Much ado about nothing

1. Society of women in Shakespeare:
Women were raised to believe that they were inferior to men. The Church believed this and quoted the Bible in order to ensure the continued adherence to this principle. The protestant leader John Knox wrote:
Women were totally dominated by the male members of their family. They were expected to instantly obey not only their father but also their brothers and any other male members of the family. The punishment for disobedience was the whipping stool - girls were beaten into submission and disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion. Women could not be heirs to their father's titles. All titles would pass from father to son or brother to brother, depending on the circumstances. The only exception was the monarchy.

2. Importance of being a man:
Men had alot of power. The men made the decisions and the women were expected to obey them. The men were expected to support the family from a whole variety of occupations. And they were expected to improve the positions of all members of the family through influence and patronage from wealthier people and families than their own.

3. How illegitimate children were looked upon:
In Shakespeare’s day, the possibility of giving birth to a deformed child haunted women, for it was widely believed that “a crooked body meant a crooked heart” It was also believed in Shakespeare’s time that illegitimate children were destined to follow a similarly evil path.

4. Which characters in the play go against these roles and why:
Beatrice goes against the role of women in society because she is very outspoken and rude and does not follow the norm of society to show obedience and respect to men as well acknowledge their dominace.

Benedick goes against the role of men in society because he allows Beatrice to speak to him in whatever manner she pleases. He does not excersise power nor dominace over her, he acts as if the two are on the same level.

Don John goes against the role of an illegitimate child in society because he is infact the villain in the novel but there is no sign of him being deformed in any way.