Much Ado About Nothing: Gender Roles and Norms in Shakespeare's Time

In our first deep dive episode into the world of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, we are examining early modern gender norms and how they influence the world of Messina and Leonato's household in Shakespeare's play.

Join us as we discuss the spectrum of womanhood represented by Hero and Beatrice and examine the early modern anxieties that fuelled representations of cuckoldry on stage (and where did the idea of horns come from?). We'll also explore the early modern ideal of the silent wife and the trope of women at windows before talking about how modern theatremakers can choose to address these themes.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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Works referenced:

Berger, Harry. “Against the Sink-a-Pace: Sexual and Family Politics In Much Ado About Nothing.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 33, no. 3, 1982, pp. 302–13. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2869734. Accessed 9 July 2024.

Cohen, Stephen. “‘No Assembly but Horn-Beast’: The Politics of Cuckoldry in Shakespeare’s Romantic Comedies.” Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, vol. 4, no. 2, 2004, pp. 5–34. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40339529. Accessed 16 July 2024.

Friedman, Michael D. “‘Hush’d on Purpose to Grace Harmony’: Wives and Silence in ‘Much Ado about Nothing.’” Theatre Journal, vol. 42, no. 3, 1990, pp. 350–363, https://doi.org/10.2307/3208080.

Lewis, Cynthia. “‘You Were an Actor with Your Handkerchief’: Women, Windows, and Moral Agency.” Comparative Drama, vol. 43, no. 4, 2009, pp. 473–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23038006. Accessed 9 July 2024.

McEachern, Claire. “Why Do Cuckolds Have Horns?” Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 71, no. 4, 2008, pp. 607–31. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.1525/hlq.2008.71.4.607. Accessed 16 July 2024.

THOMSON, LESLIE. “Window Scenes in Renaissance Plays: A Survey and Some Conclusions.” Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, vol. 5, 1991, pp. 225–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24322098. Accessed 9 July 2024.