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In Act 2 scene 1 of Much Ado about Nothing, one of the plays main questionswhether
Claudio will get to marry Herois resolved in the affirmative. As Don Pedro tells Claudio that
he has successfully wooed Hero for him, and spoken to her father Leonato and got his
permission, Leonato offers his daughter in marriage to him. As will be shown, this moment of
joy for Claudio and the ensuing exchange between Don Pedro and Beatrice (2.1.299-332),
reflects such central themes of the play as marriage and the social expectations associated with it,
particularly of unmarried women, the pressure of which shapes characters words and actions.
One of the central themes of Much Ado is marriage and its necessity in the world of
Messina, especially for a woman. The expectations of unmarried Elizabethan women was to
obey their fathers in his choice of marriage and then their husbands. Leonatos brother, Antonio,
echoes Leonatos role by saying he trusts Hero will be ruled by [her] father (2.1.49-50) in the
choice of a husband. Similarly, since she is expecting at this stage that Don Pedro will propose to
Heroafter Antonios servant overhears (incorrectly) Claudios conversation with Don Pedro
earlierHero is primed to accept his proposal. Thus, Hero has no say in the matter as Leonato
asks the Count to take her in marriage. Hero is the archetypal passive woman in Elizabethan
society: obedient, meek, and conventionally feminine. Although her father has prepared her to
Similarly, the social expectations Claudio brings to his courtship of Hero is in keeping
with conventional courtly love. Unlike other romantic comedies, Shakespeare gives us nothing
like love at first sight; instead, as Zitner notes in his editorial introduction, All the lovers are
concerned about rank, money, and Society (1). Since marriage must take place within ones
class, it is thus natural for Claudio, a Count, to seek after Hero, a governors heiress; further,
since money is another factor that filters his decision, it is natural for Leonato to collocate [his]
daughter and [his] fortunes (2.1.300) together as if there is no distinction between the two.
Furthermore, the fact that Hero is often portrayed only through her effect on Claudiothe
sweetest lady that ever I looked on (1.1.182-83)reflects more the propriety of the courtly
This social pressure upon Claudios courtship of Hero is illustrated when, urged by
Beatrice to declare themselves, Claudio claims that Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I
were/but little happy if I could say how much (2.1.303). While Claudio can find only a few
words, Hero can find none; and it is instead Beatrice who conveys that Hero tells [Claudio] in
his ear that he is in her heart (2.1.312-13). Ironically, silence is no herald at all; it implies
nothing less than their lack of emotion. Silence is thus dangerous to Claudios relationships with
both Hero and Don Pedro. His too-quick suspicions that Don Pedro would betray him by wooing
Hero for himself show his lack of trust, and foreshadow his belief of Heros infidelity upon
merely seeing her talking to a man at night, instead of communicating with her.
In another sense, his silence on his earlier conversation with Don John is crucial in the
plays construction; if he had revealed his deception earlier, the play could not have continued to
culminate in their arranged marriage (Zitner 124). But the fact that he realises he was deceived
by appearances and yet marries Hero based on what he has seen confirms that he is more falling
in love with her beautiful face instead of her as a person. His subsequent declaration to Hero is
telling: Lady, as you are mine, I am yours. I give myself for you, and dote upon the exchange
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immediate indissoluble union, are significant formulated as they are: why make it a condition,
and why not dote upon the lady herself? (Zitner 24).
unconventional and questioning of its societal function. Her equivocation that she would not
want to marry a man with a beard nor one without (2.1.35-38) strongly implies she does not
fancy marriage, period. Similarly, her response to Don Pedros proposal as she graciously rejects
him continues her evasiveness to the topic of marriage by offering the excuse that he would be
too costly to wear [for her] every day (2.1.325-26). The comparison of Don Pedro to fancy
clothes is a socially acceptable way of intimating that his high status violates propriety.
However, her self-deprecatory lament of being sunburnt and crying Heigh-ho for a
husband has a markedly different tone to her previous comments on marriage. Her comment
mirrors Benedicks concern that he will never see an old bachelor again (1.1.193)both are
sensitive that everyone but them is getting married. This suggests that her cousins engagement
inspires her, just as Benedicks supposed love for her would later inspire her to marry, and that
eventually the societal pressure to marry is something that she (and Benedick) cannot overcome.
She clearly is aware of her role as a woman in society, as her addressing Heros duty to
make curtsy and act as it pleases her father (2.1.51-52) shows. Yet, as Zitner notes, if she fears
marriage, she fears also being single: being potentially overmastered (2.1.60) on the one hand,
on the other being excluded from the only career with open status to women (31). Thus, she is
only willing to submit to the gender roles imposed upon by society insofar that she retains her
autonomy.
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In fact, her attitude leads Don Pedro to remark that her silence, in contrast to Heros
silence, most offends [him] (2.1.328). When Don Pedro, playing along, attempts to account for
her cheerful disposition by saying she must have been born in a merry hour (2.1.330), she
replies, No, sure, my lord, my mother cried. But then there was a star danced, and under that I
was born (2.1.331-32). Her quick change from the analogy of the labouring mother to the
dancing star might suggest the conflicts inherent in her role that she experiences as a woman in
society: while her thoughts seem focused on the situation of women, they also betray that her
merry heartkeeps on the windy side of care (2.1.310-12). In other words, it appears that her
merry war (1.1.59) with Benedick is a means of suppressing her true desire for male
companionship; indeed, her deception by Margaret and Ursula in the arbour betray this as she
Shakespeare thus seeks to illustrate the tension between the still-existing patriarchal
world and the emerging Protestant ideal for marriage. Whereas Heros role in this scene is to
reflect societys expectations of women, Beatrices role, while to question them, is to ultimately
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Works Cited
Cook, Carol. The Sign and Semblance of Her Honor: Reading Gender Difference in Much Ado about
Nothing. PMLA. Vol. 101, No. 2 (1986): 186-202.
Shakespeare, William. Much Ado about Nothing. Ed. Sheldon P. Zitner. Oxford University Press, 1993.