At the beginning of the play when the messenger enters he describes Claudio as
having : “the figure of a lamb, the feats of a lion...” Claudio is considered a man of
honour, he is praised in battle and is portrayed as a great soldier; he is said to be
“noble Claudio”. The lamb/lion metaphor is very appropriate for Claudio as he could
be seen as naïve and easily influenced by Don John, this is because of his extreme
youth. Even without evidence Claudio was ready to believe Don John over Hero.
When Don John delivers the news of Hero’s disloyalty, Claudio and Don Pedro are
quick to believe a fellow male soldier, without thinking that Don John could be lying.
This could be seen as a contradiction as it was believed that “bastards” were not to be
trusted. Don John referred to himself as a bad character saying; “I am a plain-dealing
villain”, audiences may think that Claudio is not ‘a man of honour betrayed’, as he is
the one who is betraying Hero by believing the words of Don John.
There are also many characters in the play that sympathize with him and believe that
he is right to shame Hero. The honour code meant that if a friend got disrespected and
dishonoured then it could affect other friends, in the same way that Don Pedro felt
dishonoured. “I stand dishonoured, that have gone about to link my dear friend to a
common stale.” Don Pedro supports his friend and believes that he is dishonoured, as
it was him who wooed Hero for him. Due to the allegations about Hero, other
characters in the play believe that they too are dishonoured. One of whom is Leonato,
Hero’s father. Leonato believes that Hero has destroyed the family’s reputation and
throws terrible insults at her as well as refusing to believe that she could be his
daughter by saying; “No part of it is mine; This shame derives itself from unknown
loins?”. Before knowing the facts Leonato instantly believes that his daughter has
ruined the family. It could be argued that Claudio invites sympathy as Don John
tricks him into believing that Hero has dishonoured him. There are many different
interpretations to whether Claudio actually believes that he was betrayed. For example
if Claudio genuinely believes himself betrayed then perhaps his actions can be
justified, like in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing production, he makes
Claudio’s rage and hurt believable by making the witnessed infidelity convincing. To
understand the presentation of Claudio’s character it is necessary to consider him as a
man of honour betrayed’, which means the scene where Hero, allegedly, is
dishonouring Claudio should be believable.
In Shakespeare’s time, a woman’s honour was based upon her virginity and chaste
behaviour. For a woman to lose her honour by having sexual relations before marriage
meant that she would lose all respect, a catastrophe from which she could never
recover. Furthermore, this loss of honour would destroy the woman’s whole family.
Hence, when Leonato believes Claudio’s shaming of Hero at the wedding ceremony,
he tries to obliterate her entirely: “Hence from her, let her die”. Moreover, he speaks
of her loss of honour as an unforgettable stain from which he cannot distance himself,
no matter how hard he tries: “O she is fallen / Into a pit of ink, that the wide sea / Hath
drops too few to wash her clean again”. Leonato is prepared to align himself with
Claudio rather then his own daughter. The illusory betrayal of Claudio’s ‘honour’
becomes Leonato’s dishonouring as she has ‘smeared the family name’. Honour was a
frequent theme in some of Shakespeare’s plays and was also common in that period,
for example in Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, Brutus says “Believe me for mine
honour, and have respect to mine honour that you may believe”. Mowbray states in
Richard 11 “Mine honour is my life; both grow in one/Take honour from me, and my
life is done”. This shows the importance of honour in that period.
Claudio speaks of Hero as an ‘object’ by referring to her as a “jewel”. Claudio’s
tendencies to see Hero as an object was because he had no intimacy with her and
perceived her as a commodity. His language portrays the differences between his and
Benedick’s love. The way Claudio speaks of his love shows the audiences that
Claudio is not very romantic, which could affect how audiences would think of him.
Audiences might dislike Claudio because he is not the conventional romantic
character like ‘Romeo’. Whilst talking about Hero, Claudio sometimes uses blank
verse. His speech seems more constructed and artificial then others, which has the
effect of making him sound less genuine. He doesn’t talk about Hero with passion,
whereas Benedick uses poetry and sonnets to show and represent his love towards
Beatrice. There is irony in the play when it comes to the denunciation of Hero, where
Claudio speaks with passion to Hero for the first time, out of hatred. This shows
audiences that Claudio did not love Hero truly otherwise he would not have been so
quick to judge her. In act 4 scene 1 he likens her to an animal; “..or those pampered
animals that rage in savage sensuality”. However, it could be said that after Claudio
finds out the truth he knows that he has wronged Hero. He tries to renew Hero’s
reputation by marrying Leonato’s niece even if she is an “Ethiope”, which means that
he was truly apologetic.
Some critics argue that Claudio has a business like approach, it can be argued that he
only wants the estate, before Claudio married Hero he was fully informed about the
property: “Hath Leonato any son, my lord?” In aristocratic society, people were
dependant upon marriages of conveniences based on status and property, which could
mean that Claudio is not a man of honour betrayed, as he only married for
convenience. Before Claudio went to war all he thought about was fighting but as
soon as he has finished it is time for marriage. When he had finally come from war,
audiences can tell that he is ready for marriage as one of the first sentences he says are
“I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my
wife.” Critics can also argue that ‘war’ can be seen as a central metaphor, the men
return from war and instantly convey the values engaged on the battlefield into the
domestic arena. 'Love' is presented by Shakespeare as a form of warfare with the
sexes battling it out. However, it is not a fair fight because women, unlike men, can
not physically defend their honour. Hero's honour is betrayed, but there is little she
can do about it. Claudio uses the metaphor “beauty is a witch”, even before his
relationship with Hero, Claudio started showing that he was already suspicious of her
-seeing her as an Eve, a betrayer of men. This emphasizes what he felt about women
and reflected a popular renaissance view – that women were untrustworthy.
It may be argued that Claudio lived in a society that was very misogynistic; during
that period much of the fiction included misogynistic views. In the renaissance period
people used to live by the bible, this is where the idea of male superiority came from.
The story of Adam and Eve blames Eve for tempting Adam to eat the fruit. Thus, it
was the woman who was morally weak. In Genesis, Chapter Two vs.21-25 it says;
“and the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman..” Women
were ‘made from men’ reinforcing the illusion of inferiority. In renaissance times it
was believed that women were deceivers and were there to tempt, just like Eve. It
could be argued that Claudio was not to blame for his reaction to Hero, as he was
merely reacting as men would at that time as it represented Elizabethan values.
Benedick has similar values, believing that if he gets married he would be cuckolded;
“I will live a bachelor”. There are endless Elizabethan jokes about cuckoldry, which
reveal a general fear of infidelity that was perceived as dishonour.
It was believed that the honour code was important and that soldiers such as Claudio
were supposed to behave with chivalry. Audiences might have found it hard to
sympathize with Claudio even in the Renaissance period because he was not behaving
in a truly chivalrous manner. His behaviour could be seen as unacceptable and
immoral as he treats Hero in a shameful way. However, Claudio’s behaviour can be
seen as acceptable once audiences understand the honour. Claudio’s honour was so
important to him, but when Hero allegedly cheated on him, he believed that it was
only right to shame her. Claudio could have been seen as a victim of gossip within the
play as he was lied to and manipulated by Don John to fulfill his plan. However
despite this, Claudio changed his mind about Hero and instantly believed that she had
done wrong.
In conclusion, it could be argued that Claudio was not at fault. He was just mirroring
the values of renaissance society. It is important to understand how social status and
honour worked in the renaissance period to understand Claudio’s cruelty. He was a
‘man of honour betrayed’ and to understand what he did to Hero, audiences would
have to consider that he thought that he had been betrayed. Nevertheless, it would be
hard for any audience to sympathize with Claudio, as he did not behave with chivalry.
However, Claudio realized his mistake and was willing to marry Hero’s cousin.
