Benedick is a wilful lord, recently returned from fighting in the wars, who vows he will never marry. He engages with Beatrice in a competition to outwit, outsmart and out-insult the other, but to his observant friends, he seems to feel some deeper emotion below the surface. Upon hearing Claudio and the Prince discussing Beatrice's desire for him, Benedick vows to be horribly in love with her, in effect continuing the competition by outdoing her in love and courtship (2.3 207). Benedick is one of the most historic roles in the play, since his character constantly performs for the benefit of others. He is the entertainer, indulging in witty enthusiasm to express his feelings. A perfect example of his exaggerated speech making occurs when Beatrice enters during the masked ball. Benedick turns to his companions, grossly exaggerating how she has misused him, bidding his friends to send him to the farthest corners of the Earth, rather than let him spend one more minute with his nemesis, "Will your grace command me any service to the worlds end? I will go on the slightest errand now to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me on. I will fetch you a toothpicker from the furthest inch of Asia... Do you any embassage to the pigmies, rather than hold three words conference with this harpy" (2.1 229-235). Of course, since Benedick is so invested in performing for the others, it is not easy for us to tell whether he has been in love with Beatrice all along or suddenly falls in love with her during the course of the play. Benedick's adamant refusal to marry does appear to change over the course of the play, once he has decided to fall in love with Beatrice. He attempts to conceal his transformation from his friends, but really might enjoy shocking them by shaving off his beard and professing undying love to Beatrice. The change seems most evident when Benedick challenges Claudio, previously his closest friend in the world, to duel to the death over Claudio's accusations of Hero's unchastity. There can be no doubt at this point that Benedick has switched his allegiances entirely over to Beatrice.
Hero is the main female character of Much Ado. She is nothing in comparison with her older cousin Beatrice. Hero is the sweet and innocent daughter of Leonato. Hers and Claudio's engagement is looked upon as a match made in heaven. A beautiful angelic woman marrying a hansom honourable man is perfect. The only thing missing in their relationship is love. There is not one point in the play that the two express their true love for one another. Hero is submissive to her father's wishes regarding Claudio and is ready to assume the social role set for her (and all young women) by the norms of the male hierarchy in Messina. However, she is not entirely naive. She is helpful in the conspiracy to bring Beatrice and Benedick together. And while her ready succession to marry Claudio after he has grossly mistreated her on their (first) wedding day can be interpreted as a lack of independent will, Hero's forgiveness of Claudio can be seen as commendable and very essential.
Claudio plainly does not have Benedick's depth. But unlike Hero, Claudio is vulnerable to even a harsher judgement, i.e., that he is excessively cruel toward Hero in his decision to disgrace her in public. Claudio is quick to believe that Hero is damaged goods and quick to consent to Leonato's offer of another bride. But Claudio is young, and the epitaph that he writes to the "dead" Hero is enough sorrow to buy him back at the end of play.
It is quite obvious to see that the two relationships contrast a lot. Hero's character does not stand out in the way that Beatrice's does. Although the main story line is the engagement, deception and eventual marriage of Hero and Claudio, Benedick's and Beatrice's story seems to grab the audience a lot more. The silence between Hero and Claudio is a lot worse than Beatrice and Benedick because there are no true feelings of love, but it becomes dangerous later when Claudio thinks Hero has committed infidelity. In act two, Claudio cannot speak, surprisingly, even once he realises he is marrying Hero He says, "Silence is the perfectest herald of joy" (2.1 267). The irony is that silence in not a herald of joy, but implies lack of emotion from either Hero or Claudio towards the other person.
Language is a significant part of the play, and it is significant to see how Shakespeare uses his prose. Benedick remarks on the change in Claudio by noting his change in language, "He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier, and now is he turned orthography" (2.3 17-18). This shows the change from his usual soldier style to a more elaborate style. The cause of so much confusion in the play is that people do not speak plainly.
A lot of tension is built up when Hero supposedly sleeps with another man. The aborted wedding ceremony in which Claudio rejects Hero, accusing her of unfaithfulness and violated chastity, and publicly shaming her in front of her father, is the climax of the play. 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 utterly lose any social position, a disaster from which she could never recover. Also, this loss of honour would poison the woman's whole family. When Leonato rashly believes Claudio's shaming of Hero at the wedding ceremony, he tries to obliterate her entirely, "Hence from her, let her die" (4.1 153), and he speaks of her loss of honour as an indelible 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 see
Hath drops too few to wash her clean again," (4.1 138-140).
For a woman, the loss of honour was a form of annihilation.
For a man, on the other hand, honour depended on male friendship alliances and was more military in nature. Unlike a woman, a man could defend his honour, and his family's honour, by fighting in a battle or duel. Since it turns out that Hero has not literally lost her honour but only suffered public humiliation and shame, Beatrice urges Benedick to avenge Hero's honour by duelling with Claudio to the death. As a woman, Hero cannot seize back her honour, but as a man, Benedick can do it for her via physical combat.
This alone shows Claudio's hatred towards his, soon to be, wife. However, Claudio could be trying to live up to his name but taking it a bit too far. He himself was also humiliated in public and feels the need to get his own back by using such powerful, hurtful words. When he accuses Hero of unchaste and disloyal acts, his powerful words cause her to fall down in apparent lifelessness. When the Friar, Hero and Beatrice convince Leonato of his daughter's innocence, they maintain that she really has died, in order to punish Claudio and give Hero a respectable amount of time to regain her honour, which although not lost, has been publicly savaged. After hearing about the death of Hero, Claudio does mourn her, paying a choir to sing a dirge at her tomb. If Claudio does eventually fall in love with Hero, this is the time. He finally realises what he has lost, though is easily convinced to marry the next best thing. Again he does this to keep up his good name and gain the forgiveness of Leonato.
Both Beatrice and Benedick show a lot of love for their friends. They put their own developing relationship on hold for Hero and Claudio. Beatrice is determined to prove the innocence of her beloved cousin Hero. She even asks Benedick to kill Claudio for his mistreatment of Hero and apparent death. Having witnessed her cousin's disgrace at the hands of her bridegroom, Claudio, Beatrice utters the most famous two-word line in Much Ado About Nothing, telling her own lover, Benedick to "Kill Claudio" (4.1 289). The remark is decidedly out of character in two senses. While Beatrice is a strong woman who expresses a desire to "be a man" in response to her cousin's mistreatment, she is not bloodthirsty. At the same time, although Benedick has a soldier's experience in his background, he is far too level headed and sensible to commit a crime of passionate revenge. In fact, when Benedick challenges Claudio to a duel, neither his presumptive enemy nor Don Pedro take him seriously. When Beatrice tells Benedick to "kill Claudio, her meaning lies between the literal and figurative, and shading toward the latter. Her intent is not to command Claudio's death, but to insist that Benedick discard his friendship for Claudio and embrace Hero and her cause.
Unlike the confusing feelings of Claudio towards Hero, both Beatrice and Benedick know they are madly in love with each other. This may be the reason for their popularity. They know they love one another but play along to keep up the tension then eventually admit publicly, at the end, what they had been holding back for so long.
Candice Taylor
