Please discuss the character of Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing.

Leonato is the governor of Messina, where this excellent
comedy is set, and is the father of Hero. He is involved in the gulling of Benedick and
Beatrice and shows great wit and humour in his speech. However, perhaps most
interestingly, we see a very different type of figure emerge at the wedding when Claudio
denounces Hero as a whore. Notice how, after he has received verification from Don
Pedro, Leonato turns on his daughter and clearly states that he wishes she were
dead:

O she
is fallen

Into a pit of ink, that the wide
sea

hath drops too few to wash her clean
again,

And salt too little which may season
give

To her foul, tainted
flesh.

However, we do see a
repentant Leonato who recognises that his daughter has been much maligned and therefore
challenges Claudio to a duel. Leonato is relentless in discovering the truth of how Don
John managed to trick so many and then is determined that Claudio will apologise
suitably for the damage he has done. So, although his speech is marked in its anger, we
would do wrong to judge him based solely on this speech. He, after all, is just one of
many very wise characters who was duped by Don John's treachery.