Key Quote
“"O, what men dare do! What men may do! What men daily do, not knowing what they do!"”
Claudio · Act 4, Scene 1
Focus: “dare”
Claudio publicly shames Hero at their wedding, demonstrating the destructive power of male honour culture and the ease with which women's reputations could be annihilated.
Technique 1 — ANAPHORIC TRICOLON
The anaphoric (repeated opening words) tricolon (three-part structure) builds in intensity: 'dare do' → 'may do' → 'daily do'. This escalation moves from possibility to permission to routine, suggesting that the alleged sexual transgression is not exceptional but endemic (widespread, built into the system). The rhetorical force of repetition transforms Claudio's speech into a public prosecution rather than a personal grievance.
The ironic addition of 'not knowing what they do' carries biblical echoes of Christ's words on the cross ('Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do'), but Shakespeare inverts the meaning — here, it is the accuser, not the accused, who does not know what he does. Claudio's self-righteous certainty blinds him to his own cruelty and to the truth of Hero's innocence.
Key Words
RAD — REGRESS
Claudio's public humiliation of Hero represents a dramatic regression in his character. Having initially appeared as a courteous, honourable young soldier, he now reveals a volatile (unpredictable, explosive) and vindictive (seeking revenge) nature. His willingness to annihilate Hero's reputation based on circumstantial evidence — without even speaking to her privately — exposes the fragility (weakness) of male honour and its capacity for cruelty.
Key Words
Technique 2 — PUBLIC PERFORMATIVITY
Claudio deliberately stages Hero's rejection as a spectacle — at the altar, before their families and the entire community. This performative (designed for an audience) cruelty reveals that his concern is not Hero's alleged behaviour but his own public reputation. The wedding ceremony — a ritual of union — becomes a ritual of humiliation and social excommunication (cutting someone off from their community).
The choice of the sacred setting of the church amplifies the sacrilege (violation of something holy) of Claudio's actions. By using a holy space to enact vengeance, Shakespeare suggests that the honour code has become a perversion (distortion) of the moral values it claims to uphold.
Key Words
Context (AO3)
HONOUR & SHAME
In Elizabethan Messina (and England), a woman's value was tied to her chastity (sexual purity). An accusation of unchastity was effectively a social death sentence — she could not marry, would bring shame upon her family, and would lose all social standing. Claudio's public accusation weaponises this system, turning the community into both witness and enforcer of patriarchal control.
MALE BONDS vs MARRIAGE
Claudio's readiness to believe Don John (a male soldier) over Hero (his fiancée) reveals the primacy (importance, priority) of homosocial (same-sex social bonds) relationships in this military society. Trust between men — forged in combat — supersedes (takes priority over) the romantic bond, exposing marriage as a fragile institution vulnerable to male manipulation.
Key Words
WOW — SCAPEGOAT MECHANISM (René Girard)
René Girard's theory of the scapegoat mechanism is powerfully illustrated here: Hero becomes the sacrificial victim onto whom the community projects its anxieties about female sexuality and social order. Claudio's accusation functions as a form of ritual violence that temporarily restores male solidarity and reinforces patriarchal control. Shakespeare, however, deconstructs (breaks apart to reveal hidden meanings) this mechanism by making the audience fully aware of Hero's innocence, forcing them to recognise the arbitrary (random, unjust) and pernicious (causing great harm) nature of scapegoating. The 'death' and 'resurrection' of Hero can be read as Shakespeare's commentary on how society destroys and then conveniently rehabilitates women to serve male narratives of redemption.
Key Words