O Hero! What a Hero hadst thou been
If half thy outward graces had been placed
About thy thoughts and counsels of thy heart!
See Important Quotations Explained
Summary: Act IV, scene i
Everyone gathers inside the church to celebrate
the wedding of Claudio and Hero. But when Friar Francis asks Claudio
whether he wishes to marry Hero, Claudio breaks into an outraged
speech. He tells Leonato that he sends Hero back to Leonato again,
for though she seems outwardly pure and blushes with innocence,
her outward features belie her inward corruption and that she is,
in fact, an unchaste, unfaithful whore. The happy wedding transforms
itself into a chaotic uproar. Leonato and the shaken Hero ask what
Claudio means. Claudio tells Leonato, in front of everyone in the
church, that the night before Claudio, Don Pedro, and Don John watched
Hero “tal[k]” with a vile man at her window (IV.i.82).
This man has also “[c]onfessed” to having had sexual encounters
with Hero many times before (IV.i.92). Don
Pedro supports Claudio’s accusations, and they, together with Don
John, accuse Hero of sexual looseness. Leonato cries out in despair,
asking for a dagger with which to commit suicide. The overwhelmed
Hero sinks to the ground, unconscious. Benedick and Beatrice rush
to offer her their assistance, while Claudio, Don Pedro, and Don
John leave the church without looking back. Leonato, weeping, tells
Benedick and Beatrice to let Hero die, since that would be better
than for her to live in shame. Beatrice, however, remains absolutely
convinced that her cousin has been slandered.
Suddenly and unexpectedly, the friar steps in.
A quiet observer to the whole proceeding, he has wisely determined
from the expressions of shock he has seen on Hero’s face that she
is not guilty of unfaithfulness. Hero regains consciousness and
insists that she is a virgin, that she has been entirely faithful
to Claudio, and that she has no idea what her accusers are talking
about. The intelligent Benedick realizes that if the accusation
is a lie, it must originate with the troublemaking Don John, who
would happily trick these two to spoil their happiness.
The friar comes up with an unexpected plan: he suggests
that Hero’s existence be concealed, and that Leonato tell everyone
she has died of shock and grief. When her accusers hear that an
innocent woman has died, their anger will turn into regret, and
they will start to remember what a virtuous lady Hero was. If the
accusation really is a trick, then perhaps the treachery will expose
itself, and Hero can return to the world. In the worst-case scenario,
Hero can later be taken off quietly and placed in a convent to become
a nun. The grieving, confused Leonato agrees to go along with the
plan.
The others depart with Hero, leaving Benedick
and Beatrice alone together. Benedick, trying to comfort Beatrice,
asks if there is any way he can show his friendship to her. He suddenly
confesses that he is in love with her, acknowledging how strange
it is for his affections to reverse so suddenly, and she, equally
startled and confused, replies in similar terms. But when Benedick
says that he will do anything for Beatrice, she asks him to kill
his friend Claudio. The shocked Benedick refuses. Angry, Beatrice
denounces Claudio’s savagery, saying that if she were a man she
would kill him herself for his slander of her cousin and the cruelty
of his trick. After listening to her, Benedick changes his mind
and soberly agrees to challenge Claudio—for the wrong that he has
done to Hero and for Beatrice’s sake.
Read a translation of
Act IV, scene i →
Summary: Act IV, scene ii
Elsewhere, Dogberry, Verges, and the Watch interrogate
Borachio and Conrad. Borachio confesses that he received money from
Don John for pretending to make love to Hero and then lying about
it to Claudio and Don Pedro. When they hear about what has happened at
the wedding, the watchmen tie up the captives and take them to Leonato’s
house.
Dost thou not suspect my place?
Dost thou not suspect my years?
O that he were here to write me down an ass!
But masters, remember that I am an ass.
See Important Quotations Explained
Read a translation of
Act IV, scene ii →
Analysis
With the wedding scene—the climax of the play—the tone
takes an abrupt turn, plunging from high comedy into tragedy. Claudio’s rejection
of Hero is designed to inflict as much pain as possible, and Hero’s
and Leonato’s reactions to it seem to make things even worse. Few
accusations could cause a woman more harm in the Renaissance than
that of being unchaste, and Claudio uses deliberately theatrical
language to hurt Hero publicly, in front of friends and family.
The rejection scene also throws other relationships in the play
into question: Claudio and Don Pedro both suggest that it reflects
badly on Leonato’s social manners to have tried to foist off a woman
like Hero on Claudio, and Don Pedro implies that his own reputation
has suffered by way of the apparent discovery that he and Claudio
have made regarding Hero’s virginity. Claudio assaults Leonato by denigrating
Hero: “Give not this rotten orange to your friend. / She’s but the
sign and semblance of her honour” (IV.i.30–31).