Much Ado About Nothing Love Quotes

“The course of true love never did run smooth” spoke Shakespeare. Throughout Claudio and Hero’s relationship this quote was outlined in their story. Claudio and Hero went off to a good start, but then their relationship was interrupted by Don John, who wanted to destroy their love. He set Claudio up to make it seem like Hero was cheating on him. This made Claudio furious, so at their wedding, Claudio was horrible to Hero. He abandoned Hero at their wedding. Of course Hero had no idea why she was being so awful, as she didn’t have anything to do with it. A couple of days passed, and Claudio found out she was innocent, he was devastated, and because Claudio thought Hero was dead he was willing to marry “Leonatos niece”. Claudio went through with

To begin, the infatuation seen between Hero and Claudio is shallow. Claudio had been similar to Benedick before seeing Hero. He was unappreciative of love and wrote off marriage; however, when Benedick asks if Claudio would marry, Claudio answers, “I would scarce trust myself, though I had sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife” (I. i. 175-176). Without a second thought, upon viewing Hero’s beauty, Claudio is ensared. He develops new feelings for this woman based on nothing more than lust based upon appearances. Later, Claudio admits to admiring Hero before: “But now I am return'd and that war-thoughts Have left their places vacant,

The opinions of Antonio and Leonato differ by many standards of their own. This is happening during the wedding of Hero and Claudio and it happens after the shaming. An example of this is when Leonato said “Hence from her, Let her die”(Shakespeare 70). When Leonato says this he is at a wedding for his daughter hero, but has become enraged when he hears false

But fare thee well, most foul, most fair, farewell; Thou pure impiety and impious purity, for thee I’ll lock up all the gates of love” (67-68.) This quote is another example of how cruel Claudio was to Hero at their wedding day, which was supposed to be a happy event. Claudio shows how malicious he can be by leaving her at the altar, in front of all her friends and family, publically shaming her in the process. It also shows how he tends to think the worst of those around him and his need to get even. This need to humiliate her shows he is really only considered with himself and his happiness.

This relationship started out as full affection towards one another, then Claudio turned to hating Hero and in the end they went back to loving one another. When just returned from war Claudio first set eyes upon the beautiful Hero he instantly fell in love. He described her as a jewel. (“Can the world buy such a jewel”?) He went on to say that she is the sweetest person he had seen and wanted her as a wife.

Claudio claimed to have feelings for Hero when he first met her, but it was not until after the war that he acted upon those feelings. Claudio asked Benedick how he felt about Hero (I.i.155-162). Claudio wanted to know Benedick’s opinion of Hero before Claudio admitted to his liking of her. Claudio cares about other’s opinions and is easily swayed. When Don Pedro and Benedick agree that Hero is a modest lady, it gives Claudio permission to fall completely in love with her. Claudio is a passionate person, so when he has feelings about something, he feels deeply. His love for Hero is strong, but others can easily manipulate his love.

His rash and harsh behavior stems from an intense love for Hero. In scene 2.1, Claudio does not think to question Don Jon when he tells him that his best friend, Don Pedro, will marry Hero. Why then would Claudio miserably rush out of the ball the minute he hears this calumniation? This behavior does not exemplify the man described in Chamberlain and Low’s essays. This is a man whose intense affection for Hero caused him to make an impetuous decision.

Claudio is fooled into believing his love with Hero is a sham because he is told by the Prince Don Pedro’s brother, Don John, that Hero is “disloyal” (3.2.97). Don John lies, convincing Claudio that Hero is a common whore by telling him that she was “Leonato’s Hero, your Hero, every man’s Hero.” (3.2.99-100). This leads to a great big accusation being placed upon Hero causing Claudio to leave her at the alter sad, flustered and

The night before the wedding, Don John uses his myrmidon to trick Claudio and the Prince into believing that Hero is unfaithful by displaying Borachio's interactions with Margaret in Hero’s bedroom. As the wedding reception begins, Claudio refuses to marry Hero, and says “Give not this rotten orange to your friend...she knows the heat of a luxurious bed. Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty” (Shakespeare 29). Due to his misinterpretation, he accuses Hero of being disloyal, slanders her reputation, and cancels their wedding. Don John’s trickery and deception causes Claudio to refuse to consider a relationship of monogamy with any women, especially Hero, ever again. As time passes, Claudio learns that Hero died of a broken heart due to his false accusations, and regrets his decisions leading up to their wedding. Stricken by grief, Claudio clears Hero's reputation and honors her death by repeating a poem over her casket, saying “ Done to death by slanderous tongues/Was the Hero that here lies./Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,/Gives her fame which never dies./So the life that died with shame/ Lives in death with glorious fame” (Shakespeare

On their wedding day, Claudio accuses Hero of having an affair. He says, “Give not this rotten orange to your friend; she’s but the sign and semblance of her honor. Behold how like a maid she blushes here! Oh, what authority and show of truth can cunning sin cover itself withall… Would you not swear, all you that see her, that she were a maid, by these exterior shows?

Both authors point to the writings of Juan Luis Vives to make their case (Chamberlain 4; Fleck 19). In his warning to Christian women about the fragile nature of their honor, Vives created a relic of the misogynist culture represented in Much Ado About Nothing (Fleck 21). The societal belief at the time Shakespeare is writing his play is that women are not to be trusted when it comes to sexual desires. With this ideology consuming the majority it is easy to see how Hero’s own father quickly loses faith in his daughter. Fleck claims the metonymy in Claudio’s statement paired with the misogynistic view of society allows Leonato and most others in attendance at the wedding to convince themselves that Hero’s shame is valid

Hero’s appearance and beauty are obviously her greatest asset, as they are what attract Claudio. He falls in love with her at first sight, based solely on her exterior. Only after looking her over does he make inquiries about her character. Determined to have her as his bride, he sets about getting Don Pedro to ask her father to marry him.(line 301, page 256) Hero accepts what her father wants, which declares much about Hero’s character as a submissive

This is due to the soldier side in Claudio, both needing the aid of his superiors and not knowing how to act in romantic situations and affairs. Don John takes advantage of this and after Don Pedro has proposed to Hero, on Claudio's behalf, and tells Claudio that “the prince (Don John) woos for himself”. Rather than acting responsibly, as a courtier would, Claudio becomes jealous and rants how “friendship is constant in all other things, save in the office and affairs of love. Farewell therefor Hero”. It is now when we see that a small lie is enough to make Claudio forsake his friendship with Don Pedro and his love for Hero, that we see that Claudio may not be the brave and honourable man we were first led to believe he

Claudio later reveals his instinctive and deep­set anti feminist views, as he easily believes the worse of Hero when confronted with circumstantial evidence. He prides his reputation above his love for hero, showing abject disgust at Hero’s perceived actions: “To return all beauty into thoughts of harm and never shall it be more gracious.” The utter lack of faith in and respect for his “beloved” as a human being suggests that Claudio, as a representation of patriarchy, only ever saw her as an beautiful object, not a partner worth of respect. This could be forgiven, if not for his

During this first scene, it quickly becomes clear that he knows he feels something for Hero, but he is unsure of exactly what his feelings mean.  While talking to both Benedick and Don Pedro, Claudio describes his feelings as passion first (I.i.219-220), and then he says, “That I love her, I feel” (I.i.228).  Claudio’s lame profession of love for Hero mirrors the shallowness of his previous comments.