Characterization Essay

Beatrice and the Patriarchy in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing

In Shakespeare’s England, and oftentimes in present day, women are placed in strict roles with firm stereotypes. Women were expected to be chased, silent, and obedient with no deviation. Beatrice, from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, refuses to allow herself to be contained in the box of what a woman ‘should be.’ Through imagery of violence, Beatrice is characterized as a heroine by refusing to submit to traditional female roles and breaking binaries in a patriarchal world.

Women were only seen as either accepting or disobeying their designated roles in a male-dominated society, but Hannah Bredar reconstructs a position in which characters like Beatrice could inhabit both. Bredar claims that “if one is able to cultivate a degree of ironic distance from one’s assigned role, one can resist and critique that role even as one inhabits it” (68). Explaining that women are placed in “assigned role[s]” suggests that oftentimes women were placed in undesirable circumstances against what they believed, they were forced to play a part as if they were on a stage. Married women, for example, could then participate in that “role” (ibid) with a degree of objectivity, recognizing that some things they were expected to do, such as always submit to their husbands, was wrong and yet they could do it because they knew it was only an act to suffice men, not that they really believed they should be submissive. Just as actors play their parts with a degree of distance because they are acting, married women can do the same. Women could at once be wives while also “resist[ing] and critiqu[ing]” (ibid) the institution of marriage and the necessity to be subservient. Beatrice combats the image of an ideal wife and although she marries in the end, it is important to understand that she perhaps plays the parts she has been given even as she characterizes herself as a hero by standing up for women and their right to be what they choose.

Shakespeare uses a violently exaggerated metaphor in Beatrice’s speech to construct her as a woman willing to challenge men in a world ruled by the latter. She says “pray you, how many hath he killed and eaten in these wars? But how many hath he killed? For indeed, I promised to eat all of his killing” (1.1.35-37). Beatrice recognizes that Benedick will not literally consume any of the men he kills. Rather, in brutally claiming that she will “eat all of his killing” (ibid), she challenges men’s abilities. Instead of eating dead men, she wishes to “eat” (ibid) the idea that men are praised for having an excess of physical agency to fight for their country while women can hardly fight for themselves. She metaphorically chews up the authority men have over women, linguistically placing herself in a more powerful position by metaphorically consuming what Benedick could only kill and claiming to do what even men who have the agency to kill would not. As a strong protagonist, Beatrice questions the power that men seem to hold over women while inverting gender roles as she goes on the offensive and makes the men, in this scene the messenger, go on the defensive.

Beatrice is further portrayed through gruesome hyperbole as one who both recognizes and critiques the power men have. In replying to Benedick’s slow agreement to kill Claudio, Beatrice exclaims “O God, that I were a man! I would eat his heart in the marketplace” (4.1.298-302). Beatrice does not actually wish to be a man, but she exclaims it to convince Benedick to do as she wishes as he holds physical agency that she does not. Instead of literally wanting to “eat [Claudio’s] heart” (ibid), she states that she feels so angry that she wishes she could violently dehumanize Claudio to the extent that he was food to be eaten, just as he has treated Hero with as much respect as a mere object. She does not truly wish to be a man, but she also refuses to be a gentle lady. She wants the power and agency that men possess to attack and kill their enemies, something they often get away with when women do not. In admitting such a disparity, she simultaneously affirms men’s position in the patriarchy while also critiquing the fact she could only exact the same revenge she asks of Benedick if she were a man. Clearly, she both recognizes her position in society while fighting against it as a heroine using the only power she has- her words and wit.

Shakespeare further characterizes Beatrice as a woman attempting to break the patriarchal man/woman binary through the use of a violent, emasculating metaphor. When asked if she enjoys giving Benedick a message she responds with “yea, just so much as you take upon a knife’s point” (2.3.225-26). Here, the metaphor of “take upon” (ibid) represents Benedick being stabbed with the knife, where he would “take” the knife inside of him. This represents penetration, where Beatrice would derive pleasure not only in physically injuring him but in violating his body. In using language typically reserved for men, she linguistically breaks away from the cultural narrative of women as the ones violated. Rather she portrays herself as the dominant person in the interaction and emasculates Benedick by implying that he would be penetrated by the knife as a woman would be by a man. Clearly, Betrice is not afraid to participate in discourses which alter the ideological roles of men and women in society in order to be a leading figure for women.

In a filmed scene from the Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park interpretation of Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice again realizes the power women can have if they deconstruct what it means to be a man. In her response, Beatrice says “I wonder that you are still talking, Signor Benedick. Nobody marks you” (7:54-7:58). In adding emphasis to the end of Benedick’s name, Beatrice in this production, Danielle Brooks, both verbally attacks him and makes a joke at the expense of his gender. The slang phrase “dick” is used in the present day to call someone stupid, rude, or annoying, an appropriate choice for a modern performance of the play set in a contemporary Georgia. However, by using the insult of “dick,” Beatrice also makes a joke of Benedick at the expense of what makes him a biological man. She takes the one body part that gives him power over her and treats it as though it is a laughing matter. In this performance, Beatrice is clearly represented as a strong heroine willing to speak out when she is supposed to be silent, but also to break apart the binary that separates people based on their gender.

Marianne Novy fashions an argument about the conflict women in Shakespeare’s plays experience between society and themselves. She states that “Shakespeare’s women gain their dramatic power because they seem to live so close to the conflict between their desires to keep and to lose the self, between individuality and merging with others, and between integrity and flexibility” (Novy, 269). Setting up the binaries of “keep[ing]” and “los[ing]” the self, “individuality” and “merging,” and lastly “integrity” and “flexibility” (ibid), Novy constructs the heart of the women’s issues in Shakespeare’s plays and women across all periods. The question of whether one should adapt, or “flex” (ibid) into societies expectations at the expense of their own self and their “integrity” (ibid), sets up an impossibly difficult identity to balance. All of Shakespeare’s women, particularly the “shrewish” ones, are expected to change to fit into a mold. And yet, they are reluctant because they don’t want to lose the identity they have constructed for themselves. Beatrice finally gives in to love, and yet she must be careful how she handles her heart and her words in order to avoid losing herself completely. Women can find a balance, but most must either follow the ideologies in place, or break them, and that is where the potential for great power lays.

In her society, others characterize Beatrice as undesirable, especially for marriage, through a metaphor that attempts to admonish and discredit her outspoken, oppositional nature. Leonato states “by troth, niece, thou wilt never get thee a husband if thou be so shrewd of thy tongue” (2.1.16-17). “Shrewd of thy tongue” (ibid) constructs a verbally violent jab at Beatrice, aiming to hurt her by representing her words as argumentative or nagging. Someone who is “shrewd” can be understood as clever at understanding and making judgements. The line offers a negative connotation of speaking out because it threatens the cultural and patriarchal power Leonato holds over Beatrice. If she continues to speak her mind she will never “get” (ibid) a husband. The metaphoric “get” (ibid) implies that she has received something, not that she necessarily wants it. Yet, due to her gender she is expected to marry and is frequently criticized for doing anything that makes her less desirable as a silent and obedient woman. Other characters in the play view her as less fit for marriage because of her sharp tongue (2.1.18; 3.1.49-54), but they fail to realize that perhaps she wants it that way. They see her only as an outlier, instead of a shining example of a protagonist with her own individual person who may want better or different things in her life.

Shakespeare fashions Beatrice as a character with a complex identity through a metaphor of control in which she submits parts of herself in order to form a connection. After overhearing of Benedick’s supposed love for her, Beatrice claims, “and Benedict, love on. I will requite thee, taming my wild heart to thy loving hand” (3.1.111-112). Many may argue that her willingness to “tame” (ibid) her heart means that she is just another woman who, in the end, succumbs to marriage and the necessary attributes of a woman of her time period. Although changing a part of her identity can be viewed as a small act of violence unto herself, killing a part of who she is, a closer examination of the language proves this false. “Taming” (ibid) can mean to domesticate and make docile through submission. However, it can also mean to rein in and control through practice and discipline, such as taming a stray dog to be comfortable around people or taming one’s mind to, for example, focus better. It does not have to be an action performed on someone by another. Beatrice acknowledges that she can control her own argumentative, outspoken ways in order to find love. Yet, she doesn’t yield to being obedient and silent. Taming “to” (ibid) Benedick’s hand, not under it or because of it, implies that Beatrice, and not Benedick, controls her own identity and mind. Rather than choose to completely submit, Beatrice’s diction, through her careful representation of her own agency in “taming” (ibid) her heart, constructs an image of a strong woman who knows that she can change for someone while still retaining her values and views. Loving men is not a weakness for an outspoken female activist such as Beatrice, and it doesn’t discredit anything she stands for. Women were expected to be silent, and they were cast aside if they weren’t. Beatrice, in true heroin fashion, is refusing to be placed into one of two boxes that men have created to retain power over women.

At the end of the play, Beatrice’s heroic character is tested and portrayed as silenced through a metaphor of control. Leonato says “peace! I will stop your mouth” (5.4.97-98) when giving her hand to Benedick and encouraging them to kiss to end her string of witty banter. This verbal violence commands Beatrice to silence, ordering her to stop speaking as it is, to him, unbecoming of a wife. In yelling “peace” (ibid), he attempts to hide his violence behind a generally positive word. His affirmation of “I” (ibid) plays directly into the patriarchal society they live, where he takes responsibility for Beatrice, and wishes to rid her of her wit by marrying her. After they kiss, Beatrice has no more lines, leaving the reader to wonder if, after the entire play, she was finally silenced. In Shakespeare’s text, Beatrice seems to submit to her role as the silent wife.

However, certain adaptations of Much Ado About Nothing such as Kenneth Branagh’s 1993 interpretation handle the text differently through manipulation of lines and irony, portraying Beatrice as a willing participator in the kiss. The line, traditionally given to Leonato, is given to Benedick in this version. At 1:42:23, Benedick says “peace! I will stop your mouth,” breaking up the last part of the sentence with laughter. They both turn and smile at one another before leaning into the kiss. Benedick’s laughing, a private laugh exercised when looking only at Beatrice, constructs that he is not laughing at her with the other men, but rather understands the irony of his statement. He will never be able to “stop her mouth” (ibid) because she controls herself. Her smile at his, in this case, joke implies that she knows he understands her self-fashioned identity and that she willingly participates in the kiss because she truly loves Benedick and trusts that he will support her. Removing the verbal violence of the line through changing who speaks it, this production seems to hint at Beatrice finding a balance between herself and society because she marries for her own happiness and not anyone else’s. She will be a wife, but, as Benedick clearly understands, not a silent one. She will participate in the role women were thought to belong to while at the same breaking all expectations for herself as a wife. Performances such as this take Shakespeare’s text, using all the context from the rest of the play, and construct Beatrice with a clearer agency and heroism than perhaps afforded her at the end of Shakespeare’s text.

Beatrice’s language is constructed through borrowing aggressive linguistic techniques generally applied to men, and Maurice Hunt argues that through Beatrice’s witty language she is inadvertently submitting to the patriarchy. Hunt states that “paradoxically Hero's clipped, unconventional language of the heart positively contrasts with the more attractive (because amusingly witty) effusive language of Beatrice that delivers her over to and imprisons her within a patriarchy” (177). Hunt claims that Beatrice’s “effusive language” keeps her “imprisoned” (ibid) in the patriarchy. Effusive, in this sentence, is understood as being unrestrained or unreserved, and in speaking out instead of remaining silent, Hunt argues that this keeps Beatrice under the control of the men in her society. She claims, following the quote above, that the men in the play patronize her when engaging in conversations where she exercises her wit and this in turn places Beatrice in a subordinate position (Hunt, 177). Hunt fails to recognize that Beatrice’s unreserved speech acts as her own weapon against the patriarchy. It’s ironic that Beatrice is represented as being stuck in the patriarchy while Hero, the silent and obedient character, represents a “positive” (ibid) contrast to her cousin. Perhaps Beatrice becomes more of a target for men, where they feel threatened and feel as though they must verbally oppress her more because of her actions, but Hero never attempts to break from the role she has been expected to fulfill. When Beatrice uses her voice and wit, she uses the only agency she possesses to combat the male-dominated society she lives in. Her language does not “imprison” (ibid) her, rather aids in freeing her, and all women, of expectations. It does not matter if men patronize her because Beatrice herself only cares about the power which lies behind speaking her mind. Men patronize women in order to deter them from speaking out and opposing the patriarchy. Beatrice’s language, far from steeping her in this patriarchy, works to slowly evict herself from it as she proves at the end of the play that women can be outspoken and still find a loving, understanding husband. Beatrice sets an example for all women of what they are capable of and what a true heroine can be in the face of male oppression. To conclude, Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing constructs Beatrice, through images of violence, as a heroine willing to do what she can to break down the ideologies of her time and refuse the sexist gender roles that women were expected to fulfil. Fashioning her as a woman who isn’t afraid to call attention to the patriarchal power structures that confine her allow for a deeper reading of the play and of Shakespeare’s time period in general. In looking at how women often had to choose between themselves and society, and how marriage would then have to be participated in even while it was critiqued, a more tangible and realistic image of the Shakespearean woman is painted.

This conversation, although here applied to Shakespeare, should also be considered in relation to modern day. Women are still chastised for speaking out and being authoritative, and the traditional view of the husband as the “head of house” still lingers today. People are calling in to question not only traditional values, but what it even means to be a woman and how to construct healthy ideas around that in a society dominated by men and their opinions. If reading Shakespeare helps to foster higher level thinking, it’s important to apply the complex knowledge gained while reading to contemporary issues. In the world of literature and literary criticism, most things are connected and build or take from one another. It’s only fair to assume that the fashioning of women’s identities can be viewed in the same light.

Works Cited

Bredar, Hannah. “Witty Shrews and Shrewish Wits: Satirizing Genre and Gender in Much Ado About Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew.” Explorations in Renaissance Culture, vol. 48, no. 1, South Central Renaissance Conference, 2022, pp. 61-89.

Hunt, Maurice. “The Reclamation of Language in ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’” Studies in Philology, vol. 97, no. 2, University of North Carolina Press, 2000, pp. 165-191.

Novy, Marianne. “Shakespeare’s Female Characters as Actors and Audience.” The Woman’s Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare, Edited by Gayle Greene, Carolyn Ruth Swift Lenz, and Carol Thomas Neely, University of Illinois Press, 1980, pp. 256-270.

Much Ado About Nothing. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, performances by Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson, produced by BBC Films and American Playhouse, distributed by The Samuel Goldwyn Company and Entertainment Film Distributors, 1993.

“Much Ado About Nothing.” Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park, directed by Kenny Leon, performances by Danielle Brooks and Grantham Coleman, season 47, episode 9, Great Performances: “Broadway’s Best,” 2019.

Shakespeare, William. “Much Ado About Nothing.” The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Suzanne Gossett, Jean E. Howard, Katherine Eisman, and Gordon McMullan; 3rd edition, W.W. Norton & Company, 2016, pp. 1406-1462.