Early in the story, Claudio and Benedick seem like polar opposites when it comes to love and women. Claudio is the eager one, falling madly in love with Hero, while Benedick curses love and the idea of giving his heart to only one woman. Claudio has the characteristics of a great protagonist. He is the kind lord of Florence who has won great acclaim for fighting under Don Pedro. His vulnerable nature toward love makes him very likeable.
Although Benedick doesn't share Claudio's passion for love and commitment, he is also a very likeable character. He is constantly performing for the benefit of others. This makes it difficult to realize whether or not he has been in love with Beatrice from the beginning of the play. Nevertheless, it is Benedicks wittiness that makes him a great character.
At the end of the day, Benedick is the true hero. Claudio proves to be disrespectful and unforgiving once he learns of Hero's affairs. Claudio should not believe a known villain like Don John. If he loved hero as much as he led on, then he would have questioned the accusations, instead of writing his love off so easily.
On the other hand, Benedick remains loyal to Beatrice, once he is convinced of her love for him. He even leaves his services to Don Pedro and challenges Claudio to a dual after Hero's disgrace, showing his loyalty to Beatrice and her family. Benedick clearly proves to be the stand up guy in the end.
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3 comments:
Or could the real hero be Dogberry? He and the watch save the day, after all.
But I know what you mean. Bear in mind, though, that Claudio "saw" Hero being disloyal, and being a rash boy...
Still, i'm with you; not a very inspiring "hero."
Its strange that the ones that go around acting like they are so in love and that nothing can shake it are the ones that are shaken the fastest and vice versa. Your analogy of Claudio and Benedick was very good.
Here the point is Shakespeare has not allowed Benedick to witness Don John’s virtual reality show at Beatrice room. However I agree that Benedick character seems more heroic than fickle Claudio. Giving ear to bad guy has made Claudio a weak actor whereas Benedick right judgement at time of crises has made him likeable hero over Claudio
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