So Was it Really "Much Ado About Nothing"?

                The fight for gender equality has come a long way from Shakespeare’s time up until today. And even then there are still some ideas that remain. While recalling the book, Much Ado About Nothing, I remembered that there was an interesting set of concepts that women and men must live up to today. One of the protagonists, Hero, was constantly questioned about her purity and virginity. The males, Claudio and Benedick, were as well questioned about their manliness and bravery. The similarity between this play and the world we live in today is the fact that women are constantly trying to prove something they are not, whereas men are constantly trying to prove something they are not. Women may now be given more opportunities in the labor force than before but people are always on the lookout for when they will make the error of crossing the boundaries of morality. The boundary of whether or not a woman is considered pretty or promiscuous lies very thin. Therefore, they must always be fighting to prove that they are not this stereotypical image that the rest of society (particularly men) portrays them as.

Likewise, men must also prove something to society. The difference is that they are influenced into proving something that they are. In other words, in order to be a man, a male must prove that he is brave, strong and ambitious, among other qualities. Throughout Shakespeare’s play, the female character, Hero, fights to prove herself worthy again after a rumor questioning her virginity was spread through the kingdom. It was not until her supposed death that people believed in it, whereas the male characters tried to prove themselves “manly” enough. Their test was accomplished through a simple sword fight. Looking back at the motifs and meaning behind it, I see that even Shakespeare acknowledged the unjust world of the sexes. Men were able to sword fight to prove themselves. In the contrary he inferred that women’s escape to proving others wrong would be her death, as in Hero’s case. This concept is still seen today and perhaps with some drastic changes. Men must also now fight more and more to prove that they are not gay for the fear of being ridiculed and now, also women must prove themselves more and more worthy of the rights being given to them.