Much Ado About Nothing Women Essay

The play, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ by William Shakespeare exhibits how female characters struggle to uphold authority and power, which could be due to the time it was set in, the Elizabethan era. The Elizabethan era prevails in a hierarchy system, whereby women are perceived through a chauvinistic eye and deemed as inferior to men. Hero reveals how her lack of power leaves her in a helpless situation when men try to slander her. Secondly, despite the efforts Beatrice puts in to help Hero, she remained powerless as she was degraded and embarrassed through commentary. However, the power of love over-rules the inferiority of women, which was revealed through a change of character in benedick when discovers Beatrice’s ‘love’ for him.

The lies

Initially, Hero was an innocent and obedient daughter, where she upholds a conventional image of herself and was depicted as an ideal wife due to her desirable qualities. False imputations inflicted upon her interfere with her perfect reputation as Claudio publicly describes her as “pure impiety” and “impious purity” at their wedding ceremony. Claudio’s perceptions of Hero are a result of Don John’s evil plot, which aimed to deceive and manipulate him into believing Hero’s ‘infidelity’. Hero must rely on her father for support as she is unable to stand up for herself, which exhibits her as powerless and impotent as she must seek defense from a male to attempt to restore her reputation. Shakespeare attains the ability to uphold a double meaning within the text, “O Hero! What a Hero hadst thou been”, whereby “Hero” was not just referring to her

It was expected that women should be married and devot themselves to their husbands, however Beatrice aspired to remain as an independent, self-supporting woman without a husband. Beatrice’s challenges against gender roles is reflected upon her describing marriage as “wooing, wedding and repenting”, which means ‘seduce’, ‘marriage’ and ‘regret’. Although it is expected that she keeps her opinions private as it was tabooed during the time, she expressed them openly, whereby she doesnt believe women should be forced to remain quiet and live their lives reliant towards a husband who obtains all power over them. Shakespeare employs words to convey interesting characters and scenes in this play that combine comedy and tragedy. This is evident through Benedick’s insults towards Beatrice; “if her breath were as terrible as her terminations, there would be no living near her, she would infect to the north star”. It is comedic as he makes a joke about her breath, exaggerating that it is horrible and strong enough to reach the stars, however tragic as he publicly humilates her and tries to degrade her infront of a crowd. Beatrice knows the restrictions that should limit her as a woman, but she initially escapes them by not being a wife. She says “I had rather lie in the woolen”, implying she does not want to marry and that she is very