Much Ado About Nothing

Asim Jamaldin

Anne Diego

AS English Literature

Essay Question

Juliet Dunsinberre argues that ‘Shakespeare saw men and women as equals in a world which declared them unequal.’

How far do you agree with this statement in relation to Much Ado About Nothing? In your answer, you should refer to the context in which Shakespeare wrote and consider how a modern audience might react.

Introduction

In Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare portrays a common society in which a common role model of male and female ways of behaviour exists, and contrasts it with a deviant role model. It is Beatrice and Benedick who "misbehave". Beatrice′s behaviour and Benedick′s reactions are odd because they constantly work against society′s decorum. Shakespeare portrayed the common and the deviant behaviour in a way which is reflected in the characters′ engaging in dialogue. Men and women engage in dialogue differently and this can be seen in the composition of the staged dialogues as well as in the stage directions, which indicate body language.

In the following essay I will discuss and analyse how Shakespeare develops themes of equality/inequality between men and women in this play by discussing how these themes are developed in key scenes and through contrasting characters, and also by using textual evidence to justify my viewpoints, and showing how context affects interpretation.

Patriarchy and Courtly Love are important themes in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, Because Patriarchy actually means that, Men lead and women follow and that Gods desire for men to lead women with true love and women to follow with true love, where as Courtly Love is an illicit form of love which is mainly celebrated in Literature and is when a courtier devotes himself to a noblewomen. The love between Hero and Claudio is actually courtly love because he is sort of a knight and he devotes himself to a noblewoman, which is Hero who is decent, gracious and rich. At this

period many people believed in the Patriarchy and that men were higher than women, just like a deck of cards, the king is higher than a queen.

Cuckolding jokes has a dramatic importance to how the play unfolds to what happens in scene 4. These jokes were basically to show men as appearing foolish and are an insult to their honour,

“Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her?”

“Signor Benedick, no; for then you were a child.”

(I.1.109-110)

The importance of the jokes to men shows the unequal world as men would much rather care ...

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period many people believed in the Patriarchy and that men were higher than women, just like a deck of cards, the king is higher than a queen.

Cuckolding jokes has a dramatic importance to how the play unfolds to what happens in scene 4. These jokes were basically to show men as appearing foolish and are an insult to their honour,

“Were you in doubt, sir, that you asked her?”

“Signor Benedick, no; for then you were a child.”

(I.1.109-110)

The importance of the jokes to men shows the unequal world as men would much rather care about their honour rather then true love.

As in many of Shakespeare’s plays, the characters can be grouped in contrasting pairs. Thus we have two comrades: Claudio who is a young, naïve, conventional in his attitude towards women and concerned above all with honour, while Benedick is wordy wise and develops in the play as a man guided by deeper, more equalitarian principles. There are also two women: Hero who seems to be dutiful and submissive, and Beatrice who is witty, independent and defiant.

Another example of men and women living in an unequal world is when Claudio is ‘given’ Hero. The way she is given to him is as if she is an object such as a treat given to a dog,

“Count, take of me my daughter, and with my fortunes. His grace hath made the match, and all Grace say Amen to it!”

(II.1.278-280)

This quote implies that by marrying Hero, Claudio isn’t only getting a wife but is aggrandizing himself and also gets the status with the marriage.

Shakespeare has also showed the audience how men and women are equals but live in an unequal world from the character of Beatrice with her quick wit, independence and humour and also from when she is very troubled at Hero’s misfortune of being wrong fully accused and wants to get back at Claudio for what he had done at the Wedding;

“O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the market-place.”

(IV.1.301-302)

This shows how unequal the world is because she clearly say’s that a man could only do this but not a women because it is basically not lady like. From the play the audience can see how Beatrice doesn’t really represent the common women from the period of time that the play has been set, she actually shows the attitude and behaviour of a women from this period which we are living in.

The gulling scenes are of great importance from when Benedick reveals his attitude towards marriage and love in his first speech in act 2 scene 3 lines 8-34,

“Seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviours to love,”

(II.3. 8-10)

This shows that Benedick believes, at this time, that women are nothing but sex objects and he can never fall in love. This view is also around these days in the minds of millions maybe even billions of men around the world

In Act 3, Don John’s devious revelations about the ‘disloyal’ Hero, shows us a foreshadow of what’s to come in scene 4,

“If I see any thing tonight why I should not marry her, tomorrow in the congregation, where I should wed her, there I will shame her.”

(III.2.111-113)

Straight away Claudio’s speech shows that he must protect his honour as he doesn’t go and discuss these accusations with Hero or even Leonato.

The most recent production of Much Ado About Nothing (The Kenneth Branagh film) decided to add an extra scene of when Margaret is having sex with Borachio and how Claudio and Don Pedro actually believe that it is Hero. In Shakespeare’s production He may not have added this as it is seen as being taboo, but to more modern audiences it is something that we see everyday.

Act 4 shows us the audience the climax of Claudio and Hero’s plot, which is the wedding scene. This is where Claudio publicly rejects and shames Hero.

“Give not this rotten orange to your friend;

She’s but the sign and semblance of her honour.”

(IV.1.30-31)

“She knows the heat of a luxurious bed.”

(IV.1.39)

The main reason he is shaming her in this way is because he must protect his honour in front of everyone else. Modern audience would see his reaction as being very shocking and appalling, some may even call him a ‘Bastard’ but the audience at the time when the play was written could understand why he had to shame her in this way because honour was and still is now a very big issue to men.

The idea of the Friar’s plan alone is actually showing how unequal the world is as he say’s that they will tell everyone that Hero has died of the sorrow and shock of this accusation,

“When he shall hear she died upon his words,”

(IV.1.221)

In a way by saying this he implies that women are weak and frail and just by the slightest sound of bad news they die.

Conclusion

From reading the play and considering the time of when the play was written I actually do agree with Juliet Dunsinberre because as you can see from this play, they show Beatrice as more of a dominant character which represents women as being equal to men, where as Hero is more of a weak and frail character and is shown as an object the way she is given to Claudio and how she is given back to Leonato, by this they show how unequal the world is, and as they say the ball is men the men’s court. If there was to be a more recent production my view to make it more successful is to continue to show the shaming scene and to show Claudio’s behaviour, to show the audience he is still ‘weaker’ than a women and then show Hero at the end not accepting to marry him but reject him and shame him. This would make this production to show men and women as equals in an equal world.

End Of Essay

Asim Jamaldin