Why did Claudio and Hero get back together in Much Ado about Nothing?

Answer 1

Many readers have difficulty accepting the romantic relationship between Hero and Claudio. After all, they have barely met before they fall in love and decide to get married, and then Claudio betrays Hero viciously. But the idea of love at first sight was popular in Shakespeare's day. Romeo and Juliet, for instance, fall in love at first sight. Moreover, Claudio's methods of courting Hero through other people would have been an accepted tactic among Elizabethan nobility.

Claudio's belief that Don John's trick is reality is a much bigger problem. Some readers feel that it is impossible to sympathize with Claudio after he rejects Hero in the church. One fact that defends Claudio is that he is young and inexperienced. Also, Don John is very clever-even the older, more experienced Don Pedro is deceived by his ruse. Hero's willingness to forgive Claudio is just as disturbing as Claudio's rejection of Hero. She does not challenge his behavior toward her but instead marries him willingly. In the end, though, Claudio is awestruck and delighted by Hero's unexpected reappearance.

What is hard to take is perhaps not so much that Claudio believes that Hero was sleeping with someone else on the night before her wedding, but the cruel and public way that he refuses to marry her as a result.

But even though he is cruel to her, it is possible that he may still love her. Not everyone in love has a perfect relationship with the beloved. Claudio and Hero's relationship may be characterized by Claudio being easily jealous and violent toward her, and Hero being a doormat. That's not a good combination--it may in time lead to spousal abuse, unless both of them do a lot of maturing.

Answer 2

I've always wondered. If I had been Hero I'd have dropped Claudio like a hot rock after the cruel way he treated her at their abortive wedding. However, Hero doesn't look like a girl with much backbone, so she could easily be inveigled into getting back together with Claudio.