Done to death by slanderous tongue
Claudio:
"Done to death by slanderous tongue
Was the Hero that here lies"
Claudio makes this speech at what he believes to be Hero's tomb. At their wedding, Claudio had been duped into believing Hero was untrue to him, and he denounced her viciously. Hero's father joined in the rebuke, and Hero fell in a dead faint. Everyone believed she was dead except The Friar, who sensed something was amiss, and decided to use Hero's supposed death as a way into tricking the villains, who had staged the ruse that made Hero seem unfaithful, into confessing their deed. Hero is not dead, however, and they reunite and marry in this romantic comedy of two sets of lovers who are duped by various plans to either destroy or unite them in matrimony.