. Margaret, pushing back her tendrils of damp hair, tried to calm her breathing from its jerky gasps. It was a coincidence, she told herself, it meant nothing, there was no way that Borachio would ever...
The night before, Hero had been out. Borachio had climbed in through the window, drunk and complimenting her so mightily that she wore herself out giggling. He had suggested a game, that she dress up in Hero's beautiful embroidered gown, that they pretend to be the would-be married couple. Margaret had agreed, and had acted quite silly, breathily proclaiming her exaggerated love for him, and Borachio, grinning, returned the sentiments. It was a foolish role-play, but Borachio had praised her afterwards, and they had engaged in a playful liaison until Borachio had to leave and snuck out the same way he came.
And now...now everything had gone to hell in a hand-basket. Beatrice was proclaiming shrilly that Hero was dead - Leonato was spewing violent promises, and Ursula was sniffling in volume above the chorus of angry voices. Head spinning, Margaret rose to her feet. "Find Borachio." she said to herself. "Just find Borachio, he'll explain everything, it was a mistake, they'll understand." she pushed open the church doors just as Friar Francis began to speak.
So, in school we're putting on the play Much Ado About Nothing. Since I'm playing Margaret I did a bit of reading, because Shakespeare did a half-assed job of skipping over the reason why Margaret would have pretended to be Hero and then not say anything when it was revealed Claudio thought Hero was unfaithful. I've read a lot of people's interpretations of the play, and though I've found some far out ones (ex. someone theorized that Margaret was a lesbian and jealous of Claudio and so took part in the plot to get rid of Claudio), a great number of the interpretations I read believed that Margaret did know about Borachio's plot, that she did have a rendezvous with Borachio knowing what she was doing. Although I admit I am a little bit biased for Margaret because frankly I like her as a character, I don't believe I don't believe she disliked Hero or that she was so disloyal as to be swayed from Hero. This is a little bit of what I think might have occured, how I think Borachio could have fooled Margaret into incriminating Hero without Margaret herself being aware of it. Though the play does not specify that Margaret was at the wedding, if she had been I think the story progressed that she tried to find Borachio, to convince him to tell everyone what had happened but Borachio being, you know, arrested, the plot to fake Hero's death was carried out before Margaret could intervene.
So...yeah.