Category Archives: Gender matters

When Don John informs Claudio and Don Pedro about Hero’s infidelity, they do not hesitate to believe him. Don John has created a plan with Borachio, where Claudio
and Don Pedro quickly fall into the trap.  Through Borachio’s conclusion, we know that
Claudio and Don Pedro confused Margaret with Hero. It is very surprising and at
the same time disturbing how neither man took a moment to approach Hero that
same night at her balcony. The men must have been at a great distance to not
have noticed the differences in the women, in regards to their voice, language
and features. The men only wanted to believe what they had already been told.

Claudio seems to only care about what he can do to get back at Hero.  It is astonishing to note how quickly his love to her has become mere hatred.  It is difficult to understand his change of feelings after he publicly humiliates her at the altar. His actions symbolize his youth. Another individual, one that is mature and experienced would have probably handled the situation differently. The best way to have handled a similar situation would have been to approach Hero or her father Leonato in private. Hero deserved to have the
opportunity to defend herself.

Unfortunately for Hero, she has to go through a representation of death and rebirth to erase way the sin she was wrongly accused of.  The sin of adultery ruins her reputation and
that of her family. This process of death will allow Hero to be valued for the good qualities she should be remembered by. Her rebirth is a symbol for a new beginning. After all that has happened Hero marries Claudio because she truly loves him and realizes that their love was tested by a misunderstanding.

The ending of this play has a fairytale ending of happily ever after. In a discussion
from another English class, the majority of readers know how the ending of a text will end. However, recent studies show that readers are more intrigued to know how the characters and their drama get to that ending. It is more interesting for some people to read about finding the solution to the conflict rather than to read how happy everybody becomes.

Shakespeare creates a parallel between the two couples that dominate this play, and he makes the events surrounding their romances so exciting that it’s easy to forget about a bunch of anomalies that tend to appear. As Claudio despairs at Hero’s supposed unfaithfulness and Benedick admits to loving Beatrice, it seems natural for Don Pedro’s character to take a step back in the plot. After all, it’s not as though he has any sort of love connection in this play.

I think that Don Pedro is homosexual.

Hear me out. The heir of Aragon is unmarried, a most peculiar circumstance even when disregarding everything else. The continuation of noble lineage is essential during this time period for nobles, particularly in light of the fact that everyone has just finished a war. What if Don Pedro had died? Who would have succeeded him? Such questions are addressed and immediately resolved in noble families through arranged marriages. Of course, since we have no idea how old Don Pedro is, his status as an eligible bachelor is far from sufficient to support my suggestion. Perhaps he simply hasn’t had the chance to marry yet. However, other cues from the play allude to this as well.

For example, the play suggests that the young men who have returned from war have a hard time communicating with women. Claudio, despite his apparent fearlessness in battle, cannot summon the courage to admit to Hero how he feels. Benedick, afraid to be made into a cuckold, initially refuses to ever entertain the notion of marriage. Fear, in one way or another, explains why these two young men haven’t gotten married.  It should also be observed that despite this fear, both of these men end up overcoming their misgivings, whether through their own actions or through an indirect agent (like how Don Pedro sets up Claudio’s marriage). However, there is no such explanation for why Don Pedro is single, and the play’s silence on this matter is deafening.

There are only two instances where Don Pedro acts like he is interested in women: during the dance (where he pretends to be Claudio, so he can woo Hero) and during a brief interaction with Beatrice (where he offers himself as a husband). While the mask obviously hides his identity from Hero, I don’t think it’s hard to think of the mask as Don Pedro’s heterosexuality. The interaction with Beatrice is strange, to say the least. No matter how you look at it, you can’t help but wonder: how can the Prince of Aragon be so casual about marriage? I mean, has he forgotten that he’s the heir? Beatrice, for all of her beauty, is too lowborn for Don Pedro (something she admits to through her refusal). You can argue that he was just being courteous, and that she recognized his offer as such, but something about the offer is just strange. Perhaps, because he is homosexual, he is only offering so that he can be seen making an offer to a woman, or perhaps he simply does not care which woman will be his wife . You can argue that Beatrice’s beauty implies he’s being quite picky,  but he seems to be the only male in the play who doesn’t realize that how Beatrice is. Benedick, for all of his verbal sparring with her, admits to her beauty, and Claudio alludes to it indirectly by saying how Hero is the most beautiful in his eyes. Don Pedro’s lack of comment strikes me as a lack of…interest.