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

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

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...

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...e 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.