ame time, several things happen to the relationship between Hero and Claudio. Don John, who was defeated by the Prince in the war, is hateful towards everyone, and he decides to destroy the perfect love of Claudio and Hero. He sets up a scene, which makes Claudio believe that Hero cheated on him the night before their wedding. The day after, Claudio publicly accuses Hero in adultery and refuses to marry her. Hero is shocked so much that she faints during that scene. So, "the love from the first sight" has been destroyed so easily - only by a scene set up by Don John. In this point of the play the reader adores Beatrice and Bene*censored*, and is totally furious with Claudio. "The gullible Claudio needs only to hear it breathed that Hero is false; as if exhilarated, he devises a practice as inhumane as the villain's," wrote Bertrand Evans in the Shakespeare's Comedies. When Claudio thinks that Hero might have been cheated on him, he exclaims: "If I see anything to-night why I should not marry her to-morrow, in the congregation, where I should wed, there will I shame her." Only selfishness is seen in this speech. Claudio publicly accuses Hero in cheating on him without trying to talk to her first. And even if she did cheat on him, why did he want to hurt her so much? This aspect makes the readers think that probably he loves himself, but not Hero. He obviously never loved Hero. It even seems that Claudio is incapable of loving anyone. He could not even woo her! "He is a brash and ambitious would-be sophisticate, who might be thought more likely to ravish a heroine than be speechless,” says Bertrand Evans. He is a hero in the war, and he needs Don Pedro to woo the woman he loves on his behalf! It is very obvious to the readers that there is no love in Claudio's heart. At the same time, the relationship between Beatrice and Bene*censored* wins all the sympathy of the readers. "Beatrice and Bene*censored* are in love ...
