Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing
A Character Study of the Impulsive Lover in Shakespeare's Comedy
Claudio, the idealist lover in Much Ado About Nothing, presents a dilemma for modern readers: is he an impulsive and likeable young man, or an immature misogynist?
Claudio is the second male lead in Much Ado About Nothing, and his intended marriage to Hero provides most of the play’s plot. In contrast to the cynical, wisecracking Benedick, Claudio is an innocent, idealistic lover. But his idealism can raise questions for a modern audience.
When Claudio appears, he is already in love with Hero. He admits in the first scene, much to Benedick’s scorn, that “she is the sweetest lady that e’er I looked on.”. Benedick later emphasizes the change between Claudio’s previous attitude and his new one: “He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose...now...his words are a very fantastical banquet” (II.2) and says that his old comrade used to relish the drum and the fife, the martial instruments of marching bands, but now prefers the melodies of the civilian tabor and pipe.
However, these arguments seem to have more to do with Benedick’s attitude to women than Claudio’s, and we only see Claudio in his role as amorous young man. He isn’t a very trusting lover – it only takes one rumour by Don John in the masquing scene (II.1) to convince him that Don Pedro has betrayed him and is himself engaged to Hero. After this misunderstanding is straightened out, the far more serious rift occurs when Borachio and Conrade “frame” Hero, making it look as if she is having an affair.
Claudio rejects Hero in front of her family, and the entire community, denouncing her at the altar, and calling her “cunning sin” and accusing her of “savage sensuality”. This fury is the inverse side of his passionate devotion to Hero: believing that she is not the pure creature he adored, he turns on her for failing to live up to his image. Leaving his denunciation til the wedding makes for a dramatic scene, but it has a touch of cruelty which diminishes an audience’s ability to sympathise with him.
Claudio has suffered from society’s changing attitudes to gender and sexuality: his condemnation of Hero now looks misogynist, patriarchal and petulant, whereas Renaissance audiences would have found it more acceptable. How the character is interpreted in production must be informed by the director’s overall vision of the play: is it a harmless romp, a saucy rom-com, or does it question assumptions about gender relations?
Claudio could be played as a passionate hot-head who, returning from the wars, needs to learn that life is more complex than he thought, and not everything is about his honour. Robert Sean Leonard, in Kenneth Branagh’s film version of Much Ado, plays him rather as an immature adolescent who alternately luxuriates in his own infatuation and guilt. How Claudio is seen depends largely on how he ends the play: has he learnt to trust his future wife or simply accepted the evidence that she does, after all, come up to his standards?
