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Essay / Claudio as an unsympathetic character in Much Ado About Nothing
Shakespeare's light-hearted “Much Ado About Nothing” explores both the triumph and tragedy that present themselves in Hero and Claudio's love, using the latter as an easily deceived character. whose errors almost result in a tragic ending to the play. Claudio's character is presented initially in a virtuous light, although his many faults and misdeeds surface throughout the play, leaving the audience with little sympathy for Claudio by the end of the play.Say No to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay One of the main ways in which Shakespeare explores Claudio's weaknesses and accounts for the lack of sympathy towards him is through Claudio's use of words or phrases that insult or shame. another character. The most striking of these examples is "But you are more intemperate in your blood / Than Venus or these pampered animals / Who run wild in wild sensuality", which is said to the Hero in act 4, scene 1. Both hyperbolic references to "Venus", and the harsh alliteration of "wild sensuality" describe her true anger and the inanity of the insults. Because the audience is aware of the truth, Shakespeare deliberately uses dramatic irony to exaggerate Claudio's insults, thus rendering sympathy for the unconscious hero, but not Claudio's impertinence and his denunciations. In the same scene, Claudio goes on to oxymoronically describe Hero's "sheer impiety and unholy purity", who uses the antithesis of two contrasting words – "pure" and "ungodly" – to perfectly sum up his anger at his apparent actions, but the drama The irony of the scene shows Claudio as being "godless" himself, due to his impetuous accusations. His irrationality can also be seen in "But goodbye, the most filthy, it must be right!" "Farewell", which uses an oxymoron in its description of Hero as both "fair" and "filthy", and in conjunction with the paronomasia used in the reiteration of "fair" and "fare", it highlights the madness and Claudio's ignorance. with his muddled and confused sentence. We also see Claudio’s acrimony in his outburst to Leonato: “Away!” I will have nothing to do with you", which uses an imperative and a caesura to describe and emphasize Claudio's condescension towards Leonato, made even more disrespectful from the audience's point of view, coming from the man who killed Leonato's daughter. Leonato with his accusations Claudio's image among the public is further tarnished when he deliberately jokes in a hostile manner about Benedick's love for Beatrice, saying: "Here dwells Benedick the married man", mocking her. Benedick about marriage, which undoubtedly depicts a lack of sensitivity on Claudio's part with the irony of his failed marriage threatening this joke. Just as crude and undesirable an attribute as Claudio can be considered to be. his propensity for narcissistic and hypocritical behavior This is manifested in Act 3, scene 2, when Don John deceives Claudio about Hero's infidelity. When Don John has just told Claudio about it, the latter is quick to. changing allegiance, stating, "If I see anything tonight, why shouldn't I marry it tomorrow in the congregation", which shows his natural disposition to be changeable and his love. because Hero clearly can't be too strong if he's immediately suspicious of her. He then says, "Where I should marry, there I should shame him", which depicts his selfishness, using the word "I" twice rather than "we", expressing his self-centered character, but it also shows his will. Forembarrassing and shaming people when necessary, which undeniably presents him to the public as dishonest and false. Claudio's tendency towards selfish behavior can also be seen when he tells Leonato, "Yet I have not sinned, / but by mistake" to Leonato, which depicts his lack of remorse or responsibility for his actions, and his "mistake" is emphasized by appearing on a new line in the spoken verse. His inability to apologize truly conveys his selfish and somewhat immature nature, as he simply shifts blame without accepting any responsibility himself. We also find his common nature when he proclaims during his first marriage to Hero: "For you, I will close the doors of love", which depicts his broken-hearted state during the marriage: an innocent theme, however, he hastens to break his word by saying "I accept your offer", in response to Leonato's proposal to marry Hero's cousin, thus refuting any true love, because he would not insult Hero's image if he really loved her. He instead tries to make peace with Leonato for himself, rather than making peace with himself for what he did. For him, it is a duty to Leonato, rather than to Hero, as evidenced by his words to Leonato: "I owe you this." Shakespeare's choice of the word "ought" conveys a deliberate meaning of superficial material matter rather than emotion and love, which conveys Claudio's dishonest nature to the audience. Additionally, the same issue of lack of responsibility or remorse is visible in his epitaph, describing Hero's death as "made to death by slanderous tongues", which perfectly embodies Claudio's selfishness, using generalities to describe Hero's death and accepting no personal responsibility, even though he was the main culprit. Among Claudio's faults and hypocrisy there are, especially early in the play, instances where he is shown as innocent and naive, and his wrongdoings are nothing more than youthful mishaps and mistakes and irreproachable. This innocence can be seen when he says, "In my eyes she is the sweetest lady I have ever seen," which, through its prose and simple language, evokes a sensitive image of Claudio to be painted in the public, in contrast to the grandiloquence and hyperbolic words of Benedick which preceded: "Are you... telling us that Cupid is a good hare finder and that Vulcan is a rare carpenter?" This same effect is present in the words of Benedick: “Alas, poor wounded fowl! which portray Claudio in a sensitive light, achieved both by the monosyllables of the phrase and by the metaphor of an animal used to describe Claudio, which paints a weak and vulnerable image of him. Additionally, Claudio's naivety is seen in how easily his mind or opinion changes. This can be seen in: “It is certain; the prince woos for himself,” which illustrates a certain element of disappointment and utter defeat in his choice of words – “for himself.” “Certain” depicts a certain naivety and immaturity, as Claudio only has Don John's words to persuade him that Don Pedro has wooed Hero for himself. Claudio then says, "Friendship is constant in all other things / except in office and love affairs", which conveys a broken and betrayed feeling of Claudio, using enjambment and "save" at the beginning of the line, to really emphasize the act of being betrayed, and with the dramatic irony of the scene, a real element of pathos is painted for the naive Claudio. The sense of irony is prevalent in the play, and it is particularly used in the character of Claudio, to depict his lack of knowledge of the truth. This is seen in Claudio's "farewell" to Hero, which is..