IndexIntroductionGender dynamics in Much Ado About NothingImpact of honor on the lives of charactersHonor and gender rolesConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionHonor implies having great respect for someone, even presenting them with great admiration . Using honor is important, as it defines someone's status. Honor was important because it gave the family the right to be respected and admired, and during the Elizabethan era, honor could easily be lost or regained. Over the course of Much Ado About Nothing, anyone can see that many of these things happen; the setting involves and surrounds the true meaning of honor and where each character stands with it. Throughout the show, we delve into the complex interplay of gender roles in Much Ado About Nothing, discussing the differences in social classes and what a man or woman is capable of, while also witnessing the true meaning of love and to what extent jealousy will take someone. Hero and Claudio are both called into question when Hero's honor is taken out of context for the wrong reasons. Not only are they primarily affected, but the honor of everyone around them is severely damaged by the association. In the play, the main characters fight to earn and disrupt alliances, while also learning the differences in honor between men and women. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Gender Dynamics in Much Ado About Nothing In Jacqueline Beatty's article titled American Honor: The Creation of the Nation's Ideals During the Revolutionary Era by Craig Bruce Smith (Review), she talked about the fact that honor is about “race, class, gender” (1 Beatty). Honor deals with many different aspects of a person. It dealt with a person's type of race and background of origin. If that race had been favored in that era, their honor would be much higher than that of most people. Many people during the Elizabethan era who were born with a lot of money had a higher sense of honor and had a higher reputation. Being male or female also made a huge difference in the type of honor awarded. If the person was male, he had to be strong and courageous to have high value and be associated with great honor. If it was a woman they had to be saved for marriage and couldn't do anything that would jeopardize their standards of where their honor was. Their honor also influenced many people around them and they didn't just associate. If the women had been unfaithful, they could have been sent away, perhaps even killed. Men could also take away women's honor if they were not faithful, or even respectful towards a man, and a woman had to be obedient to her father. Women's honor didn't matter as much as it did for a man. A man's honor mattered to everyone, and it was about killing and doing things that involved justice. Having a man's honor stripped is much worse to get back, than it would have been with a woman. Although women didn't matter as much as men, honor had a huge impact on everyone's lives. The meaning of honor in women is very different from that in men. Women were held to much higher standards than men, especially during the show. A woman's honor was based on purity, faithfulness and obedience. Honor took care of everything and exactly described someone's level of social status. At the beginning of the play, when Claudio first lays eyes on Hero, he calls Hero "the sign and appearance of his honor."(33) Claudio thought Hero was one of the best girls he had ever seen, and compared her to the very definition of honor, before he even knew what it was like. In the article The Sign and Semblance of Her Honor: Reading Gender Differences in Much Ado About Nothing, writer Carol Cook discusses the honor shown regarding the characters, particularly between Hero and Claudio. Cook writes “Her place in the world of this play is the most apparent scene, where, almost silent and ultimately sinking into unconsciousness under the onslaught of abuse, she becomes a sign to be read and interpreted by others” (Cook 194) Cook is stating that Hero is interpreted by others as a great and kind girl to everyone, and Claudio falls in love with her, that mentality Once he meets her openly and falls in love with her, then he learns what she has done and he is furious, because she deceived him and her own appearance deceived him, but in reality it did not Impact of honor on the lives of the characters Honor did not only affect women, but it also affects the family , especially the father. Hero's father, In Much Ado About Nothing, was widely ridiculed when people suspected that Hero had committed infidelity towards Claudio. It was Leonato's duty to ensure that Hero remained chaste until marriage. Because Claudio believed Hero had been dishonest with him, Leonato's honor suffered, being publicly shamed by Claudio and Don John in front of what was supposed to be Claudio and Hero's wedding. When Leonato thought he had been betrayed by his own daughter, he began calling her horrible names, because then he realized that his own honor was being put in jeopardy. Even though Hero didn't do anything, as there were some bad rumors around her, everyone around her was affected. Women's honor can be taken away and returned with the good grace of a man. Males played a huge role in honoring women because they were the ones who took away honor. Just like Claudio did when he believed they were lying to him. He ridiculed her in front of everyone and deprived her and her father of any kind of good reputation. Once the rumor was cleared and people thought Hero was dead, her honor was revived and Hero and her father were able to live life without shame. A woman's honor also meant being obedient and following her father's rules. In the play Leonato says: “Daughter, remember what I told you. If the prince solicits you in this way. Know your answer” (54-55) Leonato expected Hero to behave in a certain way towards the prince because the prince has the highest honor of all in the play. Hero knew what she would have to do, and if the prince had any interest in her, she would have jumped at this option, knowing that her honor and that of her father would be compromised. Honor and Gender Roles Although women's honor was largely affected throughout the show, men's honor was also affected differently. A male's honor was mostly about courage, while at war. Men had to prove to others that they were strong, fearless, and courageous to prove their honor. Male honor looked very different, and honor rewarded some people for their achievements. In the show Claudio entered Messina very respected and with great honor shown in him. Claudius also usually had to show Hero that his actions in war ensured that he had been a fearless leader, killing all his enemies along the way. Instead of wondering how many he had killed in the war, Hero trusted the words of his father and the prince. I don't ask Claudio for any other reason. From the beginning of the show Claudio had kept his honor at one levelvery tall, and was a highly respected man as the prince's right-hand man. The messenger informs: "I find here that Don Pedro has bestowed many honors on a young Florentine called Claudio." (8-10) In the play, the messenger mentions how Don Pedro does much honor to Claudio. At this point everyone in Messina can accept the fact that Claudio is indeed very honorable. Since Claudio had very high honor, he never wanted anything to tarnish it, including marrying an unfaithful girl. Because Claudio thought so, he was going to be smeared, he was going to ruin whoever was going to make this happen. That is why at the wedding he was going to ruin the reputation and honor ofHero and his father. He ruined it by treating her horribly and telling everyone what they thought he did at the wedding. Even if Claudio and Don Pedro were wrong, in accusing Hero of infidelity their reputations were never much tarnished by the news that their accusations were wrong. Throughout the play, Claudius' honor was all he had going for him, because no one knew anything else about him, and it was what he cared about most, even though he was never much affected by it. Honor can cause both bad and good in people's lives. Disrupting people's lives one by one or bringing someone into a higher social class if someone is given a higher sense of honor. In the lives of the characters of the play, all characters are influenced by honor in one way or another. The hero was greatly negatively affected by honor. When Hero was shamed by people who believed she had been unfaithful, her honor was taken away. Since honor affects everyone around them, including the father, Leonato was also greatly affected, and Claudio blamed him for his daughter's actions. Leonato was incredibly angry at Hero for what they thought were her actions, and even called her names, while shaming her. One person who experienced a good kind of honor was the guard who found the person guilty of spreading the rumor falsely accusing the hero. The guard took the prisoner to court and also brought him to Leonato. He experienced good honor because he was the one who cleared Hero's name and saved her from shame for the rest of her life. If a person has a high reputation and is of upper class, we suspect that his honor is very high and he can use it to bring shame on someone. Since Claudius had great honor, he could use his reputation for bad things, such as degrading and insulting someone like Hero. I believe that having honor, and focusing too much on it, in someone's life can disrupt and make their life disproportionate. Throughout the play, having honor involved so much in the characters' lives does more harm than good. As it turns out, most of the characters would have been able to have a worry-free life if they hadn't focused so much on it. Hero shouldn't have pretended to have died of grief and could have talked to Claudio about her false accusation. Claudio on the other hand wouldn't have been so embarrassed when he accused Hero of doing the wrong thing. Both characters could have handled the situation much better; talking to each other about the situation without having to worry about what it would do to their honor. Conclusion In the play Much Ado About Nothing, the characters all had to worry about their honor throughout the play. Honor was about social class, even involving gender and impacting something no one can control, race. Women had to worry about their own integrity, while also thinking about the impact their actions would have on their families. While the men had to prove how strong and committed they were.