The Importance of Male Honour in Much Ado About Nothing Essay Example
Draft: ‘in this apparent comedy male honour is a subject of deadly seriousness’ Do you agree?
Much ado about nothing (MAUN) was written in a patriarchal society, (ruled by men) where Shakespeare could influence society’s morals and virtues in his plays. The idea of male honour was central to view the concept of masculinity. Shakespeare uses the seriousness of honour through his characters and his play as a whole looks at both sides of the question of honour.
Although male honour is supposed to be viewed as deadly serious or there are its comical sides to it. Like in the first opening scene when Beatrice is having a spar with the messenger, he simply can’t keep up with her. Beatrice makes the messenger look weak when she proposes these insults towards Benedick. The Messenger try’s to defend ‘Signoir Mountanto’ ‘He hath done good service, lady, in these wars.’ The messenger tries to sustain his loyalty to the men and defends Benedick to make him sound like a good man. But with Beatrice’s quick witted insults he just simply can’t keep up with her and her ‘acid tongue.’ She has no care for what she saying and how she’s attacking Benedicks behaviour as a loyal man. This could suggest that Shakespeare is trying to show that women can be stronger than a man if given the chance to.
This can relate back to Elizabeth the 1st, she was a strong headed women with strict views and was very opinionated and even masculine. Some of her people at that time didn’t even realise she was a women. Elizabeth was respected and honoured even though she was a woman in the 17th century who usually had no rights; she was the ‘virgin queen’ that married her country. Elizabeth had a famous quote: ‘I know I have the body of a weak feeble woman but I have the heart and stomach of a king.’ We can relate this to Beatrice, as a woman of her time she is strong courageous and independent witch would not be seen in typical Elizabethan women, her independence makes her that much more stronger than
Much ado about nothing (MAUN) was written in a patriarchal society, (ruled by men) where Shakespeare could influence society’s morals and virtues in his plays. The idea of male honour was central to view the concept of masculinity. Shakespeare uses the seriousness of honour through his characters and his play as a whole looks at both sides of the question of honour.
Although male honour is supposed to be viewed as deadly serious or there are its comical sides to it. Like in the first opening scene when Beatrice is having a spar with the messenger, he simply can’t keep up with her. Beatrice makes the messenger look weak when she proposes these insults towards Benedick. The Messenger try’s to defend ‘Signoir Mountanto’ ‘He hath done good service, lady, in these wars.’ The messenger tries to sustain his loyalty to the men and defends Benedick to make him sound like a good man. But with Beatrice’s quick witted insults he just simply can’t keep up with her and her ‘acid tongue.’ She has no care for what she saying and how she’s attacking Benedicks behaviour as a loyal man. This could suggest that Shakespeare is trying to show that women can be stronger than a man if given the chance to.
This can relate back to Elizabeth the 1st, she was a strong headed women with strict views and was very opinionated and even masculine. Some of her people at that time didn’t even realise she was a women. Elizabeth was respected and honoured even though she was a woman in the 17th century who usually had no rights; she was the ‘virgin queen’ that married her country. Elizabeth had a famous quote: ‘I know I have the body of a weak feeble woman but I have the heart and stomach of a king.’ We can relate this to Beatrice, as a woman of her time she is strong courageous and independent witch would not be seen in typical Elizabethan women, her independence makes her that much more stronger than