Much Ado About Nothing Gender Analysis
Year 11 English Literature- Much Ado About Nothing Essay
Question Much Ado About Nothing uses the stage to create a little world in order to examine the society at large. Discuss how the world created in the text allows the dominant ideologies of the time to be explored.
- Examine and make notes on Much Ado About Nothing focusing on a selection of both male and female character.
- Attention should be paid to the manner in which the language and actions of the characters reflect the dominant values of Elizabethan society.
- Consider how the ideas either challenge or endorse the attitudes and values of the target audience.
- Evaluate the difference between Elizabethan and modern gender expectations.
Shakespeare's romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing is set in the seaport town of Messina in Sicily, and reflects the dominant values of an English Elizabethan society. The play tells the story of Claudio of Florence, Hero the young woman with whom he falls in love, her witty cousin Beatrice and her male counterpart Benedick. The Prince of Aragon, Don Pedro and the Governor of Messina, Leonato have an exalted status due to their positions of power thus they are in …show more content…
It indicates to the audience that women were seen as inferior and powerless when compared to men in the patriarchal world of Messina. The Elizabethan audience is able to relate to this ideology of the dominance of the male gender in relationships. However modern audiences would be somewhat disgusted that women had no rights and were considered as property of males and this remark would be considered fascistic and to some extent sexist. This is very much an extinct ideology that was valued by the Elizabethan era and by employing it within Much Ado About Nothing; Shakespeare's microcosmic world of Messina gives the audience insight into the
Question Much Ado About Nothing uses the stage to create a little world in order to examine the society at large. Discuss how the world created in the text allows the dominant ideologies of the time to be explored.
- Examine and make notes on Much Ado About Nothing focusing on a selection of both male and female character.
- Attention should be paid to the manner in which the language and actions of the characters reflect the dominant values of Elizabethan society.
- Consider how the ideas either challenge or endorse the attitudes and values of the target audience.
- Evaluate the difference between Elizabethan and modern gender expectations.
Shakespeare's romantic comedy Much Ado About Nothing is set in the seaport town of Messina in Sicily, and reflects the dominant values of an English Elizabethan society. The play tells the story of Claudio of Florence, Hero the young woman with whom he falls in love, her witty cousin Beatrice and her male counterpart Benedick. The Prince of Aragon, Don Pedro and the Governor of Messina, Leonato have an exalted status due to their positions of power thus they are in …show more content…
It indicates to the audience that women were seen as inferior and powerless when compared to men in the patriarchal world of Messina. The Elizabethan audience is able to relate to this ideology of the dominance of the male gender in relationships. However modern audiences would be somewhat disgusted that women had no rights and were considered as property of males and this remark would be considered fascistic and to some extent sexist. This is very much an extinct ideology that was valued by the Elizabethan era and by employing it within Much Ado About Nothing; Shakespeare's microcosmic world of Messina gives the audience insight into the