n a more tangible things than Hero’s virtue.As gentle Hero conquers the romantic heart of young Claudio, Beatrice and Bene*censored*, seem destined to be enemies. Through trickery and eavesdropping, the two male protagonists exchange personalities with respect to our heroines, Hero and Beatrice. While Bene*censored* loves Beatrice, writes poetry for her and attempts to woo her, Claudio scorns Hero though with real anger and not the mock anger shared by Beatrice and Bene*censored*. The two female protagonists do not exchange personalities but rather situations; Beatrice no had a new love and the prospect of marriage, while it no longer seemed that Hero would ever be married. We can imagine the lives of the lovers of Messina as they were before the play began and we can infer how they will be when the last curtain closes; it could be a happy scene. Claudio has wronged Hero, killed her; out of her death and rebirth there might be a new love. Beatrice and Bene*censored* may very well talk themselves mad but they do share a real love, one that arose from the ashes of a pretended love. ...
