Explore Shakespeare's presentation of Hero and Beatrice in 'Much Ado About Nothing'

Sam Jones

Hero and Beatrice are the two main female characters in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing" and they tell us a lot about how Shakespeare saw women in the context of the sixteenth century upper classes.

In looking at the presentation of the characters it is important to examine their entrance into the play and what first impressions the audience gets of their personality and appearance. Although they are both present in the very first scene of the play it is Beatrice who speaks the most and makes her presence known. Her very first line is also worth noting as when she says

"I pray you, is Signor Mountanto returned from the wars or no?"

She is making a joke about Benedick and is therefore showing that she is both a playful character and also not afraid to think of herself as equal with men. This would have been a strange sight to a typical Elizabethan audience as women in that era were supposed to be quiet and subordinate characters, not speaking out against men. Beatrice is also showing that she is a witty and intelligent character as she uses the word Mountanto to describe Benedick. This is a term used in fencing to describe an upward thrust, so it could be both a sexual innuendo or linked to the war which has just ended.

In contrast to this creative outburst, Hero's first line is completely straight. When she says

"My cousin means Signor Benedick of Padua"

she is just being totally honest with the people she is talking to. This is her only speech throughout the entire first Act of the play and her second line

"He is of a very melancholy disposition"

confirms our view that to begin with at least she is a very quiet character, not wanting to speak out with any conviction on any subject. This would be more like what the Elizabethan audiences would be expecting to see and for the beginning of the play at least there is an interesting contrast between the two female characters.

This contrast does not however, remain the same throughout the play, as we see that Hero becomes more and more confident as the plot develops, and by the beginning of Act 3.1 she goes into a speech of 15 lines explaining to Margaret her plan for getting Benedick and Beatrice together. This will be interesting for the audience as Hero up to this point would have been seen as a minor character, and although all the plot development has been revolving around her, this is where she starts to enter into the spirit of it all. Hero begins to take command here, instructing Margaret of her duties but she does not move away from her stereotypical upper-class woman’s behaviour as she is only acting in this manner when there are no men around. With Beatrice however we see tendencies turning the other way through the course of the play. Where she began as an assertive woman, witty and quick, she comes to the conclusion in Act 4.1 where she says

"Oh that I were a man for his sake"

she is acknowledging that as a woman she has less powers and she is wishing that she could be a man to attack Claudio properly. Beatrice also recognises that she can be subordinate to man but still be happy when in Act 5.4 Benedick tells her

"Peace I will stop your mouth"

This shows that he is controlling her by kissing her and she is also stopping her talking and letting him do what he wants. She is being submissive but still happy. She falls in love both with ...

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"Oh that I were a man for his sake"

"Peace I will stop your mouth"

This shows that he is controlling her by kissing her and she is also stopping her talking and letting him do what he wants. She is being submissive but still happy. She falls in love both with the man she sore she would never love and with love itself. This is a real turnaround for Beatrice who before has declared love as something that would not happen to her and shows how Shakespeare viewed love as something that was uncontrollable and could change people in ways they could not account for.

Both Beatrice and Hero fall in love and get married during "much ado about nothing" and the men they marry often have interesting parallels or differences with the women. Beatrice and Benedick are an interesting couple because they start out being in the midst of a "merry war", a war of wit and jest. Although it may seem like they do not like each other there is a certain admiration shown between the two of them. Beatrice and Benedick are very similar characters in many ways, as at the beginning of the play they do not think of love as something that will ever happen to them but by the end they have sworn to spend their life together. They both in fact show total scorn for love, Benedick especially with the lines

"I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster." Beatrice also feels this way saying that "I would rather hear my dog bark at a crow than hear a man swear he loves me". It is also interesting to note that these are both maverick characters, going against the typical man and woman images. Whilst noble men such as Benedick were supposed to be great lovers, he could not manage to write simple poems and she insulted and abused him at every possible juncture. This coupled with the fact that they were both highly intelligent and full of classical references and quick witted puns it is not surprising that they got together. I think Shakespeare wanted to use Beatrice and Benedick to show how life does not always follow patterns and protocol and that people are so individual and different that they can only be happy when they are themselves. This entire play seems to be an attack on the overly restrictive culture which existed in the upper classes at the time, and the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick is Shakespeare’s way of showing that another choice for life exists.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Beatrice and Claudio seem to be the perfect Elizabethan couple. She is quiet and submissive, he is a noble warrior home from the war, but everything seems to go wrong for them. The characters themselves are not so similar as Beatrice and Benedick but more the polar opposites which they were supposed to be at the time. I think it is interesting the way even though they get together through conventional methods for the period they still have a lot of problems with their relationship, and I think Shakespeare could have very easily decided to make this a tragedy on their part if he wanted to hit home his point even further.

There are a number of themes central to the book which both these women come into contact with and react differently to. One of the main themes of the play is that of deception, and both Hero and Beatrice come into contact with it and instigate it in some

way. Hero takes part in a spot of light deception when she sets up Beatrice and Benedick. I think this is important to the plot as it shows that women can not be all meek and even

the supposedly quiet and dignified character has to get up to some mischief. I think here Shakespeare is knocking the way that ordered society is so much front and no substance, and that people feel the need to act differently depending on who they are with. Hero's other piece of deception is when she pretends to most of the cast that she has died, but this is not really relevant to her development as a character because she is only doing what Friar Francis has told her to. She is however, by this stage very upset and scared because she has been disgraced without doing anything wrong as such. I think what Shakespeare is saying here is that when women are brought up in such grand courtly surroundings they are not prepared for the troubles that they will face in real life. When she says "and I seemed ever otherwise to you" in Act 4.1 she really seems bewildered and lost in the situation. This of course has all come about as a result of the much more serious deception carried out on Claudio earlier on which made him believe that Hero was unfaithful. I think it shows the weakness in Hero and Claudio's relationship that he was so easily led by Don John, Conrade and Borachio.

Beatrice is also affected by deception when she is tricked by Hero into thinking that Benedick is in love with her. I think she acts out of character when she accepts this so easily but maybe it is the fact that she knows deep inside that she loves Benedick that prompts her to accept. This could in a way be Shakespeare's way of pointing out that these two were destined to be together from the beginning, and the deception was just what was needed to kick start their romance.

Another of the main themes we encounter during the course of the play is that of honour and dignity, especially in the case of women. What we see with Hero and Beatrice is that from the beginning Hero seems to have a lot of dignity but Beatrice is verging on the bawdy and possibly masculine side and therefore not particularly dignified. This trend continues right up until Claudio is tricked into thinking Hero has been unfaithful. As soon as Hero's honour and virtue is brought into question she becomes far less respected as a character and I think that this is Shakespeare’s way of showing how closed minded and protected this society is if it has to literally throw out a previously respected member just because she could allegedly not follow the strict pattern of rules set out for her. I think Shakespeare noticed the flaws in the upper class way of life and wanted to expose them through the treatment of Hero near the end of the play, such as in the lines

'but you are more intemperate in your blood than Venus or those pampered animals that rage in savage sensuality'

spoken by Claudio. Here Claudio is clearly saying that human instinct is bad and this cannot be a sensible way of thinking given modern ideas.

The language which the two women use throughout the play shows a lot about the development of their character, as well as the subject of their speech. Beatrice is shown as being a light-hearted character by the fact that she always uses puns and makes jokes often, but the fact that she speaks often in prose, especially before falling in love shows that maybe she is not as respected as Hero, being an orphan. Hero's language, however, is not quite as adventurous as Beatrice’s to begin with but is in blank verse as opposed to

prose and this shows she was afforded high status within the household. Her speeches also become longer and more confident as the play continues, possibly showing that she has learned and progressed from her experiences.

Overall I think Shakespeare has presented the characters of Beatrice and Hero both as necessary characters to the plot of Much Ado About Nothing but also as symbolic messages to the people of his time, telling them that they should not become drawn in to living under the control of different social rules and protocols, because it is only when people act themselves that they can find true happiness, as Beatrice does in the play. Hero could be seen as a warning sign to girls of the time that they should not allow themselves to be pushed around, and I think Shakespeare is mocking the high class culture in which she lives.

contributed by Sam Jones