How Shakespeare Dramatically Presents Power and Authority...

How Shakespeare Dramatically Presents Power and Authority in the Relationship Between Men and Women in Much Ado About Nothing One of the key explorations of power and authority in â€Å"Much Ado About Nothing† is the relationship between Hero and Leonato as father and daughter. The play was written in Elizabethan England, and social attitudes of the period, together with long standing tradition, influence Shakespeare’s portrayal of the â€Å"proper† relationship between father and daughter, and duty they owed to each other. In â€Å"Much Ado About Nothing† it is very much a patriarchal society, where rank and position rule supreme and women are submissive position to men, whether fathers or husbands. This â€Å"male†¦show more content†¦However, while Beatrice does publicly denounce the more stringent aspects of arranged marriage, and displays herself as a thinking character, there is an indication in the play that both Leonato and Antonio dismiss her view e.g.â€Å"she is too curst† This shows that older men didn’t hold a woman’s opinion in much value, which might be the reason for Hero’s reluctance to offer her opinion in front of men. Beatrice championing this view of female choice, not Hero, only further serves to distinguish the positions of the two women in relation to male power. On first view, Hero is the obedient female character, while Beatrice is the abrasive character. However, this position is challenged by Hero’s firmness in dealing with other women â€Å"my cousin is a fool, and so are you†. Indeed, both men and women have much more different patterns of behaviour when outside each other’s company. Hero is covert, silent and publicly unassertive in front of men, because she doesn’t believe that she will be listened to. Beatrice is the only female character who Shakespeare presents as unconstrained by this restriction. However, the only male character that seems to listen to her is Benedict, which only magnifies the uniqueness of the two characters, both as a couple and as i ndividuals, in that Beatrice is not tamed by male power, and Benedict acknowledges female wisdom. InShow MoreRelatedGp Essay Mainpoints24643 Words   |  99 PagesCensorship d. Profit-driven Media e. Advertising f. Private life of public figures g. Celebrity as a role model h. Blame media for our problems i. Power + Responsibility of Media j. Media ethics k. New Media and Democracy 2. Science/Tech a. Science and Ethics b. Government and scientist role in science c. Rely too much on technology? d. Nuclear technology e. Genetic modification f. Right tech for wrong reasons 3. Arts/Culture a. Arts have a future in Singapore