Summary: Act V, scene i
Leonato, Hero’s father, falls into a state of deep grief
and shock. Torn by his worries about whether Hero is indeed chaste
as she claims and his questions about what actually occurred, he
cannot function. His brother Antonio tries to cheer him, telling
him to have patience. But Leonato answers that although people can
easily give advice when they are themselves not unhappy, people
in great pain cannot follow the advice so easily. Don Pedro and
Claudio enter, see Leonato and Antonio, and quickly try to leave.
But Leonato follows them and accuses Claudio of having lied about
Hero and having caused her death. Leonato announces that, despite
his great age, he challenges Claudio to a duel for the crime Claudio
has committed against Hero by ruining her good name; Leonato states
that he is not too old to kill or die for honor and for the love
of his child. The embarrassed Claudio and Don Pedro pretend to ignore
their challengers. Finally, Leonato and Antonio leave, vowing that
they will have their revenge.
After Leonato and Antonio depart, Benedick enters. Claudio
and Don Pedro welcome him, asking Benedick to employ his famous
wit to cheer them up. But Benedick is in no mood to be funny. He
tells Claudio that he believes Claudio has slandered Hero, and he
quietly challenges him to a duel. When the other two keep on trying
to joke with him, Benedick finally discloses that he can no longer
be their companion since their slanderous accusations have murdered
an innocent woman. Benedick informs Don Pedro that Don John has fled
the city and leaves. At first, Claudio and Don Pedro take in this change
in Benedick’s behavior and the information of Don John’s flight
with shock and confusion. Slowly they begin to realize Benedick’s
serious intent—and they rightly guess that his love for Beatrice
must be the only thing that could have motivated him to challenge
his dearest friend to a fight to the death.
Dogberry and Verges suddenly enter, accompanied by the
other men of the Watch, dragging behind them the captured villains
Conrad and Borachio. Dogberry tells Claudio and Don Pedro that Borachio
has confessed to treachery and lying, and Borachio admits his crime
again. Shocked and horrified, Claudio and Don Pedro realize that
this information supports Hero’s true innocence and that she has
died (so they think) because they have wrongly accused her, tarnished
her reputation forever, and ruined her family.
Leonato and Antonio return. Claudio and Don Pedro beg Leonato’s
forgiveness, offering themselves up to any punishment Leonato thinks
fit for killing his daughter with wrongful accusations. Leonato
orders Claudio to clear Hero’s name by telling the entire city that
she was innocent and to write her an epitaph—that is, a poem honoring
her in death—and to read and sing it at her tomb. He also tells
Claudio that Antonio has a daughter who is very much like Hero,
and he asks Claudio to marry his niece in Hero’s place in order
to make up for the lost Hero. Claudio, weeping at Leonato’s generosity,
accepts these terms. Leonato orders that Borachio be carted away
for further interrogation.
Read a translation of
Act V, scene i →
Summary: Act V, scene ii
Meanwhile, near Leonato’s estate, Benedick asks Margaret
to bring Beatrice to speak to him. Alone, he laments his inability
to write poetry. He has unsuccessfully attempted to write Beatrice
a love sonnet according to the flowery and ornamental conventions
of Renaissance love poetry. Ironically, despite his great skill
at improvising in conversation, he is no good at all at writing.
Beatrice arrives, and the two lovers flirt and tease each other
with gentle insults but also with great affection—as they now seem
always to have done. Benedick tells Beatrice he has challenged Claudio
to a duel according to her wishes and that Claudio must respond
to his challenge soon. Suddenly, the maid Ursula arrives in great
haste to tell them that the scheme against Hero has come to light.
Benedick pledges his love to Beatrice once again, and the two follow
Ursula to Leonato and the rest of the house, which is in an uproar.
Read a translation of
Act V, scene ii →
Analysis: Act V, scenes i–ii
By showing Leonato’s grief and anger to the audience,
Shakespeare drives home the intensity of the pain and distress that
Claudio’s accusation against Hero has caused Hero and her family.
Although Hero is not really dead, Leonato grieves as if she were,
because she has lost her reputation. He has come to her side, believing
that Claudio must have been wrong about her—“My soul doth tell me
Hero is belied,” he confesses to Antonio (V.i.42).
But his concern for her, coupled with the shock of Claudio’s public
humiliation of her, is enough to overwhelm him with grief. He rejects
Antonio’s attempts to make him feel better, telling him that “men
/ Can counsel and speak comfort to that grief / Which they themselves
not feel” (V.i.20–22). He suggests that once
a person actually becomes unhappy, good advice does him or her no
good: “For there was never yet philosopher / That could endure the
toothache patiently” (V.i.35–36). His anger
at Claudio for ruining his daughter is very real, and this scene
provides the audience with a fascinating view of Leonato. He is
powerful here in his righteous anger, just as much as he is overwhelmed
with despair in Act IV, scene i.
