Redemption
Shakespeare writes about some characters who are pretty nasty, and they do mean things. Sometimes, the characters in his plays are not redeemable, but all of the characters in “Much Ado About Nothing” are redeemable. As a modern audience, we see through the lenses of modern culture, and this lens can cause us to see a perspective that is not was originally intended. We as the audience are not the only ones who judge the characters in play, they do it to each other as well. As readers, we can take the time to really read into the characters and figure out if their actions are justified or not and if a character is redeemable or not.
Since the whole play is about getting married, many of the characters are in love; when someone is in love, they may do things they otherwise would not. Benedick, for example is a staunch supporter of the bachelor lifestyle, and in the opinion that he is better off without a woman. This is a passage where Benedick speaks at length about how he would rather be single,
“That a woman conceived me, I thank her;
that she brought me up, I likewise give her most
humble thanks. But that I will have a recheat
winded in my forehead or hang my bugle in an
invisible baldrick, all women shall pardon me.
Because I will not do them the wrong to mistrust
any, I will do myself the right to trust none. And the
fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a
bachelor.” (17)
The only woman that Benedick seems to like is his mom, and even then he doesn't say he loves her. All Benedick can do is thank his mom for all the work she put into birthing him and raising him. To some this may be an nonredeemable offense, but as we read on, we learn that Benedick does really care for women; at least one woman. Perhaps this is something that can redeem him.
Claudio is searching for a lady who has money, and good looks wouldn't hurt either. From what I have read in “Claudio and the Unmerry War” by, Lodwick Hartley, Claudio is seeking a match. The match isn't so much about love as it a good social fit. Claudio is a soldier who has just returned victorious from the battlefield. Not only is he victorious, but his side wins by such a margin that “But few of any sort, and none of name.” (7) had died. Now, Claudio is ready to settle down and the first eligible lady he sees is Hero. Marrying for position and being a good social match is something that still goes on around the world, Claudio did not invent it. Still when one in our Western culture reads into the play, and realizes that Claudio isn't exactly in love at first sight, offense is taken. Once the reader starts to look through lenses that aren't their own, the idea of marriage for position and stability makes sense. Claudio doesn't seem like such a tool when the reader understands that he is only trying to do what a man in his position was expected to do at that time.
Claudio's love interest, Hero is a bit of flat character and comes across almost offensively bland. Hero is dragged around in the play, others make her decisions for her. When Claudio asks for her hand in marriage, he goes through other people to get to Hero. Instead of building a relationship with the woman he fancies, Claudio instead takes the indirect route of asking Don Pedro to inquire about marrying Hero. Leonato, Hero's dad, does say that he will let Hero make the choice herself about the marriage, but it feels like Hero did not pose any objections. Leonato wants grandchildren, why not have a soldier for a son-in-law? In the culture we live in it is weird for one of us to ask our boss, to ask the parent of our crush, if it is okay to marry them. All of this before we have even gone to a movie or had our first conversation. We now have feminism, a woman has a right to chose her husband, and it is creepy that a woman can be given away like Hero is. Leonato did say he was going to give her the choice to marry Claudio, and again it was a different time, this was socially acceptable.
The way that Hero and Beatrice fight is something may cause a scene today, it may have caused a scene if people unfamiliar with the two had witnessed their childish bickering in Elizabethan times. Some of the things the two say to each other is really mean and they do not keep their exchanges short. Even when one is not in the room, the other can't help but to poke at the other, like when Beatrice is having a conversation with a messenger, they say
“MESSENGER A lord to a lord, a man to a man, stuffed
with all honorable virtues.
BEATRICE It is so indeed. He is no less than a stuffed
man, but for the stuffing—well, we are all mortal.” (10)
This is pretty funny stuff, Beatrice lets us know that she thinks Benedick is full of poo, but even Leonato thinks Beatrice's one sided bickering is enough. Even though Benedick is not there Leonato says, “You must not, sir, mistake my niece. There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them.” (11) The reader has to think about who thinks that much about another person, feels that strong of emotion towards another. Perhaps it is someone they have feelings for but don't want to act upon them, so instead they act like children on a playground poking at each other. It is true love.
Speaking of love, only the physical act this time, people in the play are super scared of cuckolding. Cuckolding is what one of the key scenes is about though, so it would make sense that everyone would talk about it. The people who set up the imagined cuckoldry that takes place are Don John, Borachio, and Conrad. These guys are as bad as it gets in this play. In the paper “Claudio and the Unmerry War,” Hartley reveals a bit of information that either I didn't catch or wasn't well explained, saying that “... he (Don John) resents Claudio's position as first-lieutenant to Don Pedro.” (612) That is the motivation for the bad guy, Don John, to mess with Claudio's happiness. Don John may orchestrate a plot in which it looks like Hero is having sex with another man to ruin Claudio's marriage, but it could also be taken as a bonding experience between the couple. Yes it was something evil that Don John did, but Claudio and Hero survived it, they realized they really love each other, and they got something most people never get until it is to late; they got to see what it was like without the one they loved. This does not mean that what Don John did was okay, just that he is redeemable. Perhaps, because something didn't work the way Don John wanted it to, it is possible to say he is nonredeemable. If his plan had gone off without a hitch Claudio and Hero would have been married without a hitch. Don John runs away once he realizes that he may get caught which means he knows what he did was wrong. To be redeemed, a person has to know they messed up, and this makes Don John, if not completely redeemable, at least on the right path. The other members of Don John's gang are much easier to see as characters who can be redeemed.
Borachio is possibly the character who most seeks redemption in the whole play. It was Borachio and Margaret, who pulled off the scene of lovemaking, threw the mix of chaos into the play. Without Claudio witnessing this interaction, Claudio would not have called Hero's actions into question on their wedding day. Conrad lets Borachio do the talking for the two of them, he does not try to stop Borachio from telling the story. This makes Conrad, if not as worthy of redemption as Borachio, still worthy in his own right.
When Conrad and Borachio are confronted by Leonato, Borachio is very repentant. Perhaps it is the idea of waiting for a trial, or not being able to live with his guilt, either way Borachio spills their foul actions to Leonato. When Borachio is talking of his nasty deeds he says “...which I had rather seal with my death than repeat over to my shame. The lady is dead upon mine and my master’s false accusation. And, briefly, I desire nothing but the reward of a villain.” (171) That is heavy guilt, Borachio is willing to die to repent to Leonato. Perhaps this is because he thinks through his actions he has killed Hero. Conrad still says nothing, he doesn't disagree with the idea of letting Borachio die for his sins, but he doesn't pitch in and say “me too.” Still, since Conrad is telling Borachio to be silent and wait for rescue from Don John we know that he can be redeemed. Borachio's speech to Leonato lets us know that Borachio is still a very redeemable characters as well.
Margaret is the only other character of the villain cast, and she is just as easily redeemed as Borachio. Margaret had know idea what she was a party to when she was having sex with Borachio. If anything Margaret was being a good sport by putting up with Borachio's crap. Borachio had Margaret dress up in one of Hero's dresses while he had sex with her. Then he also called Margaret Hero a whole while he had sex with her and after. Perhaps Margaret thought it was fun pretending to be somebody of higher station while she was having sex, either way she was a party to a evil plan. When accused of doing evil, Margaret claims innocence through having no prior knowledge of what was planned. Borachio collaborates that story, saying that Margaret did not have any idea of the plan. The scene smells fishy though. The kind of role-play that Borachio and Margaret went through does seem plausible enough, but when Hero had her death faked, wouldn't Margaret felt a little weird. Perhaps she would think back to a few nights back when someone who she was sleeping with was calling her Hero over and over. It is hard to say, but the play seems to take it in stride that she is innocent to all that goes on in the plot to destroy Hero and Claudio's wedding. With Margaret, the list ends of characters who can be considered bad guys, or semi bad guys. Redemption was there for all of them, but there are good guys who do some bad things.
Leonato is one of the characters who does things that a reader may find questionable, perhaps some people may not be able to forgive some of Leonato's actions. Leonato is a Hero's father, when the time comes for he to get married, or at least proposed to, Leonato says he will let Hero decide what to answer. That is a pretty nice gesture, he could have forced Hero into a marriage if he had wanted to, but he does some other things that aren't as nice. On the day of the first wedding, once Hero has been accused of sleeping with another, Leonato does not have his own daughter's back. Leonato even commands his daughter to admit whether or not she had an affair saying “I charge thee do so, as thou art my child.” (129) Then there is a whole argument about Hero being a virgin or not and all Leonato can do is stand there, he doesn't even throw a punch. Violence could be seen as an nonredeemable act, but so could not defending someone you love. When Hero faints and it looks like she is dead Leonato says “O Fate, take not away thy heavy hand! Death is the fairest cover for her shame that may be wished for.” (131) Leonato is more worried about what people think about his daughter than if she is alive or dead. This may be a cultural issue and in hindsight the reader may disagree with Leonato's actions in the moment, but until we have shared the same experience can we say that it would have gone any different. Leonato obviously cares about his daughter, but his priorities may just be a little different. Leonato later challenges Claudio to a duel over the death of his daughter, he goes along with a crazy plot to see that her name is cleared, he stands by her in the wedding at the end, and he makes sure that his daughter is happy. Leonato is character who has earned his redemption. Not because he the best, but because he may have made a mistake or two and then made it right.
Claudio, as mentioned before, is a bit of a tool, but tools do have their qualities. Being a freshly returned soldier Claudio does not have much experience with love and the dating and marriage game. He looks to his best friend Benedick for help and answers. Claudio does show that he cares about his love interest, Hero. Hero does care about whether or not his wife has money and what other people will think of his match with her as indicated by him asking Benedick what he thinks. In a modern world, if it was true love or love at first sight, those things would not matter. It may cause their life together to be a little bumpy if Claudio's friend hated Hero or vice-versa, but that is doable. The relationship between the two has some bumps along the way to their marriage. Claudio thinking that Hero cheated on him being the biggest bump in the road. As mentioned earlier this event was put into motion by Don John to get back at Claudio because Claudio got the military position that Don John coveted. The day of the wedding, the first wedding, is when Claudio denounces Hero. The Friar asks everyone if they have any reason why the two shouldn't get married, in typical wedding custom, and Claudio comes forth to say he does. Claudio says
“Sweet prince, you learn me noble thankfulness.—
There, Leonato, take her back again.
Give not this rotten orange to your friend...
...To witness simple virtue? Would you not swear,
All you that see her, that she were a maid,
By these exterior shows? But she is none.
She knows the heat of a luxurious bed.
Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty.” (125)
Here Claudio only seems concerned with one thing, and that is Hero has cheated on him. Well at least that is what Claudio has been lead to believe. Today it is not a big deal, in many cultures, for a woman to have had sex before marriage. Even back then it might have been okay if they were of a different social setting, but in this case it was not. Claudio doing this was not just a matter of him being mean, this is how Claudio was able to defend himself. By calling out Hero in public the way he did he canceled out the wedding contract in place. From what I read in As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks": English Marriage and Shakespeare by, Margaret Loftus Ranald, “Hero's adultery (had it indeed taken place) would have constituted a breaking of marriage contract, unless Claudio decided, knowing of the fault, to ignore thereby condone it. But Claudio chooses to repudiate Hero publicly at the altar. It would be a mistake, as Charles T. Prouty and Nadine Page have pointed out, to conclude that Claudio is unnecessarily cruel. He is merely acting in conformity with Elizabethan conventions and safeguarding his legal position.” (75) With this information it is understandable why Claudio denounces Hero. This makes Hero an okay character, even redeemable and possibly still a tool.
Tools come in all shapes and sizes; Claudio's best friend Benedick is another tool. As the play progresses we note that Benedick's emotions progress too. Don Pedro puts into action a plot to have Benedick and Beatrice fall in love with each other. Each character, until it is pointed out to them, has been so caught up in bickering with the other that they have missed the fact that they are a great match. That the pair possibly are in love before they are told they are in love slips their attention. As mentioned before with Margaret, not knowing doesn't mean your a bad person, just you have all the information. Benedick is loyal to those he cares for, but he would break that loyalty if he had to for Beatrice. When Claudio dismisses Hero at the wedding, it makes Beatrice very mad at him, killing mad. But Beatrice is a woman and can't challenge Claudio to a duel. At Beatrice's request Benedick challenges Claudio for her. Normally challenge someone to duel and truly meaning to kill is a way to lose status a redeemable. In this action Benedick is standing up for the fallen, he is the defender of those who have no voice. There is no one nobler than person who takes up a cause for others who can't. This is part of what makes Benedick a redeemable character.
Personal growth helps make a character redeemable. When a reader can truly tell that a character has learned from their past experience we know that they can probably learn the difference between good and bad. Benedick's growth from a snarky soldier fresh from the battlefield to a compassionate Husband is what readers like. Benedick's soon to be wife is sharper than he is. Beatrice wins more of the verbal sparring matches the two have and seems to have a better grasp of the world from the beginning. The two have their blind spots for each other. Beatrice in a way represent all woman, as does every woman in every story. She has a lot of backbone and verbal power, Beatrice is a great model for powerful and strong women. When Beatrice talks others listen, she is nice and genuinely cares about others. The way she wants to kill Claudio for him doing what was best for himself was a bit of an over reaction. As a person who lived in that time Beatrice should have realized, once she had calmed down, that Claudio was only trying to protect himself. Still Beatrice is a great character who is redeemed with her care for others.
There is one man who put most of these events into play, perhaps the man who is guilty for all of the unhappiness and happiness. That man is Don Pedro. Don Pedro had everyone stay at his house after the fighting, thereby putting everyone together. Pedro had to play the matchmaker, with Claudio and Hero. Claudio is the one who approached the Don, so it is not like her forced it on Claudio. Pedro is also the one who set the plot in motion to get Benedick and Beatrice together. Pedro is all about making other people happy throughout the play, he has the power and seems to enjoy playing a good host. When the first wedding between Hero and Claudio doesn't work out Pedro seems genuinely saddened saying “What should I speak? I stand dishonored that have gone about to link my dear friend to a common stale.” (127) Pedro is also the one who at the end is going to chase down Don John and ultimately try and bring him to justice for his deeds. Here Claudio does something a bit weird and asks Pedro if Pedro wants Claudio's company while he does. Even though it was Claudio whom Don John had wronged, Claudio was still just married. Pedro tells Claudio to enjoy his new marriage and heads out. Don Pedro is a great person, his power makes him seem to want to play games with it, but not games that are meant to hurt others. As long as Don Pedro is helping and not hurting people he is redeemable.
Dogberry is a very simple kind of constable and offers comic relief to the story. Even though he may not be great at his job, his employees probably loved him. Dogberry told the men under him to avoid anything dangerous basically, let them nap on the job and to loaf about. The only time we see the men solve a crime is when they overhead someone confessing to one. At least they were attentive enough to pick up Conrad and Borachio. Dogberry is persistent and when he has to does his job. Actually Dogberry seems to be one of the most righteous characters in the whole play. He sticks to his own moral code and is very sure of it. Dogberry is definitely a redeemable character. He may not have done anything that needs redemption.
There are some other characters in the play such as the Friar and Verges, but their redemption does not really come into question. These characters have not really cause any offense that would merit them needing to be redeemed. The friar helped Hero overcome her slander and Verges was just there. Conrad kind of falls into that category as well, just someone who was there, but he was in the bad guys camp. Then there are other characters who have such a small role that they can't even be really considered, but all the characters written about have had some sort of conflict to overcome, some issue that could have possibly tainted them. Yet all of them could possibly be seen as good people, people who made the right choice in out time period or theirs.
Citations
Berger, Harry. “Against the Sink-a-pace: Sexual and Family Politics in Much Ado About Nothing”. Shakespeare Quarterly 33.3 (1982): 302–313. Web...
Friedman, Michael D.. “"hush'd on Purpose to Grace Harmony": Wives and Silence in "much Ado About Nothing"”. Theatre Journal 42.3 (1990): 350–363. Web...
Hartley, Lodwick. “Claudio and the Unmerry War”. College English 26.8 (1965): 609–614. Web...
Ranald, Margaret Loftus. “"as Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks": English Marriage and Shakespeare”. Shakespeare Quarterly 30.1 (1979): 68–81. Web...
Shakespeare, William. Edited by Mowat, Barbara, and Werstine, Paul. “Much Ado About Nothing” Folger Shakespeare Library. 5/09/2016 http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/html/Ado.html#line-4.1.0