Summary

In the church in Act Four, Scene One, everyone has prepared for the nuptials. Even Claudio, convinced now of Hero's unfaithfulness, has come to humiliate her in public. The ceremony begins, and everything goes smoothly until it is Claudio's turn to say his own vows. Instead of saying them, however, he denounces Hero as a whore in front of the church, claiming that she is no virgin and untrue to him, and therefore a liar and a commodity no man would want. Hero protests this and faints. Her father, Leonato, is horrified - but more at the prospect that his daughter has behaved so improperly than at her welfare or her potential innocence. Claudio storms out of the church while Beatrice comes to her cousin's aid. She says that although she has slept in the same room as Hero for the past year, she...