In Much Ado About Nothing, Hero is an innocent young woman. Claudio describes her as “a modest young lady,” and Beatrice notes her obedience: “it is my cousin's duty to make curtsy and say 'Father, as it please you.'” She has some spark, though, particularly when she tricks Beatrice into falling for Benedick.
Still, the emphasis is placed on Hero’s purity. If she were not so virtuous, it would destroy her standing in society and cast shame upon her father Leonato. As a woman, she is, in a sense, an extension of the men around her. When Don John slanders her and Claudio humiliates her at their wedding, honor becomes a matter of life and death.
Don John tells Claudio that “it would better fit your honor” to break off the marriage. Both Claudio and Don Pedro, who “wooed for [Claudio] to obtain her,” feel disgraced because of Hero’s alleged behavior. At the wedding, the accusations so enrage Leonato that he threatens the lives of Hero and her accusers:
If they speak but truth of her,
These hands shall tear her; if they wrong her honor,
The proudest of them shall well hear of it.
To protect Hero’s honor, Benedick challenges Claudio to a duel. Throughout the wedding scene, Hero’s honesty seems obvious, but Claudio believes her blushes are for show: “She's but the sign and semblance of her honor. / Behold how like a maid she blushes here!”
In the end, most of the characters get to keep their honor, and Hero’s reputation is restored. Claudio is punished with a kind of test, but only Don John and his associates are truly stripped of honor.
No comments:
Post a Comment