It is also interesting that before Claudio proclaims his love for Hero, he asks whether Leonato has ‘any son’ and is told ‘Hero is his only heir’ sparking speculation amongst the audience that Claudio may want Hero for her inheritance, this supports the point that Claudio is a shallow man.
His naivety is clear when he immediately falls in love with Hero and wants to marry her ‘can the world buy such a jewel’. The audience can infer from this that Claudio is a bit of a spontaneous character, considering that he has just returned from a battle the audience would expect him to be a bit traumatised or at unease instead he doesn’t seem fazed by it all, moreover he prepares himself to marry Hero for some reason he cant bring himself to court her , so Don Pedro steps in to woo Hero on his behalf “I’ll break with her” I think this is because Claudio is inexperienced when it comes to women, the prince obviously knows this because he doesn’t wait for Claudio to ask him.
However Benedick seems to be more cynical about marriage ‘if ever the sensible Benedick bear it, pluck off the bull’s horns and set them in my forehead’ Benedick refers to himself as ‘sensible’ implying that he is too intelligent and experienced, to give into the irrational ways of love ‘I will live a bachelor’. He makes reference to the ‘bull’ and ‘horns’ Benedick believes that any man who marries a woman is ultimately a cuckold , audiences can gather from this that Benedick’s wariness of marriage is due to the fact that he doesn’t trust women as he believes they all cheat.
Nevertheless the irony of the scene where Benedick eavesdrops on the conversation between Claudio, the Prince and Leonato about Beatrice’s undying love for him, surprisingly turns Benedick around into accepting the idea of love and marriage ‘when I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married’ Benedick carefully rephrases his words, as he already has publicly declared that he will ‘live a bachelor’ and it would mean that Claudio and Don Pedro where right about him as the prince said that ‘in time the savage bull doth bear the yoke’, Benedick knows this and in his defence states ‘ but doth not the appetite alter’ his final excuse in falling in love with Beatrice being that ‘the world must be peopled’ the audience can gather from this that Benedick has always deep down loved Beatrice, but just needed to be reminded of her good qualities which he hardly gets to see as they are in a war of wits with one another. The eavesdropping of the scene and the trick that’s played on Benedick all add to the comical humour of the play.
Shakespeare carefully constructs the staging of the play, so as to have the characters visible to the audience, Benedick who believes that he is over hearing the conversation, would probably be hiding behind a prop onstage and looking confused about what he is hearing. The other three characters would probably be walking around talking aloud so as to make sure Benedick is hearing their supposed secret conversation, this humours device Shakespeare puts in the play not only delights the audience it also takes them away from the serious matters that are going on in the play.
Likewise Beatrice is tricked into believing that Benedick is in love with her, ironically this is not a deception anymore as Benedick is truly in love with Beatrice.The longest dialogue Hero has is when she praises Benedick, and reveals some of the flaws of her cousin that stop her from finding happiness ‘disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes’ Beatrice is carefully listening to her cousin talk about Benedick ‘I never yet saw a man, how wise, how noble, young, how rarely featur’d’ and suddenly realises the error of her ways ‘stand I condemn’d for pride and scorn so much’ Shakespeare unravels a slight arrogant side of Beatrice to the audience as she declares her love for Benedick ‘for others say thou dost deserve it’.
Elsewhere Claudio rejoices the idea of marriage ‘if my passion changed shortly. God forbid it otherwise’ Claudio‘s simplistic view on love and marriage give the audience an indication of his age and innocence.
Shakespeare reveals massive flaws in Claudio in the scene where Don John reveals to Claudio that Don Pedro is wooing Hero for himself Claudio becomes enraged with and is quick to believe that Don Pedro has done so ‘the Prince woos for himself’ and he easily gives up on her ‘farewell, therefore, Hero’ Claudio’s placement of trust in one who cannot be trusted, and his sudden change of heart regarding Hero illustrates to the audience that Claudio is a flawed character with a hasty temperament.
Claudio’s character is further developed by Shakespeare as one who acts on impulse; this is most obvious when Claudio supposedly witnesses Hero’s infidelity. He doesn’t give a moments thought about Hero’s virtuousness, and is ready to disgrace her publicly at the altar. ‘Shame her’ the audience witness Claudio’s eagerness to disgrace Hero, which gives an indication that Claudio’s honour, is of greater importance to him than the woman he loves.
Shakespeare chooses not to show the infidelity scene to the audience, but recreates what really happened on that night through the character Borachio, thus making the scene more compelling and authentic to the audience who were never in doubt of Hero’s virtue, Shakespeare’s sudden plot twist comes as a surprise to the audience who is led to believe that a happy ending was in store for Hero.
It is ironically surprising that Benedick is on Hero’s side and believes she is innocent; ‘I do believe your fair cousin is wronged’ the audience would stunned at the fact that Benedick believes Hero is innocent as earlier on in the play he made it clear that women are cheats, this sudden and major turn around of Benedick’s character I think shows what love can do to a person.
Claudio and Hero’s relationship is unusual to the audience as they never speak to one another, except for at the altar where Claudio disgraces an innocent Hero ‘give not this rotten orange to your friend’ Claudio’s callous choice of words used to insult Hero, leads the audience to believe that he cannot have really loved her in the first place, and this being the first time he directly addresses Hero is to vilify her supports the idea that Claudio is heartless.
In the end Hero is exemplified as a truly magnanimous character, “and when I liv’d I was your other wife; and when you lov’d you were my other husband” Hero’s forgiving nature and tender heart towards an undeserved Claudio, although this might have a different effect on the audience they might think that Hero is a weak woman as she has agreed to marry him after everything that’s happened.
Overall I found the play very dramatic and engaging, one effective feature I can identify which kept me amused was the verbal irony between the characters Benedick and Beatrice which was presented even till the end when they could not even admit their feelings for each other.