Much Ado About Nothing centers around the concept of the power of words, whether a character speaks, or they are implied. Beatrice is an adequate representation of the effect that words and language can have on how others perceive a person and who a person is internally. She overcame or moved beyond the life that she was told to live, based on the societal norms of her time. She did so by making herself respected and making herself known through her wit and intelligence. Beatrice gives herself the freedoms and power of a man of her time, to a certain extent.
Beatrice generates her freedom from society by making an unchangeable divide between herself and the people and culture of her world. She speaks what she wants, when she wants. Beatrice’s internal definition of freedom is the ability to speak freely, and the freedom to fully control her life, emotions, and actions. In the play, she gets angry when she has to personally, against her “will,” (2.3.249) call Benedict in to eat dinner. This isn’t her choice and this lack of authority over her actions counters her goal to be her own person, make her own choices, and her own decisions without interference or intervention from others, especially when no one can fully understand he because of the guards she has
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When most characters accuse Hero and Claudio mistreats her, Beatrice's main and overpowering conflict with the world gets revealed in its entirety. If Beatrice “were a man,” (4.1.331) she could have fixed the problem through efforts of her own. Beatrice had dedicated every action to live her life to give herself the opportunity to make choices on her own accord, but a male dominated society was still able to partially win in this scene. She has lost all control over her life and so has Hero. She still does not give up and attempts to regain control by using her intelligence to convince and manipulate Benedict into helping