Society Sucks, Just Ask Shakespeare

It is frighteningly easy to draw parallels between the societies of today and those of the past, which we now view as so backward and draconian. It disturbs me how quickly Leonato and Claudio are ready to abandon - and even harm! - Hero after her fall from grace, crying out, "Death is the fairest cover for her shame that may be wish'd for." (4.1.115-116) Leonato seems to view Hero more like malfunctioning property rather than a misbehaving daughter, shedding an ugly light on the latent misogyny permeating their patriarchal society. I believe Dogberry to be another victim of stratification, even if his plight is rather amusing; the way he constantly strives to speak at a higher level and be addressed appropriate to his imaginary status belies the longing of many to rise above their rank and to an elevated societal level.

In Shakespeare’s play Much Ado About Nothing, there is very much ado about social status. The issue of stratification simmers throughout all of the rather more obvious sexual tension, with some characters, like the charismatic Don Pedro, having the world at their fingertips, while others, like Hero and Don John, struggle to rise above the burden of their ascribed statuses. On an even lower rung on the social ladder is Dogberry and his watchmen, whose delusions of grandeur and many malapropisms reveal a desire to be more like Don Pedro with his honeyed words and higher education.

In the end, why not write about all of that juicy, romance-novel stuff? Isn’t Shakespeare’s message clearly about the healing power of love and not the chains of stratification? I only began really thinking about stratification and class systems when I entered my Sociology course that I'm currently taking under Professor Don Mack. Since, my eyes have been opened to reality, in which caste systems are still in some instances very much in place and classism and sexism are still rampant. I believe social status to be relevant to everyone and is much more important in the grand scheme of things than love and lust. The majority of the world's people - whether you live under the thumb of a medieval monarchy or a modern monopoly - is discontent with their rank. Where one prospers - Don Pedro, Leonato, Claudio - others struggle - Hero, Don John, Dogberry. As Peter Collier stated in his 2007 book The Bottom Billion, "The real challenge of development is that there is a group... at the bottom that are falling behind, and often falling apart."

Works Cited

Collier, Peter. The Bottom Billion. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Ed. Jonathan Bate. William Shakespeare Complete Works. Ed. Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen. 1st ed. Modern Library, 2007. 287. Print.