Much ado about nothing

             How does Shakespeare dramatically present power and authority in the relationship between men and women in Much Ado about Nothing?
             One of the key explorations of power and authority in "Much Ado About Nothing" is the relationship between Hero and Leonato as father and daughter. The play was written in Elizabethan England, and social attitudes of the period, together with long standing tradition, influence Shakespeare's portrayal of the "proper" relationship between father and daughter, and duty they owed to each other. In "Much Ado About Nothing" it is very much a patriarchal society, where rank and position rule supreme and women are submissive position to men, whether fathers or husbands. This "male dominance" is most acutely represented by the nature of arranged marriage. When the suspicion that the Prince wants to woo Hero is born, Leonato instructs her in what she must do. Indeed, Antonio believes that Hero "will be ruled by your father". He automatically assumes that Leonato has the right to command Hero. He decides who she will marry, amply demonstrated again, when after Claudio's denunciation of her he still gives her to him in marriage. Even stranger, to us as a modern audience, is Hero's passive acceptance of what her father decides her fate should be. This is a central point in understanding Shakespeare's representation of social structure at the time, since the authority Leonato had over Hero was absolute, and she as a daughter was indeed completely submissive to her father.
             This idea, however, is refuted by Beatrice's comments in Act 2, Scene 2, by her statement that although Hero must "curtsy, and say father as it please you", she should also ensure that her husband is a "handsome fellow" or she should make another curtsy and say "father as it please me". However, while Beatrice does publicly denounce the more str...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
Much ado about nothing. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 09:47, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/28333.html