Hero honours Claudio, as he is a respected man because he is on the Prince’s right side and is happy to be married to. When the misunderstanding or deceit takes place (Hero mistaken for Margaret) and Hero is wrongfully dishonoured at the marriage in front of everyone, he stands in defence of honour and she looking dirty and dishonoured. However, by the time the second wedding takes place, Claudio is on his knees and the roles of power have reversed as he begs “I am your husband if you like of me.” Hero is honoured, as she has been proven innocent. She is not dishonoured, leading to my next point.
Don Pedro having been deceived into thinking that Hero was no longer a maid, felt dishonoured for having wooed Hero for Claudio “I stand dishonoured that I have gone about to link a good friend to a common stale”
Pedro misses the truth because he cares more for his honour.
Leonato turns against his daughter, as he feels dishonoured about all the Prince and Claudio have to say. He doesn’t let Hero speak. His prideful honour stands before his daughter. He says, “Do not live Hero” to his only daughter, showing how powerful honour is. Social status should not stand before family, yet Leonato doesn’t even let Hero explain herself.
Benedick proclaims, “I do love nothing in the world so well as you.”
Beatrice replies “I love you with so much of my heart that there is none left to protest.” Benedick honours her, her love and her passion for her cousin and says “Come, bid me do anything for thee.”
“Kill Claudio” she replies and already with this, honour changes… for a while.
“Ha! Not for the world!” Benedick declares, but soon realises that the only way to prove his love and honour for her is to do as she wishes. “Enough, I am engaged. I will challenge him.” We find that honour between Beatrice and Benedick is a way proving their love, or at least Benedick’s way of proving his love for her. Beatrice however shows a different way in which women act in the time this play was set in. The good nature of a woman is to be mild, timorous, tractable, and benign, of sure remembrance and shame fast. This is almost an opposite description of Beatrice. She doesn’t see that women are below men. Honour should be equal among men and women.
The play is peppered with dishonour, largely through the actions of one character, Don John and his followers. Don John feels he is dishonoured because Claudio gets what he wants and he feels he isn’t good enough for the Prince “that young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow.” (The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro.) He is seen as an outsider in Elizabethan society, so lacking the honour he feels he deserves. Shakespeare presents Don John as a villain, which suggests that he wants his audience to focus on the villainy of Claudio and Don Pedro. They are guilty, not just for lack of faith in Hero, but also of pride and arrogance in their own sense of honour.
Ironically Dogberry, the man who misuses words and mistakes their meanings (and gets dishonoured for this “Away! You are an ass, you are an ass!”) is the one who prevents all predicted disaster striking near the end.
“What your wisdoms could not discover, these shallow fools have brought to light.”
After putting things right he is finally honoured by Leonato (which is what he’s been trying to redeem all this time by trying to talk as the others in higher class do) “I thank thee for thy care and honest pains.” It is then that Shakespeare wants the audience to see that honour, without pride is what counts.
The Friar is a very respected and honoured character, this obviously because of his occupation. He is the one bringing hope to Leonato and Hero being as they were before the misunderstanding. Everyone honours Friar for proving Hero’s innocence. The idea of a trustworthy authority in the play and in this society is that God is the ultimate authority; only He or his representatives can challenge Don Pedro and Leonato.
In conclusion, in ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ Shakespeare presents honour through the characters of Dogberry and all the ‘well respected’ men as a contrast of what the ‘well respected’ men think the concept of honour is and what true honour really is. Dogberry represents true honour and the ‘well respected’ men such as Don Pedro, Claudio and Leonato represent what society of that period think the concept of honour is.
