In acts one and two, Claudio is firstly spoken of by a messenger who arrives to tell the members of Leonato’s house that Don Pedro and his soldiers are coming. The messenger says, “He is in the company of the most noble Claudio and Leonato says, “I find here that Don Pedro hath bestowed much honour in a young Florentine called Claudio”. These two quotes suggest the Claudio is a new addition to Don Pedro’s Soldiers and that he is quickly becoming famous and indeed a hero. This then suggests he is possibly young, brave and bound to be admired by the ladies, thus, handsome. As the act goes on, and Claudio beings to speak, we see he expresses interest in love but as he does so he seems very naïve. Here we can see the two interpretations mentioned in the introduction, the immediate interest in love, which could be interpreted as desperation or a genuine interest in Hero. “ Benedick didst thou note the daughter of Signor Leonato?” shows this, this is in fact his first words. “Can the world buy such a jewel?” shows that he perhaps thinks the world of Hero and genuinely is in love with her but it could also be interpreted as quite shallow as he refers as to her as an object, something he can own and almost certainly manipulate. This leads to the quote “Hath Leonato any son my Lord?” which is an essential part of Claudio’s speech as it could make him be interpreted as a power hungry individual, because if Leonato dies, Hero inherits his power and therefore Claudio would too and as males are dominant, he could see this as a route to power, making him appear fake. In Act 2, he is made to believe that Hero has been taken from him, despite being a little saddened, he appears not to be affected greatly, he realises that his naivety has made him vulnerable to untrustworthy people as he says “And trust no agent”. His fellow soldiers detect this sadness and he says very little but he soon reverts to his usual mood as he realises Hero is still his. Compared with the film, Claudio in Act 1 and Act 2 is presented very similarly, brave, young, handsome, very naïve, genuinely interested, slightly curious into the power that comes with Hero and sad when he is told wrongly that Hero is not his, the film has interpreted Claudio just as Shakespeare would of probably imagined him.
In Act Five, Scene One, we can see a number of things that could cause Claudio to be interpreted in several ways. This is the scene when he learns of Hero’s alleged adultery. He firstly, keeps his speech short and brief, seemingly snappy and stern, making it clear that he is angry, hurt and humiliated. “Know you any Hero?” is his first short phrase, this shows possible anger and humiliation. “Counterpoise this rich and precious gift” shows sarcasm due to the recent events Claudio has learned of and it is followed by “Take her back, give not this rotten orange to your friend”. This is possibly the point where Claudio wants to unleash and reveal this secret to the audience of his wedding. We can so far certainly see a changed mood; it has been changed to an uneasy storm of anger or possibly humiliation. Anger because his heart is indeed broken or humiliation as he doesn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his friends, making him seem self conscious. Shakespeare seems to denote that Claudio believes his honour to be more important than his love, and in addition with this we can see that Claudio seems to prefer the concept of loving rather than actually loving, he is also quick to accuse Hero without any proof, this fuses with the “one of the lads” interpretation in the sense that Claudio doesn’t not put love first, but himself and how other people see him. In Branagh’s film, Claudio is indeed presented as angry, humiliated but emotionally hurt as he almost screams his words while being aggressive. When thinking about the behaviour in this scene it may have been considered justifiable due to the culture of the time in which it is set and the patriarchal world in which it is based.
As Act five goes on, Claudio is converted from this ferocious, unstable and self-conscious individual to a humble, sorry, honest and sensitive individual. When the truth is revealed that Hero was innocent and in addition with her fake death, Claudio becomes sad, possibly embarrassed for accusing Hero wrongly and even more so for making Leonato feel bad. He could be interpreted as being honestly sad or based on past events, people could also view him as a weasel, a rat, someone who is playing along so not everyone begins to dislike him, that he is being all sorry just to redeem himself, he may not really care about Hero. This could also be supported by the fact Claudio still believes he has done nothing wrong, the line “Impose me what penance your invention can lay upon my sin yet I sinned not but in mistaking” shows this, denoting a strong sense of selfishness. “Choose your revenge” is a good example of how Claudio attempts to redeem himself or attempts to apologise to Leonato.
In conclusion, Claudio can be interpreted in three varied ways, however, you must remember when the play is set and how men ruled at that time, his behaviour may have been acceptable at that time which is why he does and says certain things. Claudio can be perceived as a naïve person because he believes everything will be alright all of the time and that he is genuinely in love and genuinely hurt when it does not work out and therefore genuinely sorry when he learns on the real truth, making him seem an innocent and naïve. Another way he can be perceived is as a cocky, self centred and self conscious individual and that he lies to look good in front of his friends, and that he believes he is the victim and the dominant male which no female should abuse, which is most probably acceptable in Shakespeare’s time and finally Claudio can be perceived as a cold minded individual, who wants power, and is prepared to be self centred and aggressive to get it. The Kenneth Branagh film certainly uses a variety of these interpretations, especially the first and second ones however the first is seen more often in the film.
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