Beatrice In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

“We ask four things for a woman–that virtue dwell in her heart, modesty in her forehead, sweetness in her mouth, and labour in her hands.” –Chinese proverb. If there was a way to capture all of the notions behind the querelle de femme, the words above would only be capable of capturing the very minimum of the debate. With the existence of such strict ideas governing how women should behave, their place within society, and overall attitudes regarding them, William Shakespeare certainly placed his own spin on the debate in Much Ado About Nothing. Shakespeare relies heavily on Beatrice throughout the play as a kind of vessel to combat the typical notions of what a woman should be during that time while simultaneously using Hero to juxtapose Beatrice’s

During the renaissance era, women were expected to be “seen and never heard in public” (Hull 15). From the moment we meet Beatrice, through her interactions with men, we get a strong sense that she is not the typical woman of her time. In act 2 scene 1 of Much Ado About Nothing¸ Beatrice says, “He were an excellent man that were made just in the midway between him and Benedick. The one is too like an image and says nothing, and the other too like my lady’s eldest son, evermore tattling.” (2.1.5-10). Here, Beatrice is openly critiquing men in the presence of a governor no less. This scene, amongst many others, illustrates the confidence she has as a woman to speak so freely amongst people who she is expected to always show the utmost respect

Along with barring children, marriage was another task that was simply expected. Predictably so, the audience comes to learn that Beatrice is taking a stance against that societal norm as well. In Act 2 scene 1 of the play, the audience learns that Beatrice “…cannot endure to hear tell of a husband”, and we also learn that she “mocks all her wooers out of suit.” (2.1.296-297), but we get the clearest glimpse of Beatrice’s pessimistic attitude toward marriage in lines seventy-four to seventy-eight when she says, “…The first suit is hot and hasty like a Scotch jig…and then comes repentance, and with his bad legs falls into the cinquepace faster and faster till he sink into his grave.” This is where we see Beatrice’s fatalistic view of marriage emerge; she’s essentially saying inevitably you’ll come to regret marriage until the day you’re greeted by death. Beatrice also made the assertion that marriage is similar to being attached to an invaluable piece of dirt (2.1.60-61). Opposite Beatrice’s staunch attitude regarding marriage, we have Hero who is ready and willing to not only please her father but to also fulfill her obligations to uphold the business transaction of a renaissance