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Key moments of Claudio and Hero in Much Ado About Nothing

1. Claudio thinks that Don Pedro is keeping Hero

• Claudio says to Don Pedro that he likes Hero

• They are all at a masquerade party, so Don John decides to wear a mask

• Don John tells Claudio that Don Pedro is trying to seduce Hero

• Don Pedro goes to Hero and tells her, but Claudio believes Don John and is really angry at Don Pedro

• Claudio is relieved when Don Pedro says that Hero also likes Claudio

• “Signor, you are very near my brother in his love: he is enamoured on Hero; I pray you, dissuade him from her: she is no equal for his birth: you may do the part of an honest man in it.”

• This quote is when Don John is trying to deceive Claudio

• “Thus answer I in the name of Benedick, But hear these ill news with the ears of Claudio. 'Tis certain so; the prince woos for himself. Friendship is constant in all other things Save in the office and affairs of love: Therefore, all hearts in love use their own tongues; Let every eye negotiate for itself And trust no agent; for beauty is a witch Against whose charms faith melteth into blood. This is an accident of hourly proof, which I mistrusted not. Farewell, therefore, Hero!”

• This quote is showing that Claudio doesn’t trust his friend.

2. Claudio is tricked into believing that Hero is having an affair

• Don John and his friends made the plan long time ago

• Tonight they are going trick Claudio

• Don John makes Claudio believe that the woman standing outside Hero’s window is Hero and the man is Borachio

• The woman is actually the maid

• “The word is too good to paint out her wickedness; I could say she were worse: think you of a worse title, and I will fit her to it. Wonder not till further warrant: go but with me to-night, you shall see her chamber-window entered, even the night before her wedding-day: if you love her then, to-morrow wed her; but it would better fit your honour to change your mind.”

• Claudio does not immediately believe the words of Don John. However, quickly changes attitude after seeing proof.

• “If I see any thing to-night why I should not marry her to-morrow in the congregation, where I should wed, their will I shame her.”

• Claudio decides that he isn’t going to marry her instead he is going to shame her for her disloyalty and betrayal.

3. Claudio disagrees to marry Hero and he shames her and her family.

• Everybody is present at the wedding and Claudio refuses to marry Hero

• He shames her and brings out the truth

• Her father, Leonato is shamed also

• Hero says that she hasn’t done anything and Leonato’s brother is going to find out the real truth

• “Sweet prince, you learn me noble thankfulness. There, Leonato, take her back again: Give not this rotten orange to your friend; She's but the sign and semblance of her honour. Behold how like a maid she blushes here! O, what authority and show of truth Can cunning sin cover itself withal! Comes not that blood as modest evidence. To witness simple virtue? Would you not swear, All you that see her, that she were a maid, By these exterior shows? But she is none: She knows the heat of a luxurious bed; Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.”

• Claudio reveals Hero’s true identity

• Leonato is in shock

• He is devastated with her daughter

• They are going to find out the truth

4. This is when he finds out the truth about Hero and that she was innocent, so he goes to the grave and he spent the night their and the following day he is going to marry Hero’s cousin who looks exactly like Hero.

• “Done to death by slanderous tongues Was the Hero that here lies: Death, in guerdon of her wrongs, Gives her fame which never dies. So the life that died with shame Lives in death with glorious fame. Hang thou there upon the tomb, Praising her when I am dumb. Now, music, sound, and sing your solemn hymn. SONG. Pardon, goddess of the night, Those that slew thy virgin knight; For the which, with songs of woe, Round about her tomb they go. Midnight, assist our moan; Help us to sigh and groan, Heavily, heavily: Graves, yawn and yield your dead, Till death be uttered, Heavily, heavily.”

• Claudio has gone to Hero’s grave and followed what Leonato said.

• The following morning he accepts his actions and says that Hero is innocent.

• “I think he thinks upon the savage bull. Tush, fear not, man; we'll tip thy horns with gold And all Europa shall rejoice at thee, As once Europa did at lusty Jove, When he would play the noble beast in love.”

• Claudio accepts to marry Hero’s cousin

• “Another Hero!”

• Claudio is shocked to see Hero as he unmasks the bride, and she tells him that she never died.

• Claudio is relieved

Important Quotes: Marriage

“God give me joy to wear it! For my heart is exceeding heavy.” - Hero

This particular quote was on the day of Hero and Claudio’s wedding. However, Hero is not excited nor happy for she is asking God to give her happiness. Hero may have been distraught because she and Claudio have not known each other for significant time. The quote can also be interpreted as a form of foreshadowing in which Shakespeare foreshadows the terrible incident that happens during her wedding.

Benedict: But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have

you?

Claudio: I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the

contrary, if Hero would be my wife.

Benedict suggests that Claudio had once been against the idea of marriage. Claudio’s opinions quickly change upon meeting Hero. However, Claudio also does not trust himself on his newfound ideas of marriage.

Important Quotes: Deception

Claudio: How know you he loves her?

Don John: I heard him swear his affection.

Claudio is easily manipulated my Don John. This is Don John’s first deception towards Claudio. Claudio can be described as rather naïve for he easily believes Don John without many questions.

Claudio: Now, if you are a maid, answer to this.

Hero: I talk'd with no man at that hour, my lord.

Don Pedro: Why, then are you no maiden

Hero learns that she has been deceived but does not understand gravity of the situation. Don Pedro has also deceived Claudio into believing that Hero was unfaithful. This is also a form of irony because Hero is being accused of lying when she is in fact telling the truth.

Important Quotes: Maturity

Claudio: How sweetly you do minister to love,

That know love's grief by his complexion!

But lest my liking might too sudden seem,

I would have salv'd it with a longer treatise.

Claudio reflects on himself and recognizes his immaturity for falling in love too quickly with Hero. His immaturity is emphasized through this quote.

Claudio: 'Tis certain so. The Prince wooes for himself.

Friendship is constant in all other things

Save in the office and affairs of love.

Therefore all hearts in love use their own tongues;

Let every eye negotiate for itself

And trust no agent; for beauty is a witch

Against whose charms faith melteth into blood.

Claudio believes that the strength of romantic love is greater than that of friendship. Therefore, he easily believes that Don Pedro is attempting to woo Hero.

Important Quotes: Love

Hero: O god of love! I know he doth deserve

As much as may be yielded to a man:

But Nature never framed a woman's heart

Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice;

Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,

Misprising what they look on, and her wit

Values itself so highly that to her

All matter else seems weak: she cannot love,

Nor take no shape nor project of affection,

She is so self-endeared

This quote reflects on Hero’s own ideas of true love and her thoughts about her relationship with Claudio. She believes that love must have sacrifices. Hero explains why she is still willing to love Claudio after he has deceived her.

Claudio: Sweet Hero, now thy image doth appear

In the rare semblance that I lov'd it first.

Claudio declares his love for Hero immediately after he hears that she is innocent. However, Claudio’s love is easily destroyed by unfortunate circumstances and also renewed very quickly. This makes the reader question Claudio’s love for Hero.

Important Quotes: Reputation

Claudio: If I see anything tonight why I should not marry her

tomorrow, in the congregation where I should wed, there will I

shame her.

Claudio hears about Hero’s “disloyalty”. However, instead of quietly ending the dishonest marriage he believes that it would be fair to disgrace her in front of the entire congregation thus ruining her reputation.

Claudio: Done to death by slanderous tongues

Was the Hero that here lies.

Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,

Gives her fame which never dies.

So the life that died with shame

Lives in death with glorious fame.

Claudio attempts to clear the accusations against Hero. He states that Hero died in shame because of lies and deception but now lives in the afterworld gloriously.

Hero: One Hero died defil'd; but I do live,

And surely as I live, I am a maid.

Pedro. The former Hero! Hero that is dead!

Hero doesn’t lament the damage that the men have done to her feelings, or even to herself, but instead excuses the men because her reputation has been cleared.\

Key ideas / observations about:

Claudio:

• Claudio in the book is portrayed as a very naïve person:

• For example when he is told by don John that Don Pedro was taking Hero for himself he instantly believed him without even a second thought or gathering some kind of evidence

• Claudio does a similar thing with Hero when he only sees a person in Hero’s room and instantly believes that it is her without even thinking that it could be one of her servants:

• Claudio is shown as a very childish and immature person by the fact that he wants to marry Hero the minute he sees her

• It is also a similar case when he hears the news of hero’s death and thinks it is his fault he instantly breaks down and starts crying showing that he is still childish and needs to become much more mature:

Hero

• There is not much about hero in the play except that she is also quite childish and immature for agreeing to marrying Claudio at such a young age nonetheless

Character Development:

The Development of both Claudio and Hero is both very active and fluctuating, and happens in very dramatic manners in the play “Much Ado about Nothing” by William Shakespeare. Yet, we can accept that Claudio is developed in a more advanced manner, and more information is provided about him, and his point of view. From the start of the play we see Claudio activily persuing Hero in a nervous and shy manner. After these two characters develop a relationship, manny changes from both sides of their relationship occur that alter their attitude towards each other significantly. In one of the key moments in the play, Claudio is tricked into believing that Hero had slept with another man putting him in an emotion of extreme rage. Here, Claudio reverses his attitude towards Hero in a negative manner and becomes furious with her. He then proceeds to outrage his fury at his own marriage by bringing shame upon Hero by scolding at her, and demoralizing her infront of her father. This action in turn changed Hero’s attitude, as it brang up an emotion of confusion and anger. Yet, the large development of the character Claudio is seen when he hears about the aleged death of Hero. Here, Claudio changes his attitude completely when he realizes how naive and spontaneous his reactions were towards Hero, and by that, killing her. He develops here in a sense of self-reflection, and tries to repay Hero’s father with anything he could, thereby developing into a more machure, and relf-reflective individual. This development is crusial in the play as it illustrates a great example of an internal struggle of the character with himself.

Citation:

Shakespeare, William, and Claire McEachern. Much Ado about Nothing. London: Arden Shakespeare, 2006. Print.

Quiz:



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