In this extract from Act 4 Scene 1, Claudio’s public humiliation of Hero is the climax of Much Ado About Nothing and through this Shakespeare addresses several of the themes present throughout the play such as female virtue, honour, gender politics and the patriarchal hegemony of Elizabethan soci...
Starting with this conversation, explore how Shakespeare presents attitudes towards women in
Much Ado About Nothing.
Write about:
What Claudio says about Hero in this conversation
How Shakespeare presents attitudes towards women in the play as a whole.
In this extract from Act 4 Scene 1, Claudio’s public humiliation of Hero is the climax of Much Ado
About Nothing and through this Shakespeare addresses several of the themes present throughout
the play such as female virtue, honour, gender politics and the patriarchal hegemony of Elizabethan
society. Above all, Hero’s denouncement dramatically undermines the theatrical nature of love in
the play and takes the play on darker turn that combines the qualities of both tragedy and comedy
in Shakespeare’s ‘mingled drama.’ The play as a whole acts as a microcosm of Elizabethan society,
exploring the societal expectations and attitudes towards women in both Messina and wider
Elizabethan culture.
In this scene Shakespeare presents the fear of female sexuality and cuckoldry through Claudio’s
character and his transformation. His initial portrayal as chivalric lover or Florentine (something
Elizabethan’s would have understood as shorthand for a romantic, poetic speaking, flamboyant
individual) is dismantled as he turns on Hero referring to her as a ‘rotten orange’ and ridiculing ‘how
like a maid she blushes.’ By referring to Hero as a piece of rotten fruit, Claudio implies what was
once sweet and pure has now become spoiled by her supposed loss of virtue. This metaphor also
links his denouncement of Hero to biblical themes as just as Eve was tempted in the Garden of Eden
by a fruit that would turn out to be evil, Claudio feels he has been tricked and is now repulsed by the
‘impure’ Hero. In doing this Shakespeare reveals Claudio’s hidden fears with regard to female
sexuality and his own sense of inadequacy, suggesting that this is the true state of all men including
this flamboyant dandy - one of jealousy, naivety and immaturity.
This scene also addresses the theme of illusion and deception that is present throughout the play,
but in this case with darker tones and the intention of harm over good. As the marriage ceremony
switches from prose to verse (signalling the transition to a more serious plot progression) Claudio
makes reference to his deception with phrases such as ‘cunning sin,’ ‘modest evidence,’ ‘witness,’
and Hero’s ‘exterior.’ The semantic field of crime and trickery implies he sees himself as the victim of
deception and blames female beauty (‘for beauty is a witch’) and Hero’s maiden-like appearance for
this. The reference to Hero’s ‘exterior’ also links to the motif of masks and illusion suggesting her
true form has been revealed; however as the audience knows the accusations are false it can be
argued in that scene that it is in fact Claudio’s own character that has been revealed through his
attitudes towards women.
Though Hero is questioned about her fidelity, the conflict shown is not so much about her own
virtue but how her alleged actions reflect upon the men connected to her and the theme of honour.
From the start of the play a power balance between father and daughter is established as Leonato
instructs Hero ‘If the Prince do solicit you in that kind, you know your answer,’ this command not
only showing Hero’s submission to her father but emphasising her lack of freedom to speak (as
supported by her lack of lines throughout the play.) The success of a marriage and a newly formed
family was essential for the financial stability of parents during the Elizabethan Era and Shakespeare
presents Hero as an archetypal upper class Elizabethan maid here, passive to the wishes of her
father. The marriage in Act 4 Scene 1 also implies a transaction between Leonato and Claudio as he
asks Leonato to ‘give me this maid your daughter.’ A woman’s father was thought to be the
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