This shows he loves Hero and he has realised he loved her before he went to war. This shows he truly does love Hero. But he also seems to be very misogynist as he believes that the woman’s place is at home ‘I look’d upon her with a soldier’s eye this suggests he does not see her as a partner but as an object. He believes that a woman’s place is in a home while the man goes of to work or fight for their country this shoes he is a very shallow person. Claudio also appears to be selfish as he asks Don Pedro ‘Hath Leonato any sons my lord?’ Claudio wants to know if Leonato has any sons because if he doesn’t then if and when Claudio marries Hero he will be the one to inherit all of Leonato’s things when he dies this makes him seem selfish as it shows he doesn’t care for Hero he just wants the money.
During Act 2 scene 1 Don John and Barachio have tricked Claudio into thinking Don Pedro has wooed Hero for himself. Claudio views on love and marriage are very weak as he has just herd the news. While everything is happening around him he is only thinking of him self and not caring for what is happening to his friends. In this scene Claudio talks in a soliloquy, he uses prose to get his views of Hero through. ‘Thus I answer to the name of Benedick, But I hear these ill news with the ears of Claudio’ it show Claudio has something important to say although it directed at the audience. This has been done to show that Claudio is always expecting to get his own way. Claudio has been show to be very gullible the opening acts, as he believes Don John too easily, even though he knows of Don John treachery in the past. He judges Do Pedro to quick and too harsh ‘Tis certain so, the price woos for him self, friendship is constant in all other things’ To the audience the irony in what he has said is clear as it is to Claudio who is being careless in mistrusting his loyal friend and patron on the misleading advice of his capricious brother, Don John.
Further on in Act 2 Scene 1 Beatrice is trying to convince Claudio that Don Pedro did not woo Hero for him self and that he is wrong and Claudio changes his mind about what he thinks again. Claudio does not seemed to be bother or care for Love, Marriage, Hero or anyone else who doesn’t concern him. When Beatrice brings Claudio to Don Pedro Claudio is being short and not answering properly ‘Not sad, my lord’ This shows that Claudio really doesn’t want to be talking but has to as Don Pedro is a higher ranking than Claudio. I think Claudio is being silly and that he shouldn’t be jealous because he doesn’t even know if what he has heard is true. He knows that Don John is not trustworthy but he still believed it think that he should at least say what he thinks so he can be put straight.
During Act 3 Scene 2 Don Pedro and Claudio are both being conned by Don John’s slander of Hero. Claudio isn’t thinking about what other people think anymore he is constantly just thinking about him self, he has decide he will not love Hero anymore and defiantly not marry her. His view toward love and marriage are very strong but they are all bad. His doesn’t care for anyone else for the complications he is causing by doing what he is doing. Don John is trying to perused Claudio and Don Pedro that something is wrong by using different ways of putting things. ‘Even she- Leonato’s Hero, your Hero, every man’s Hero’ this is used to persuade Claudio and Don Pedro that Hero is being disloyal, this is a rhetorical device. Every time Hero’s name is repeated it creates more focus onto what is happening and Don John’s accusations. Claudio is using short questions as he is unsure about the truth ‘Who, Hero?’ When he uses these it shows us that he is shocked by the accusation. Seeing Claudio believe something twice show that he bevies what ever he hears without questioning it. In the scene dramatic irony is used as only Brachio and the audience knows of Don John’s slanders of Hero and Don Pedro and Claudio do not. Doing this creates tension between Claudio not knowing what is going to happen and the audience .After this Claudio vows that he is going to say this in front of the hole of Messina at the alter. The audience feel that Claudio is stupid and is not thinking this through.
During Act 4 Scene 1 the wedding is about to start and Claudio is going to denounce Hero, but Leonato is trying to defend Hero slowly he starts to believe as well as Don Pedro says it’s true. Friar Francis takes over the situation; a plan is made save Hero and to tell everyone that she has died of grief because of the accusation. Claudio still isn’t thinking of anyone but him self he is thinking of Hero but only in away that he wants to ruin her life permanently. In Shakespeare time women were unable to get a job and they where owned by their farther until they were married off, but if the were unable to marry then they wouldn’t live a life of their own they would have to stay at home. Claudio uses a lot of commands such as ‘take her back again’ this shows he feels in control of the situation it also shows that he is more confident when he is giving out negative comments unlike when he gives out positive comments as he is very shy when he says anything. Claudio uses rhetorical questions to help get his point through ‘Is this face Hero’s?’ at this point it shows us he is questioning what is right and what is the truth, this makes the listeners agree with what he is saying to them. Imagery is used when Claudio says ‘Give not this rotten orange to your friend’ this is used to show his feelings for Hero are non existent and does not what to marry Hero any more. When Claudio say ‘rotten orange ‘ he is insulting Hero as he is saying that she isn’t pure still a virgin but that she worthless like a piece of rotten fruit wouldn’t be worth anything this because she is not a virgin. This is a huge insult because if this is true Leonato will be unable to marry her off and when he dies al of his property and money will be lost as this travels down the male side and he doesn’t have a son. There is a bit of dramatic irony in this scene as only the audience, Don John and his men Borachio and Conrad know about the deception of Claudio and Hero. In this scene Claudio seems very selfish and seems not to care about the out come of his accusation. Claudio will accuse Hero but anything that happens after this he will not take the blame for. He seems selfish as he didn’t ask Hero about what he believes happened and just decided that it was true of his own accord.
During Act 5 Scene 1, Borachio confesses the plan with Don John and everyone is extremely upset about what has happened. Claudio’s attitude changes when he finds out Hero is innocent but he is happy that he isn’t soul to blame for the death of Hero although he didn’t the right thing as he denounced Hero in front of her father’s guests. He is trying to make up to Leonato by being really friendly and nice to him. Claudio says ‘I do embrace your offer, and dispose’ this shoes that he is now being more mature he is being very polite to Leonato, he also agreed to marry again without being augmentative about it. Claudio seems to feel guilty as he knows help helped to cause Hero’s death but he will not admit that he was in the wrong.
During Act 5 Scene 3, Claudio still thinks Hero is dead and goes to visit her tomb to hang a epitaph upon her tomb. Claudio is grieving for Hero’s death as he still loves her very much, but he has agreed to marry Leonato’s Brother’s Daughter which shows he doesn’t care for Hero much he just wants forgiveness. There is dramatic irony in this scene as the audience know Hero is still live and because he goes to see her tomb it makes the audience think about what is happening and what is going to happen. Claudio uses many metaphors in this scene such as ‘Done to death by slanderous tongues.’ This show that Claudio is trying to divert the blame away from him self as the word ‘tongues’ shows that he isn’t just blaming one person he s saying that it was more than one persons fault that Hero died. This leads us to believe that he is in denial of Hero’s death and won’t accept it was his fault but instead he try’s to shift the blame towards the people around him.
In the final scene Act 5 Scene 4, Claudio is married and reunited with Hero and Benedick gets married to Beatrice. Claudio is worried about his future and what his wife is going to look like. When Claudio says ‘Which is the lady I must seize upon’ this show that Claudio feels as if he has to marry as it is payment for he did to Hero so he aggress to marry, forgetting about Hero. This shows us that he doesn’t care about feelings and the audience feel he is not as wise and they would have hoped.
At the end of the play Claudio is married to his new wife and discovers that it is Hero and Benedick and Beatrice are also married that day. Don’t think Claudio deserved to marry Hero as when he had thought she had done wrong he didn’t feel as if he loved her at all, his love for Hero doesn’t seem to be there all the time it is only when he wants to be in love. I think Claudio didn’t seem to be worried much about getting married to another woman and he didn’t even think of Hero in this, neither did he have the dignity to admit he had done wrong when he found out that Hero was innocent. Despite this I do think it was right for this to happen as Claudio should have learned a valid lesson and will not get into that type of trouble.
