Much Ado about Nothing - Essay Example

Much Ado About Nothing” and “Sense and Sensibility” Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name Insert Date Here (Day, Month, Year) “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Sense and Sensibility” are the portrayal of the realistic world, bearing woman as an inferior sex in so called patriarchy society with their feelings and dilemma beautifully exposed in their relationship towards their family as well as their suitors. With rich imagery and the comic strips, both juxtapose the characters to investigate and discover the ideas on love and marriage that were much prominent in the lives of woman. Beatrice and Benedick are turned into two biggest critics of love in “Much Ado About Nothing”, and this play also shows the way society bestows treatment towards the inferior sex and how the chauvinistic attitude of man and the code of honor so cherished by the males only cause devastations. Females in “Sense and Sensibility” have to put their adequate behavior and principles of society like their self-control, inhibited attitude and false façade to prove as most virtuous of all. Only because of them, they would show they are most virtuous of all. The selfishness and the power and domination in love shown by men have been radically laid bare in “Sense and Sensibility.” It was vulnerability and need for prudence, which were the demands of the world because it was the way of the world and the prestigious prodigy of patriarchy society. Hero and Claudio are the characters especially created to decipher with great accuracy the Elizabethan norms in marriage. Claudio is a very clever and shrewd fortune hunter while Hero is a self-effacing maiden always finding herself engrossed in books and marriage manuals, who is also a very compliant and submissive. Here the most pertinent point is the concern of Claudio’s towards the army of Don Pedro and not with love, but due to the mistaken identity Claudio learns that marriage is a business we all must fall into and engage ourselves in and on virtue of this, he deserves to Hero’s trusted love. 1 Besides this relationship also holds the ‘cuckold’ fear, which was very important during the period of Shakespeare. It is very easy for Claudio to believe Don John’s concoction on infidelity shown by Hero. Since women were deemed to be as possessions of men, their slightest sign or even the pretext of infidelity would cause wound on the Claudio’s soul, but in fact Hero had always kept herself as the most virtuous woman and a perfect model of the Elizabethan era. 2 On the other hand, there is also an assurance for woman in the form of Beatrice and Benedick who have been shown playing cramps and making undue comments on the very institution of marriage. In the Act I and Scene I, it is clear when we read the dialogue: “[I]t is certain I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted. And I would I could find it in my heart that I had not a hard heart, for truly I love none.” 3 Benedick is showing himself as almost impossible to attain for pleasure seeking love. Beatrice mocks at him with the remarks, “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me,” (Act I.I.107–108). It clearly shows how much she hates the man who swears of love and simply pulls her more away from Benedick. At this juncture, it is quite clear that both have no plans to marry each other. At the scene when all the soldiers are showing off their prestigious maleness, Claudio is appearing to be happy to see himself fall in love and Don Pedro is also seen happy by the decision of his but it is Benedick who alone pledges, “I will live a bachelor” (I.I. 201). Among all males, it is only Benedick who is against the concept of marriage, the most predominant theme and an essential part of every one’s life. It is to his view that Don Pedro teases, “I shall see thee ere I die look pale with love. . . . ‘In time the savage bull doth bear the yoke,’” (I.I. 202–214) suggests his belief that love does conquer all, even those as stubborn as Benedick This view holds how much love is important and it is this love, which ultimately falls on every one whatever they may say or proclaim. It is as much essential for the society as it is essential to enhance the male’s ego and prestige. Characters of “Sense and Sensibility” arouse with same essence, which is a drama of woman with the social behavior and events so regulated by the principles enshrined by the patriarchy society. It is a woman personified but under the subjugation and subordination of males in the family and society. Henry Dashwood’s widow and her three daughters are more disadvantaged economically only because there has been a practice of property transfer only to male heir. To make their economic position strong, they have to get themselves dependent on their half brother John Dashwood for relief. Their economical dependence makes them more vulnerable by posing before males as beautiful pageants ready to seduce and attract the most favorable suitors. Hidden in the words “Sense” and “Sensibility” is the cultural and historical tone; at the time when the novel was written it was the end of the one cultural movement, classicism and the beginning of another Romanticism. Within these two cultural movements, there was also the movement of change within in the woman attitude towards themselves and the society, which is represented by Elinor and Marianne. Elinor is a true replica of character of having sense; is reasonable and feels responsibility towards others- a true representative of Elizabethan woman whereas Marianne represents women with traits of sensibility. She has many rights and her behavior and conduct is determined by the principles of the patriarchy society. But what is most striking part of the novel is its various scenes where woman has shown in her views and actions equal to men and men are seen as trusted and the company of the women is thought to be of some value. For e.g. every one adores Miss Elinor not because of her beauty and her looks but also by her intelligence and not all women characters crave for marriage even though marriage is no doubt important and in all Austen’s books, the main theme has always been marriage. Both Marianne and Elinor are both very strong women even in her illness, Marianne says, “From you, from my home, I shall never again have the smallest incitement to move.” 4 She is so overwhelmed by Willoughby that she will never leave him at all cost. These women’s passion and sadness for Willoughby and Edward are not because they wanted to marry. But it is also true that for Marianne and Elinor, marriage is not their easy choice but an essential part of their life, while men have more choices whereas women do not have. Security for money generally makes women present themselves as obvious choice for marriage. It is this security for many that Marianne gets attracted towards Willoughby and Elinor gets attracted towards Edward for his sensitivity and quietness in his manners and even Mrs. Dashwood who earlier disregards him because of his unmanly like nature now begins to like him and consider him as Elinor’s suitor. It is clear from these words: “No sooner did she perceive any symptom of love in his behaviour to Elinor, than she considered their serious attachment as certain, and looked forward to their marriage as rapidly approaching (9).” Even Marianne is so desperate about marriage that when she hears about Elinor engagement, she begins to compare Edward with her own dream man and insists that “Mama, the more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! He must have all Edward’s virtues, and his person and manners must ornament his goodness with every possible charm (10)” One point is obviously clear in “Sense and Sensibility” that woman can share openly there feelings about their likeness and the dream man of their choice and can choose their suitor of their liking whereas in the “Much Ado About Nothing”, women can create their influence over men yet they do have to surrender themselves under their authoritative power and secondly women do not have their choice in marriage. We can say that marriage for Beatrice and Elinor was the rational choice, and they made the best from their marriage while the marriage of Hero and Marianne though was the choice of the society. The marriage between Beatrice and Benedick and between Claudio and Hero ultimately came out to be choice of their own sweet will and not of the choice or demand of the society. As the value system in the “Much Ado About Nothing” was one of the patriarchy society where woman had very little say but Shakespeare through the marriage of these characters exploded the old conventional way of marriage by making the characters realize the true value of each other and better understanding. Even in “Sense and Sensibility” though marriage is a very important institution but ultimately it is the sense that prevailed among the characters in their choice of their partners. Jane Austen reflected the change within the complexity of the social paradigms whereas Shakespeare too struck at the cord of what made so deeply embedded patriarchy society. Reference List Austen, J. 2007. Sense and Sensibility. Stilwell, KS: Digireads.com Publishing. Hayes, J. 1983. Those “soft and delicate desires”: Much Ado and the Distrust of Women. Lenz, Carolyn Ruth Swift, Greene, Gayle, and Neely, Carol Thomas Ed., The Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare, pp 79-99. University of Illinois Press: Chicago. Ranald, M.L. 1979. As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks: English Marriage and Shakespeare. Shakespeare Quarterly, 30, 68-81. Shakespeare, W. 2006. Much Ado About Nothing. Middlesex: Echo Library. Read More