Much Ado About Nothing-Stereotypes

As we finish with our unit on Much Ado About Nothing, consider what stereotypes (racial, class, gender, etc.) are present in the play and how they effect your interpretation of the events portrayed. Do you think Shakespeare believed in the stereotypes he presented or do you feel he was attempting to teach his audience a lesson about misjudging others or about forcing people to conform to tradition? Your intial POST is due on 1-17-08 and your comments on other's blogs are due on 1-23-08.

I believe that one of the most present stereotypes present in the play are based on gender. Most of the women in Much Ado About Nothing are viewed as silly, emotional girls who really have no true opinions or noteworthy thoughts. Throughout the play the men are constantly misjudging the women, raging at them often, and never giving them an apology or admitting their mistakes. For example, Leonato practically disowns his own daughter Hero when she is falsely accused of cheating on her fiance Claudio. Leonato rages and scorns Hero when he hears the news, "Do not live, Hero, do not ope thine eyes" (IV.1.122). Later in the play when Leonato hears that this news is untrue, he happily accepts the news but offers no apology to Hero. This is absurd and clearly shows that Leonato believes that an apology is not necessary in this situation. The more appalling thing is is that Hero does not call Leonato out on his wrongdoings. These stereotypes make the women seem weak and voiceless. The way that the women simply accept the rudeness of men also makes the controversies in the play less serious, and more light hearted in the way that the characters "laugh it off".

I do believed that Shakespeare agreed with these stereotypes. In his day and age, it was very common for the women to be simply treated as mothers and lovers, but never as strong people with real opinions and voices. The way the women are treated in the play is very customary, and I think that the audience who watched and read the play back when it first came out did not find these observations to stick out in anyway. But for someone to read the play in this day and age, it is very apparent that there are serious stereotypes and inequality present in the play. The way the women were treated is simply tradition, and Shakespeare expects his readers to realize and accept this tradition as he and the rest of society did.