Gender Roles in 'Much Ado About Nothing'

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The play Much Ado About Nothing By William Shakespeare reflects gender roles and at the same time goes against them. The play is all about gender roles. Men are much more flat than the women. Don John is a flat character, Benedick is rounder, and Claudio is too dense for words. But in Beatrice & Hero, Shakespeare has created an interesting study. Beatrice is strong and witty; Hero is her polar opposite, quiet and keeps to herself. Beatrice's sharp words convey her active & intelligent mind. Conversely, the reticent Hero is pushed around, unfairly blamed for infidelity, & miserable. Although people were not yet accepting of an unmarried woman, and Beatrice marries, Beatrice is still a positive female character.
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Using This as a Starting Point, Explore Shakespeare's Presentation of Gender Issues in "Much Ado About Nothing" Shakespeare's presentation of gender in "Much Ado About Nothing" is concerned with the power each sex has over each other in society. The social conventions of the Elizabethan time that he was writing are reflected in this, as women were seen as socially inferior and had to submit to the will of men. At the beginning of the play, the characters are split into clear conventional groups, male and female, which sets up the theme of conflict between the genders for the rest of the play.The quote in the title illustrates one of these main conflicts very clearly. It shows that the men in the play hold most of the power and are much less constrained by conventions compared to the women. Women were not allowed to fight their own battles while men had to be the protectors in the relationship and defend women on their behalf. That Beatrice states her longing to be a man, despite the fact that she is the most outspoken woman in the play, creates greater drama and shows that even she is still limited by her gender. Despite putting on an outward show of not caring what people think, she really does care about some of the conventions of that

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