BENEDICK
But I hope you have no intent to turn husband, have
you?
CLAUDIO
I would scarce trust myself, though I had
sworn the contrary, if Hero would be my wife. (1.1.189-192)
This is one of the first times that marriage is spoken of explicitly, and it’s presented as an object of unwitting deception. Claudio apparently has been as anti-marriage as Benedick, but now that he wants to marry Hero, he notes that even he can’t trust his own word.
Quote 2
CLAUDIO
How know you he loves her?
DON JOHN
I heard him swear his affection.
BORACHIO
So did I too, and he swore he would marry
her tonight.
DON JOHN
Come, let us to the banquet. (2.1.165-169)
Claudio’s great failing is that he’s easily manipulated into suspicion, which leaves him wide open to be deceived.
Quote 3
CLAUDIO
Now, if you are a maid, answer to this.
HERO
I talked with no man at that hour, my lord.
DON PEDRO
Why, then, are you no maiden. (4.1.90-92)
In a fit of Shakespearean irony, Hero is condemned as a deceiver for telling the truth.