Much Ado About Nothing Essay Example

Much Ado About Nothing In the play, Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare introduces the character Claudio. Count Claudio is characterized as a gullible, naive and immature. Throughout the play, Claudio is placed in situations which reveal his level of maturity. By the end of the play, he is still a carefree, foolish boy who has not come to terms with his own faults-such as almost ruining Hero’s reputation. From the beginning to the end of the play, Claudio exhibits childish behavior, which does not change. Through his depiction of Claudio’s interaction with Hero, Leonato and Benedick, Shakespeare criticizes that in reality, even for people as naive as Claudio, people get what they want because of their status. In the beginning of the play, Don John and Barachio tell Claudio that Hero is being wooed by Don Pedro, and his immediate reaction is to believe that it is true. As Don Pedro agrees to woo Hero for Claudio, it seems to Claudio that Don Pedro is pleading for himself. “The Prince woos for himself,” he says (2.1, 172). For Claudio, “friendship is constant in all other things save in office and affairs of love” (2.1, 173-174). The nature of “all is fair in love and war” should warn the reader that Claudio thinks with an old nature about male competition for women. The misunderstanding is soon forgotten when Don Pedro assures Claudio that he was truly wooing Hero for Claudio and not for himself. Claudio takes Hero back and says, “lady you are mine, I am yours” (2.1, 301-303). Claudio easily forgives and forgets and makes himself look foolish by taking her back so quickly. His immaturity is revealed by the speed of forgiveness. Shakespeare mocks reality in a sense that even though he acts like a child, a woman like Hero will still “love” him. However, Claudio does not learn from his rash judgement of Don Pedro. When Don John later accuses Hero for sleeping with another man, Claudio is again quick to think that worst of Hero. Claudio tells