Hero

• Hero


  • Embodies the classic literary traits of the feminine ideal
  • Modest, reserved, chaste and happy to defer to her father's guidance
• Duty as a daughter


  To obey her father, especially over who she will marry
• Hero is used as a pawn in the play


  She serves as a catalyst for the play's action
• A lot is said about Hero, but she says very little herself
• Claudio: 'Can the world buy such a jewel?'
• Hero is initially prepared to accept a proposal from Don Pedro, but seems just as happy to be engaged to Claudio instead
• Hero and Claudio


  Both falling in love immediately, just as Beatrice and Benedick mirror each other
• Hero


  Often being referred to using language of purity and piousness, such as "maid"
• Hero is unable to prove her innocence when wrongfully accused, and is seemingly unable to speak for herself
• Instead of fighting back, Hero lets others take the lead in restoring her reputation
• Hero is willing to still marry Claudio, indicative of her acceptance of letting men run her life
• Hero reveals herself to be clever and witty in how she manipulates Beatrice
• Hero is treated as an object to be bartered, and little more than a passive onlooker in her own love story
• When Claudio shames Hero at the altar, hardly anybody genuinely asks for her side of the story
• Hero faints with the humiliation, allowing the other characters to argue amongst themselves
• Leonato says that he'd prefer Hero to be dead than disgraced, indicating that she is only useful to him while she is of marriageable status
• At the end of the play, Hero is only permitted to re-enter the action once her character of innocence, purity and chastity is re-established