Antonio, Leonato's brother, is sometimes called Anthony.
ANTONIO
Antonio, Leonato's brother, reports that his men have overheard Don Pedro and Claudio discussing their plan for Don Pedro to woo Hero on Claudio's behalf. After Claudio accuses Hero of adultery, Antonio confronts Claudio and offers to fight with him.
ANTONIO'S SON
A "ghost character." After Borachio has revealed the plot to discredit Hero, Claudio repents and offers to fulfil any penance Leonato can devise. Leonato tells Claudio to tell Messina of his error, to visit Hero's grave and pay tribute to her there, and finally to marry Antonio's daughter, now the sole heir of Leonato and Antonio. Apparently Leonato has forgotten about Antonio's musical son, mentioned in the first lines of I.ii, who would presumably inherit at least some of his father's property.
ANTONIO'S DAUGHTER
A fictitious character. After Borachio has revealed the plot to discredit Hero, Claudio repents and offers to fulfil any penance Leonato can devise. Leonato tells Claudio to tell Messina of his error, to visit Hero's grave and pay tribute to her there, and finally to marry Antonio's daughter. It is, in fact, Hero he will marry under guise of being Antonio's daughter.
BALTHASAR
Balthasar is an attendant to Don Pedro who sings in II.iii while Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro allow Benedick to eavesdrop on their conversation about Beatrice's supposedly ungovernable passion for him.
BASTARD
Don John, Don Pedro's illegitimate half-brother, is sometimes given the speech prefix Bastard.
BEATRICE
Beatrice is Leonato's niece. When the soldiers holiday in Messina following their victory, Beatrice's verbal sparring with Benedick inspires Don Pedro to play a practical joke with the aim of uniting them. Apparently Benedick once toyed with her affections, and she is now resolutely opposed to being courted. Positioning themselves so that Beatrice will overhear their conversation, Hero and Ursula discuss Benedick's supposedly ungovernable passion for Beatrice. The ploy works, and Beatrice begins to admit her love for Benedick. When Claudio accuses Hero of adultery, Beatrice and Benedick's relationship has grown strong enough that he accepts Beatrice's ultimatum to kill Claudio. Fortunately, Don John is revealed as the instigator of Claudio's misapprehension before Benedick can make good his promise, and both couples are married.
BENEDICK
Benedick is a Paduan gentleman, a soldier in Don Pedro's company. When the soldiers holiday in Messina following their victory, Benedick's verbal sparring with Beatrice inspires Don Pedro to play a practical joke with the aim of uniting them. Positioning themselves where Benedick will overhear their conversation, Claudio, Leonato and Don Pedro discuss Beatrice's supposedly ungovernable passion for Benedick. The ploy works, and the erstwhile confirmed bachelor Benedick confesses his love for Beatrice. Benedick's moment of choice between the soldier's life of masculine camaraderie and the life of a married man comes when Claudio accuses Hero of unchastity. Benedick does not follow the soldiers when they leave the scene, choosing to remain with Beatrice and agreeing to her demand that he kill Claudio. Fortunately, Don John is revealed as the instigator of Claudio's misapprehension before Benedick can make good his promise, and both couples are married. In the final lines of the play, Benedick recommends deferring Don John's punishment until after the double wedding festivities, when he vows to devise a suitable punishment.
BORACHIO
Borachio is one of Don John's henchmen. He brings his master news that Claudio is planning to court Hero, and he is instrumental in the development of Don John's plot to ruin the match. Don John brings Claudio beneath Hero's window, where they see Margaret and Borachio in an embrace. Claudio is convinced that the woman is Hero, and he meets her the next day at their wedding ceremony where he accuses her publicly. Later, after he has been interrogated by Dogberry, Borachio's confession to Don Pedro and Claudio begins the dénouement of the play, allowing Claudio to repent his rashness and sparing Benedick from fulfilling his promise to kill Claudio.
CLAUDIO
Claudio is a Florentine count in the service of Don Pedro. As the play opens, peace has been restored, and soldiers like Claudio enjoy a well-deserved holiday in Messina. Claudio asks Don Pedro's permission to court Hero, and Don Pedro agrees to woo the lady on Claudio's behalf. In a foreshadowing of events to come, Claudio reveals his jealous nature when he suspects that Don Pedro has been courting Hero for himself. The misunderstanding is resolved and a wedding date is set. Before the wedding can take place, Don John orchestrates a plot to make Claudio believe that Hero has been unfaithful. Claudio is convinced, and at the wedding ceremony he makes Hero's supposed crime public. Hero faints and is believed dead. After Don John's plot is revealed, Claudio contritely agrees to marry Hero's cousin (Antonio's daughter) in penance, but at the altar the veiled bride is revealed to be Hero and the couple is finally married.
CONRADE
Conrade is one of Don John's henchmen. Another henchman, Borachio, is apprehended by the night watchmen when he is overheard telling Conrade about the plot to make Claudio believe that Hero and Borachio are lovers. He and Borachio undergo interrogation by Dogberry in front of the scrivner.
COUNT COMFECT
In her rage after Claudio shames Hero at the altar, Beatrice refers to Claudio, mockingly, as Count Comfect.
DOGBERRY
Dogberry, Messina's constable, stumbles and bumbles through the English language, massacring the highbrow words he uses and performing his professional duties in the most unprofessional manner. Despite his comic ineptitude, Dogberry manages to reveal Don John's plot to defame Hero and becomes, rather unwittingly, the hero of the play.
DON JOHN
Don John is Don Pedro's illegitimate half-brother, sometimes called the Bastard. A man of few words, he is a malcontent, orchestrating the rift between Claudio and Hero out of sheer malice. He flees Messina after ruining the couple's wedding. Afterward, a messenger announces that Don John has been apprehended. In the final lines of the play, Benedick defers Don John's punishment until after the double wedding festivities, when he vows to devise a suitable punishment.
DON PEDRO
Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, is in charge of the soldiers who arrive in Messina at the beginning of the play. When Claudio proclaims his love for Hero, Don Pedro agrees to break off his own proposed match with her and woo her on Claudio's behalf. Don Pedro then tries his luck with Beatrice, Hero's cousin, but she kindly rejects his suit saying that he is too good to be worn every day. Later, Don Pedro feels responsible when Hero seems to have been unfaithful to Claudio, and he joins with Claudio in shaming her during what was to have been her wedding ceremony. Don Pedro's brother, Don John, is discovered to have masterminded the plot to discredit Hero, and the play ends happily with two weddings. Benedick encourages him to find a wife and asks him to defer punishment on Don John until after the ceremonies when he will himself devise a suitable penalty.
FRIAR FRANCIS
Friar Francis officiates at the ill-fated wedding of Hero and Claudio. When the ceremony is cut short by Claudio's announcement that Hero has committed adultery, Friar Francis defends Hero's innocence and urges Leonato not to judge the situation too rashly. When Claudio has departed, he proposes spreading a rumor that Hero is dead, serving the dual purpose of making Claudio repent and, if the accusations prove true, of allowing Leonato to conceal her somewhere out of the public eye. The Friar's advice proves good, and the play ends happily with two weddings.
GEORGE SEACOLE
The name of the second watchman. When Dogberry asks the watchmen to nominate a constable, the first watchman recommends Hugh Oatcake and George Seacole because both can read and write. Dogberry accepts his nomination, and after a foolish charge, names him constable of the watch and gives him the latern.
HERO
Hero is Leonato's only child. She becomes engaged to Claudio, who is duped by Don John and Borachio into believing that Hero has been unfaithful to him. Claudio reveals his 'discovery' during the wedding ceremony, and Hero, publicly humiliated and wronged, faints. Hero's supporters spread a rumor that she is dead, and when the truth is finally revealed Claudio agrees to marry Hero's cousin (supposedly Antonio's daughter) as penance. At the altar, the veiled cousin is revealed to be Hero herself, and the couple is finally married.
HUGH OATCAKE
One of the watchmen, not the first or second. When Dogberry asks the night watchmen to nominate a constable, the first watchman recommends Hugh Oatcake and George Seacole because both can read and write. Dogberry accepts the nomination of Seacole, who is referred to as second watch in the speech headings. Dogberry addresses Seacole directly, but Oatcake is not specifically identified within the group.
INNOGEN
A character mentioned but generally ignored in production and printing of the text. In a stage direction in the first Folio (where she also appears in II.i), she is Leonato's wife, presumably Hero's mother, and a mute character.
LEONATO
Leonato is governor of Messina, Hero's father and Beatrice's uncle. When Don Pedro and his soldiers return from battle victorious, planning a holiday in Messina for at least a month, Leonato is their willing host and a good-humored participant in Don Pedro's plot to match Beatrice and Benedick. When Claudio cuts short his marriage ceremony with the announcement that Hero has committed adultery, Leonato is quick to believe the charge and expresses his hope that Hero will not outlive her shame. Friar Francis persuades Leonato not to judge his daughter too rashly, and Leonato comes to believe that she is innocent. After Borachio has revealed the plot to discredit Hero, Claudio repents and offers to fulfil any penance Leonato can devise. Leonato instructs Claudio to tell Messina of his error, to visit Hero's grave and pay tribute to her there, and finally to marry Antonio's daughter, now the sole heir of Leonato and Antonio (but see "ANTONIO'S SON"). The veiled bride is really Hero, and because Leonato also consents to a match between Beatrice and Benedick he has the pleasure of attending this double wedding, which closes the play.
MARGARET
Margaret, Hero's attendant, is used as a decoy in Don John's plot to defame Hero. When Claudio is led to Hero's window, ostensibly to observe Hero's illicit tryst, what he really sees is Margaret and Borachio. Borachio later exonerates Margaret of complicity in the plot.
MESSENGERS
The play opens with Leonato speaking to a messenger who reports that Don Pedro and his soldiers are on their way to Messina for a holiday following their victory. At the end of the play, a messenger interrupts the double wedding festivities to announce that Don John has been apprehended and returned to Messina.
"MONSIEUR LOVE"
A nickname Benedick bestows on Claudio in mockery of his unsoldierly affection for Hero. (cf. Jaques calling Orlando "Signior Love" with similar contempt in As You Like It.)
SEXTON
The town clerk. He is sent for to take down the interrogation of Borachio and Conrade. He tells Dogberry that his examination is all wrong, but when the truth comes out, he orders the two men bound and taken to Leonato.
"SIGNIOR MOUNTANTO"
A nickname that Beatrice bestows on Benedick early in the play.
URSULA
Ursula, Hero's attendant, participates in the plot to make Beatrice and Benedick fall in love. Hero arranges to have Beatrice overhear her conversation with Ursula about Benedick's love for Beatrice. Later, Ursula is the messenger who tells Beatrice and Benedick that Hero has been exonerated.
URSLEY
Another name for Ursula, Hero's attendant.
VERGES
Verges, a headborough (petty constable) in Messina, is Dogberry's right-hand man. He assists in the interrogation of Borachio and Conrade. His name might suggest the acid, sour verjuice squeezed from unripe crab apples, grapes, and similar fruits.
WATCHMEN
There are at least three watchmen. The first watch is a speaking part as is the second watch, who is given the name George Seacole and nominated constable of the watch. Another member of the watch is named Hugh Oatcake, but he is not distinguished within the group. When Dogberry explains their duties, the watchmen show that they have little desire for the work: they prefer to sleep and avoid altercations with any of Messina's nocturnal criminals. Despite these intentions, the watchmen overhear Borachio telling Conrade about the plot to convince Claudio that Borachio and Hero are lovers. The watchmen apprehend Borachio and Conrade, and are instrumental in unraveling Don John's plot.