Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare: Gender Roles

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare shows the different gender roles in society during the Renaissance Era. During this time men were considered superior to women and expectations of how people should behave were based on their gender. As the head of a household men were greatly expected to take care of their family. A man is a soldier, a servant, or a leader with also having the task to be a husband and a father. A woman finds her public role in her relationship to a man.

As a wife and as a mother. Women were largely valued for their beauty. The ideal woman was rarely seen or heard in public, had no voting rights and had little to no authority. Instead there job was to stay at home and run the household and even take care of the kids if they had any. The gender roles in society in the Renaissance Era changed greatly to what they are today.

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In today's society we view everybody as equal doesn't matter female or male. Females now have a bigger role as they are now allowed to vote and even fight for our country unlike back then when there were just stay at home wives. Although we still have that stay at home wives type I personally know many single moms who do it all for there family while the father is nowhere to be seen. Women also have more authority now and have a say as many make their opinion heard.

Unlike back then where they had no authority and i would even say no say. It was more of the man calling all the shots. But that has greatly changed.Hero's dilemma and subsequent shaming at the altar does not save her from pain or even guarantee the role she has been brought upon to take on which would be the role of a wife. Which was a key role in society for women was to be a loyal wife. The shaming was brought on because when Friar Francis asked Claudio whether he wishes to marry Hero he broke out into a outraged speech saying she has been an unfaithful women when he really thought she was innocent and pure. Claudio tells Leonato in front of everyone at the church that the night before Claudio, Don Pedro, and Don John watched Hero talk with a vile man at her window.(Act IV) The man also confessed to having had sexual encounters with Hero many times before(Act IV). They believed this and supported this accusations and together accused Hero doing this. Beatrice was convinced that this wasn't true and later found out it wasn't and that Hero was a virgin and entirely faithful to Claudio. This shows how the society of gender roles were as the women were supposed to be entirely faithful to their husbands which can compare to today's society as it is the same way. Once you marry someone you commit to being faithful to them.2) I think Shakespeare was trying to inform us on how important law enforcement was when talking about Dogsberry even though people see them as asses. Dogberry is the chief of the citizen-police in Messina. During their watch the constables overhear a conversation between Boraccio and Conrade, one of who has been part of Don John's plot to discredit Hero on being unfaithful. They misunderstand the conversation that was taken place and arrest the two characters on the spot for acts of "treason" because they called the Prince's brother Don John a villain. This would then lead to the bigger pictures as when the Prince arrives at the truth about Don John and the arrested man confesses. Dogberry is then rewarded for his actions as without his help they would of never gotten a confession. This relates today with our society as many people view law enforcements as asses and pigs but recognize how important they really our to our society. Many people have other stereotype names for them such as lazy donut eaters but at the end of the day they are there to help and without the law enforcement this world would be a mess. They help stop and prevent people from committing major crimes which can affect many people. Not only that but they stop people from lying on other peoples names and that's why they say innocent until proven guilty. Just like what happened in this show Much Ado about Nothing. Comparing Law enforcement today and Dogsberry many people viewed them as negative but at the end of the day they get the job done. Just like the man who eventually confessed on what he did which was to discredit hero. They caught him talking about it and investigated him and later found out he was guilty. Just like our law enforcement does today. They will never arrest anybody for no reason but will conduct an investigation trying to prove there guilty of whatever they commited.3) Claudio and Hero and Benedick and Beatrice differ from each other in many ways. Claudio is a typical example of a male in Shakespeare's day and Hero is quiet and obedient, as expected of a young woman. Benedick and Beatrice's relationship challenges the expectations of their society and the audience can clearly see that through the show. The love between these two is much deeper than the love between Hero and Claudio. There are several aspects of the play which demonstrate this. Benedick and Beatrice have an sharp interest in each other's lives. It may be hidden by mocking but neither of them have much to say not concerning the other unlike the other couple. Beatrice's first line of the play is I pray you, is Signor Mountanto returned from the wars or no? She is referring to Benedick and her question displays the fact that she is concerned for his safety. Benedick and Beatrice's love also overrides their revulsion of marriage. They both have to swallow their pride and go back on their words which shows their loves goes even deeper than their long-held beliefs. Claudio and Hero have no such problems to overcome and their relationship is predictable with not very much conflicted. It is altogether easier for Claudio and Hero to be in love. Their marriage also works well in financial terms and on top of that works well for the status of the two families. They face no real marriage hurdles only when Don Jon's leaves Claudio with the wrong impression about Hero being unfaithful. But that was simply resolved with it being a lie. Hero really doesn't even display a desire to marry Claudio but only a passive obedience to her father's will which was was how the daughter had to follow back in the Renaissance. The daughter typically married whoever the father choose.