Claudio takes full advantage of the fact that all eyes are on him and that he has the chance of getting revenge on Hero. His first word is ‘No.’ Attention is attracted to him, and this is exactly what he wants. The setting is quite informal; they are all staying in Leonato’s house. Everybody knows each other; this is not their first encounter. He wants to shame Hero in front of everybody. Most of his first words a very simple, short commands. “No.” “Stand thee by, friar” He gives Hero the third degree; He overrides Leonato; he tells the friar what to do; he commands Leonato to take Hero back. He uses short statements to express his intentions. He uses imagery to show his disgust. He compares her to a rotten orange. He is completely appalled by what she did and he tries to put this across to everybody by using this imagery to insult Hero. He tries to show people that she is not worthy or marrying him. He feels really insulted that he is being given ‘used goods’. Claudio does not just broadcast the fact that Hero is not a virgin but he builds up the suspense to show how upset he is. He dramatizes this and wants people to realize how upset he is. It seems to be a much bigger deal to use imagery to describe Hero than it is to just say that Hero is not a virgin. He presents it very assertively; it appears almost as fact.
“She knows the heat of a luxurious bed; Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty” (lines 39-40)
He emphasizes the fact that he will not marry her by repeating that in a more dramatic way. First he says “Not to be married,” then he says the same thing but in a more dramatic way and by insulting Hero, he puts emphasis on the fact that he will not marry her by saying ‘Not to knit my soul to an approved wanton.” Claudio goes on to make an assumption. He assumes that everybody thinks that Hero has lost her virginity to him,
“if I have known her, you will say she did embrace me as a husband, and so extenuate the ‘forehand sin.” (Lines 47 – 49)
and he then goes on to clear this up by saying he has only treated Hero with the same love that a brother would give to his sister – non-physical, non-sexual love. He attempts to show her for what he thinks she really is. He does not lie in this scene; he tells the truth, or what he thinks is the truth. He is not being malicious just because he wants to, he has a reason but he is quite hasty in the way that he gets his revenger. He could have told Leonato, privately, that he did not want to marry Hero but he makes a huge scene because he feel betrayed and wants revenge. He attempts to show Hero for what she really is. He tries to persuade everybody to his opinion and his way of thinking. I think it is quite effective how he does it. He explains that he also thought that Hero was pure and innocent. He idolised Hero; he says she appeared as chaste as ‘Dian in her orb.’Goddess Diana is associated with chastity and sexual purity. He adds effect that is more dramatic by comparing Hero to a goddess and by doing this; he is winning sympathy from everybody. He draws attention to how he felt before by repeating how he felt about her. “As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown.” (Line 57). He lowers her even further and completely degrades her by comparing her to animals. He says that she has no restraint on her physical impulses, like animals. He uses language very dramatically. His opinions change greatly. First, he saw Hero as a goddess and then he compares her to animals. By doing this, he highlights the deception. The majority of his speech is planned, but some of it is response to what he is asked. He uses rhetorical questions and repetition to highlight the deception. He uses ‘Oh/O’ a lot. It is used as an exclamation. It indicates extreme emotion and is used with a very dramatic effect.
“O Hero, what a Hero hadst thou been,” (line 102)
He also uses a few puns, such as this one. He plays on words to emphasize his meaning. “Thou pure impiety and impious purity!” (Line 106). Here, he uses two opposite phrases to add more effect to what he is saying.
Hero does not say much in this scene. She is too shocked and overwhelmed by the accusations made against her. She does not try to prove her innocence because she s still trying to process all the accusations being made against her. Most of what she does say is questions, to discover what is going on. “And seem’d I ever otherwise to you?” (Line 54)
Leonato’s trust in Don Pedro’s status is deceptive for him. Don Pedro does not necessarily have to be correct jus because he is a prince. Leonato also feels deceived by Hero.
This play concentrates on love and marriage and what is needed for marriage to be successful. Trust is highlighted as being one of the more important things. If only Claudio had known Hero properly and if only he had trusted her then he would not have been so easily deceived by Don John. This suggests that trust is vital for marriage to survive. In addition, Benedick is willing to lay his life on the line because he completely trusts Beatrice – showing true love. This is still relevant to a 21st century audience because trust and betrayal are still major issues. Some people are let down very early on in their lives, which causes them to remain detached and unwilling to let themselves go completely, as Beatrice doesn’t let herself go completely because she was let down by Benedick once before.
Marriage is still quite important, in today’s society. However, the fact that Hero is not a virgin would not have mattered very much, in today’s culture. Nevertheless, in the 16th century it was extremely important the bride was a virgin. There was no way to prove whom the child belonged to and if you were a virgin before marriage then it was definite that any children that were conceived were the husband’s and were not any other man’s children.
In this scene Beatrice and Benedick are united, however Hero and Claudio are temporarily separated. There is, again, balance here; one marriage has been provisionally destroyed and one has been created, ensuring that there will be a happy ending to this comedy.