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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 16th 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_nothing
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>.