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Gender Roles In William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

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William Shakespeare presents many different themes that can connect to society today. In this book, Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare illustrates some of the common gender roles and societal expectations that were around in the late Elizabethan Era. The common roles and expectations play a role in shaping the characters and how they act. Other ideas that the story uses is honor and slander. These ideas play a key role in the book and affect how the characters interact with each other. This is seen in how Claudio and Hero interact due to Don John’s and some of the other character’s acts of slander. The reaction of the rest of the characters also reflects this idea. Don John’s acts of slander affect Hero’s honor to a further extent and in a different way in comparison to the effect on Claudio’s honor.
The gender roles that are emphasized influence the societal view on honor during the late Elizabethan Era and in William Shakespeare’s play. “From the beginning of the play, moreover, male sensitivity about legitimacy emerges …show more content…

Women are expected to have their virginity until they are married in order for them to give birth to a legitimate child. The accusation against her questions her reputation which makes the marriage questionable by Claudio, which is what Don John wants. Hero is affected by the claim that she is unfaithful especially since her relationship with Claudio is because of physical attraction and her ideal image. The characteristics of Hero’s character more easily enable for slander to be successful against her. In Much Ado About Nothing, Hero barely has any lines in comparison to the dynamic Beatrice, which displays how her character and her absence plays more of a symbolic role in the play (Dreher). Her character reveals how women at that time are vulnerable to sexual slander due to the patriarchal society that is present in that time

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