Introduction

Much Ado About Nothing is a romantic comedy written by

William Shakespeare. The main theme of this play is love. This

play explores about love which indirectly discusses serious issues

like gender and inequality. One of the romantic relationships in this

play is between Claudio and Hero. Their relationship starts

smooth, approved by everyone; however, there is still an

unexpected incident shakes their relationship and inserts some

serious scenes in the play. Although the play ends with marriage,

which many people consider as a happy ending, certain issues in

the play bring the audience to see beyond of that. One of the most

vital issues is whether Claudio’ repentance for his slander of Hero

is adequate or not. In this essay, I will pen down my arguments

which justify that Claudio’s repentance for his slander of Hero is

inadequate. My arguments will focus on two dimensions;

homosocial relationships and women as an object.

Homosocial Relationship

According to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary, homosocial

can be defined as social relationships between persons of the same

sex and especially between men. In this play,

homosocial relationship between men is really strong. Homosocial

relationship mainly can be observed between Don Pedro, Benedict,

Claudio, and Leonato. As an overall picture, homosocial

relationship influences the plot of the play. In the beginning of the

play itself we can encounter this when Claudio asks opinion about

Hero from Benedict. That gives the audience and readers an

introduction about the role of homosocial relationship. Homosocial

relationships influence most of Claudio’s decisions in his love

relationship especially when he decides to love and reject Hero. In

the scene of Hero’s rejection and following scenes after that

particular scene, we are able to see the impact of homosocial

relationship precisely. In the film, we can note Don John, Don

Pedro, and Claudio witnessing the making love scene between

Boratio and Margaret. Don John takes charge of Claudio. He

instructs Claudio what he should do the next day. Claudio takes his
words and acts as instructed by Don John. This decision illustrates

a strong homosocial bond between these men. It explains that man

believes his friends’ words than nothing else. The elements of love;

trust, honesty, and sincerity are questioned in this particular scene.

Where the trust that Claudio should have on Hero disappeared. In

this context Claudio’s repentance is inadequate. According to Jem

Bloomfield (2007),

‘it only takes one rumour by Don John’

This quote reminds us about the effect of homosocial relationship,

where it only takes one rumor for Don John to shake Claudio’s

love.

He as a lover should trust Hero rather than believing his men’s

words blatantly without further investigation. Claudio already

convicts Hero in his mind, making her helpless to defend herself.

Obviously, hero is embarrassed and she is dumped into an

extremely pitiful situation and audiences are set to be sympathy

towards her. Those words split by Claudio towards Hero are like

sword stabbing her heart. If Claudio were to investigate first before

taking Don John’s words into account, this tragic scene could be
avoided. Here we can see precisely how the homosocial

relationship leaves an impact in the play. Besides that, we can see

how Leonata who should defend his daughter Hero believes

whatever Don Pedro says and accuses Hero for tarnishing his

image. Even though he is the father, he trusts Don Pedro’s words

which actually emphasize their homosocial relationship. According

to an essay from Presentation of Women in Much Ado About

Nothing by William Shakespeare (http://www.123HelpMe.com);

‘But unfortunately for hero her father

believed Claudio and Don Pedro false accusation about his

daughter.

out of the bitterness in him, he wished that Hero should die. ‘

Homosocial relationship does not allow women to speak up for

them. Decisions taken based on the male characters’ priority. In

this context, we should focus on Claudio. Inevitably, he is blinded

by relationships with other male characters from seeing the truth.

In another word, he is easily deceived. From this perspective,

incontrovertibly, his repentance of hero’s slander is inadequate. He

has the choice to choose to not believe what he sees till he

investigates this matter thoroughly. Unfortunately, he chooses to

believe Don John’s words. In a blink of an eye, his attitude towards

Hero changes and he blames Hero for dishonoring him. Again,

after knowing the truth, he is able to change his opinions about

Hero. His emotions are unstable. He follows whatever Don Pedro

says. This actually justifies the argument that Claudio’s repentance

is inadequate.

When reading the play, we are reading the words. The words tend

to explain everything. However, this is different in the film. A

system of signs or symbols is required in order to guide the

audience to read the symbols and understand the theme of the film.

The use of symbols in film is known as semiotic theory. The

homosocial relationships are portrayed through the position of man

in this film. In the beginning itself, we can see the male characters

are entering the scene in the film according to their status in the

homosocial relationship. The first male character to appear is Don

Pedro followed by the others. This explains that Don Pedro

dominates the homosocial relationship.

Women as an object

Much ado about nothing is written in a century where women are

still struggling to preserve their rights. Although there is a strong

female character in this play, Beatrice, women still performed as

subordinate characters. According to Jem Bloomfield (2007),

‘Much Ado About Nothing is usually produced as a cheery romp,

but it could equally be performed as a protest against gender
hypocrisy and inequality.’

This quote above reconstructs the basic idea of this play. It brings a

sense of realization that this play may hold a high percentage to

appear as a satiric play which highlights the element of how

women are treated and their status in the society at that time.

Basically, women are treated as an object. Their opinions, feelings,

and desires are not considered. They even do not owe a chance to

say a second opinion. These conditions can be observed in this

play. The treatment of female characters is closely related to a

question whether Claudio’s repentance of Hero’s slander is

adequate. Relationship between Claudio and Hero illustrates the

denial of women rights. Hero’s rights are not granted and

recognized by the opposite sex especially Claudio and Leonata.

She is used as an object in a name of love and marriage. Her

marriage is a social contract where the relationship between Don

Pedro and Leonato is being strengthened through her marriage.

Don Pedro woos her and ‘passes’ her to Claudio. What is ‘Hero’ if

people are passing her around? Is she not a human with ordinary

feelings? According to an essay from Presentation of Women in

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare

(http://www.123HelpMe.com);

‘Shakespeare presents the women as the weakness link in the play

they
had less control (over themselves).’

This justifies the argument that women are treated as object in this

play. The fact that Hero is not in charge of her life is

incontrovertible. Before marriage, she is attached to her father and

after marriage; she is attached to her husband. Women’s identity

diminishes as they are always identified through the male company

to whom they are attached to. Besides that, on the marriage day,

Claudio’s strange speech illustrates how Hero is treated. He asks

what he can give in exchange to Hero. This clearly explains that

Hero is just an exchanging object. The confrontation between

Pedro, Leonato, and Claudio is also a significant scene. Hero is

humiliated by Claudio’s slander. Obviously she owes the rights to

decide what she should do since her image is tarnished after

Claudio stamps her as a ‘rotten orange’ and ‘savage sexuality’.

However, neither Hero nor Beatrice present when the confrontation

is done. Men are deciding for women. Even Hero’s uncle decides

Hero’s following action in this condition. Women’s voices remain

unheard in this play most of the time especially Hero’s thoughts.

After going through such an embarrassing moment, is it justifiable

for Hero to accept Claudio’s apology? Is Claudio’s repentance,

which includes mourning and performing a public apology for

Hero’s fake death adequate? Based on basic human rights,

Claudio’s actions are not acceptable. Some readers may not be able

to digest Claudio’s action towards Hero which actually diminishes

his own heroic appearance. According to Jem Bloomfield (2007),

‘It takes the girl’s faked death to make those concerned feel
remorse. Not very cheery stuff, is it?’

This quote justifies that Claudio’s repentance is inadequate. When

we compare and contrast both the film and play, there is one major

difference. In the play, Claudio hears about hero’s betrayal whereas

in the movie he witnesses a making love scene between Boratio

and Hero (who is actually Margaret) near window. Cultural

transmission is the reason behind this significant difference. The

images in the film give clues to the audience about the settings of

the film. The movie is set in 16 th century. This can be explained by

using semiotic theory. Semiotic theory defines that a system of

symbols can be used to understand certain themes and messages in

a film. In the beginning of the film, the appearance of men and

women especially their costumes and the intimacy between them

generate clues suggesting that most probably the film sets in the

16th century. It is vital to inform the audiences about the timeline of

the film as it assembles ideas about the society at that time

especially the position of women in the context of this play.

Without proper images which actually generate understanding

about the settings, perhaps the audiences fail to make sense of what

they are watching. They will not be able to be engaged with the

characters in the film like sympathizing for the characters.

Furthermore, without applying semiotic theory in film making, the

audiences will not be able to evaluate the characters’ action and

especially Hero’s rejection is this film.

Conclusion

As an overall picture, we can see why Claudio’s repentance is

inadequate. His relationship with his male friends prevents him to

see the truth and his attitude to not treat Hero as a human being

makes his repentance inadequate.

References

1. Jem Bloomfield.(Aug 31, 2007). Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing Retrieved on 23
September 2009 from

http://shakespeare-
comedies.suite101.com/article.cfm/claudio_in_much_ado_about_nothin g

2. Jem Bloomfield.(Jun 29, 2007).Feminist Shadows to Shakespeare's Comedy Romp.

Retrieved on 23 September 2009 from

http://shakespeare-
comedies.suite101.com/article.cfm/much_ado_as_gender_criticism

3. Presentation of Women in Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. Retrieved

on23 September from

123HelpMe.com. <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=115626>.