Female Imagery in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing
...o find out that Hero is Leonato's virtuous heir before he woos her. In this case marriage is seen as business, and not as something that is related to true feelings or love. The concept of virginity in Much Ado About Nothing becomes a matter of life or death. When Don John, in his quest to get revenge on Claudio, falsely informs him that Hero has engaged in premarital sex with another man, events take a chaotic turn for the worse. Upon hearing that Hero is impure, Claudio naively responds: "If I see anything to-night why I should/ not marry her, to-morrow in the congregation,/where I should wed, there will I shame her" (Much Ado About Nothing 3.2.123-5). Virginity, an important ideal in Elizabethan times, is not only desirable in a woman but necessary if she is to be wed. When Claudio and Don Pedro witness the deception Don John has deliberately set up, it is Hero who suffers. Don John pays Borachio to woo "Margaret the Lady Hero's waiting gentlewoman, by the name of Hero"(Much Ado About Nothing 3.3.145-6) at Hero's bedroom window, and to "confess the vile encounters they have had/ A thousand times in secret"(4.1.93-94) in front of Claudio and the Prince. Don Pedro and Claudio believe they are looking at Hero and that Hero is a whore. Consequently, they publicly dishonour and humiliate Hero by calling her a "rotten orange"(4.1.32) and a "common stale"(4.1.65) during the marriage ceremony. As a result, Leonato and the court take the word of the men as truth and ignore Hero's plea that she is innocent. Since men during this time are defined by the sexual purity of the women in their family, Hero's father disowns her and wishes her dead: "Do not live, Hero, do not open thine eyes...Myself would, on the rearwrad of reproaches,/Strike at thy life" (4.1. 123-8). Hero faints for she knows that Leonato, after rebuking her, might kill her himself. This coincides with the Elizabethan male based view that a girl's body is the property of her parents until they decide what is going to happen in her future. In his play, Shakespeare depicts women who are lacking in personality. In Much Ado About Nothing, Hero, one of the play's heroines, is portrayed from a male point of view as a passive and powerless woman. The character of Hero is minimally developed. Although she is on stage a great deal in the first four acts, she speaks little. Due to Hero's quiet nature, the audience receives its information about her from other characters. This emphasises Hero's passivity. The fact that Hero says nothing about marrying Claudio throughout the play strengthens Elizabethan male perspective of a female character. Hero accepts a man who has publicly denounced her because it is her father's will. Leonato himself displays no qualms about uniting his daughter to a man who nearly destroys her. Thus, in a sexist manner, Shakespeare reduces Hero to a creature of pathos. Shakespeare presents his audience with unconventional women who act as character foils to these feeble, obedient female characters. These strong-willed women serve to demonstrate the hardships women are forced to endure until they conform to society's ideals. In Much Ado About Nothing Shakespeare creates the character of Beatrice for this purpose. Beatrice captures the audience's attention immediately as she is woman of iron-will and quick wit. Challenging the ideology of the time when a woman had to obey her father and thereafter her husband, Beatrice refuses to be properly submissive. Unlike her obedient cousin Hero, Beatrice dictates her own actions: "Yes, faith, it is my cousin's duty to make/cur'sy and say, 'Father, as it please you.' But/yet for all that, cousin, let him be a handsome fellow,/ or else make another cur'sy and say, 'Father, as it/ please me' "(Much Ado About Nothing 2.1.52-56). Beatrice affectionately mocks Hero's willingness to selflessly please Leonato at all costs. In her opinion, a woman should have her own say in whom her suitor should be. Consequently, Beatrice has no misgivings about rejecting Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, despite his royal status. When Don Pedro proposes marria...