Much Ado About Nothing Literary Analysis Essay

Much Ado About Nothing Literary Analysis

A tragically flawed character is a person in a story that has a trait that leads to his or her own downfall. There are many characters in the play that have these tragic flaws. Don John is prideful, Beatrice is stubborn, and Dogberry is ignorant. These traits all lead to something negative in the end. However, the most tragically flawed character in William Shakespeare’s play, Much Ado About Nothing, is Claudio because he so gullible and trusting.

The main reason that Claudio is the most flawed character is because he is trusting of others. The night before the wedding, in act 3, scene 2, Don John comes up to Claudio and Don Pedro and tells them that Hero is cheating on him. Claudio says, “If I see anything tonight why should I not marry her, / tomorrow, in the congregation where I should wed, / there will I shame her” (Shakespeare 50). Claudio, even though he knew Don John was a liar, still believed

It shows that he will trust and believe the first thing he hears even without any proof. No where in the play does it say that the three men actually went out and saw what was happening. A journalist for the British Library named Emma Smith says, “Interestingly, those stage or film productions of the play that want to be sympathetic to Claudio do tend to depict the scene at her window to suggest that the trick was a convincing one and therefore he should not be judged too harshly. But by leaving it out, Shakespeare suggests that the men have already made up their minds.” Without him even asking for Hero’s side of the story, Claudio just assumes that Don John is telling the truth. This is pretty sad considering Claudio was about to marry Hero and still wouldn’t believe her. Also in act 2, scene 1, Don John goes up to Claudio during the party and tells him that Don Pedro confessed his love Hero. Claudio says, “This is an accident of hourly proof, / Which