Beatrice In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

In the Elizabethan era, woman were expected to be “Heroes.” No, not strong, daring, independent “heroes” but naive, quiet, shy, and obedient people like Hero’s character in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. This is a stark contrast to the way women are encouraged to act today, for now women are praised for being intelligent, charming, independent and vocal. In Much Ado About Nothing, Hero is the example of that Elizabethan woman. But Shakespeare was a forward-thinking man, and therefore challenged these expectations for the sexes, exemplifying his opposing ideas in another character: Beatrice. Beatrice is a modern woman in an Elizabethan play, challenging the idea that men are the only strong figures in society as she is one of the strongest

Her most prominent flaw is the fact that she hides behind her incredible wit to mask her true feelings, mainly the ones she has for Benedick. She begins the play by “despising” Benedick. For example, when she first hears he is best friends with the nice guy, Claudio, she says: “Oh, Lord, he will hang upon him like a / disease! He is sooner caught than the pestilence, and / the taker runs presently mad. God help the noble / Claudio! If he have caught the Benedick, it will cost / him a thousand pound ere ‘a be cured.” (I.i.81-85). She is comparing Benedick to a terrible, expensively cureable, disease. She is putting up a front to seem like she hates Benedick when deep down he is what she desires most. She also claims she does not want anyone to love her when, again, love is later revealed to be her deepest desire. She also insults Benedick directly to his face, despite his wearing a mask, when she says: “…he is the Prince’s jester, a very dull fool. Only his gift is in devising impossible slanders.” (II.i.131-132). Here, Beatrice insults the very thing that she and Benedick have in common: his cleverness and wit. She says Benedick cannot come up with anything clever to say and simply insults people, making him a boring joke of a man. She constantly insults him and speaks lowly of him for the first half of the play, which seems like a childish thing to do, as if she were a girl teasing her crush on the playground. Had she revealed her true feelings to Benedick from the start, it is possible that the two of them would have gotten along and gotten together