William Shakespeare s Much Ado About Nothing And King Lear

Name: Instructors’ Name: Course: Date: Analysis of Shakespeare’s powerful female characters in the play â€Å"Much Ado about Nothing† and â€Å"King Lear Introduction Shakespeare is seen to value the role of women as his plays often portray women as heroines. These women have strong characters that endear them to readers. Readers in our current world, and especially women, are encouraged to be self-assertive in demand for equal treatment in our society. This has been the tradition for women in the Western world and is one that should be spread across all societies in the whole world. The characters that this essay chooses to analyze are Beatrice from the play â€Å"Much Ado about Nothing† and Cordelia from the play King Lear. Beatrice and Cordelia†¦show more content†¦Beatrice is the cousin to Hero and niece to Leonato. She is a strong female who is smart and loyal to her family. We get to see that she has sworn off love in her adult love as she was hurt before and does not want to be vulnerable. However, she approves the love of her cousin Hero (Everett 400). As the play continues, we get to see that her strong stand against love is broken as she starts falling in love with Benedick, who matches her speech and wit, and is also as stubborn as she is. Beatrice has a sharp tongue and is good with words. She knows how to say what she wishes in a sharp and yet merry tone. When one soldier mentions that Benedick’s name when talking about leaving for war, Beatrice quips that he is a poor soldier. She goes on to joke that Benedick attaches himself to people and in this case Claudio by taking him as a brother. When Benedick arrives in Messina, Beatrice engages him in jokes. In Act 1 Beatrice states I wonder that you will still be talking, Signore Benedick; nobody marks you.† (Shakespeare 5). Benedick responds by saying â€Å"What, my dear Disdain, are you yet living?† (Shakespeare 5). Here we see that the two match each other in their manner of speech. The readers are able to notice the perfect match of these two characters. Beatrice is also seen as being loyal to her family. There is a scene at the altar on a wedding day where Hero, the bride, is accusedShow MoreRelatedA Comparison Between the Plots of King Lear and Much Ado about Nothing910 Words   |  4 Pagesstatement to say that William Shakespeare wrote some of the greatest plays of all time. This is accepted by everyone from high schoolers to experts as fact. But everyone is always wondering, what makes them great? Well, at the heart of every great Shakespeare play is a well written plot. But how can one man churn out all these plays he’s written, and still have new content in each one? Aren’t they all the same story to some extent? 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