Hero: The Woman Everyone Speaks For
First appears: Act 1, Scene 1
Hero is the most wronged character in the play and the one given least to say in her own defence. When Claudio publicly accuses her of infidelity at the altar in Act 4, she faints. Her father believes the accusation. The only people who stand by her are the Friar and Beatrice.
Her apparent death (faked to give Claudio time to understand what he has done) is one of Shakespeare's favourite devices, but here it has an uncomfortable edge. Claudio does not spend the intervening time tormented by guilt. He accepts the punishment assigned to him and gets Hero back, unmarked.
The silence Shakespeare gives her is not weakness. It is the condition of a young woman in a world where her reputation is her only asset and it has just been publicly destroyed.
Key Scenes
Famous Quotes
“And seemed I ever otherwise to you?”
Hero — Act 4, Scene 1
“One Hero died defiled, but I do live, and surely as I live, I am a maid.”
Hero — Act 5, Scene 4
Themes
Other Characters in Much Ado About Nothing
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