Claudio

Play

Much Ado About Nothing

Summary

Claudio is a young Florentine soldier in Don Pedro's company who falls in love with Hero at first sight. Earnest but callow, he is quick to credit Don John's slander and publicly denounces Hero at the altar in a scene of devastating cruelty — choosing the performance of wounded honor over any instinct toward trust or investigation. His repentance after Hero's apparent death is sincere if formulaic, and his willingness to marry a masked "niece" sight unseen restores some dignity. Claudio's moral failures are the engine of the play's near-tragedy and the test of Beatrice and Benedick's love.

Notable Quotations

"There, Leonato, take her back again; / Give not this rotten orange to your friend." *(IV.i)*

"O Hero! What a Hero hadst thou been / If half thy outward graces had been placed / About thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart!" *(IV.i)*

Cross-references

• Much Ado About Nothing — the play
• Comedies — genre
• character_hero — the woman he loves, publicly shames, and ultimately marries
• character_don_pedro — his patron and senior officer
• character_benedick — his fellow soldier, who challenges him over Hero's honor
• character_leonato — Hero's father, whose trust he violates