In the Shakepearean play, "Much Ado about Nothing", William Shakespeare puts forward many feminist beliefs. A feminist is some who advocates the equal rights and opportunities for women. Shakespeare uses Beatrice, the main female character, as his medium to get these beliefs/views across to his audience. Along with a contrast of Beatrice to other female characters such as Hero, her cousin, Shakepeare makes Beatrice sympathetic to the audience. He is able to put his feminist views across in such a subtle way that it becomes gently accepted and welcomed by his audience.
Beatrice is meant to be a subservient character in the play to Hero and her love life, but Beatrice and Benedick certainly steal the limelight away from the younger couple. This is because Hero and Claudio share a love that is purely physical, an immature love that causes heartbreak and trouble. An example of the couple's immaturity can be found in Act 4, Scene 1, lines 1-108, where Claudio is about to marry Hero but instead publicly humiliates her with his accusations of unfaithfulness. This portrays the character Claudio as very immature, without the respect to talk to Hero about what happened. Benedick and Beatrice, a slightly older couple and more mature as a couple in comparison to Claudio and Hero. The denial of love for each other draws them closer, as they often harshly exchange views with wit and intellect. Both Benedick and Beatrice look for mental simulation rather than the physical that Claudio and Hero seem to seek. In the first scene of Act 1 (lines 114-143) a version of the many exchanges of wit this couple share (Beatrice and Benedick). Through the similitude and contrast of the two couples, Shakespeare is exercising his beliefs in love, how love is experiences by both parties in the relationship. It can not simply be organised as Claudio and Hero's relationship and marriage is, it needs to have more than money, more than physical attractiveness, it needs respect and compassion.
