Don Pedro: The Prince Who Runs Everything

Don Pedro is the most powerful person in the play (Prince of Aragon, military commander, social engine) and he uses that power with a lightness that makes him easy to underestimate. He woos Hero on Claudio's behalf. He engineers the trick on Beatrice and Benedick. He runs the whole plot with cheerful confidence, and it never occurs to him to question whether any of it is a good idea.

When Don John's slander of Hero succeeds, Don Pedro is complicit in the humiliation at the altar. He does not stand back. He speaks. His authority lends the accusation weight it would not otherwise have.

At the end, after everything has been resolved, he is left without a partner. Benedick's parting joke at his expense ('Prince, thou art sad; get thee a wife') is the play's last word, and it lands.