(Essay Intro) Nowadays, women have the luxury of belonging to themselves, but unfortunately this has not always been the case. During his life, William Shakespeare created many positive female characters who challenged traditional gender roles and called attention to the misogynistic patriarchy of Elizabethan England. One of these true feminist icons is “Much Ado About Nothing.” Beatrice. The women of Much Ado About Nothing challenge traditional gender roles. Béatrice represents a courageous and outspoken woman who challenges traditional and oppressive gender roles for the female sex. Her cousin Hero, however, represents those women who have been successfully oppressed by the patriarchy and have accepted traditional gender roles without much complaint. The Elizabethan society in which Shakespeare lived during his life held a misogynistic ideology in high esteem. “Much Ado About Nothing” was written in 1598-1599, at a time when women were second-class citizens compared to men and were considered inferior to men in every way. From birth, a female was her father's property until she was married off by her family and then became her husband's property. A woman was to be seen and not heard, she was to be chaste and submissive. Women were uneducated and underestimated, they were not their own people. This misogynistic attitude is present in “Much Ado About Nothing”. In the play, Messina is presented as a positive and joyful community and the woman seems to have freedom, but the misogynistic attitudes of the time are still demonstrated. When Leonato said to his daughter Hero: “My daughter, remember what I told you: if the prince asks you in this way, you know your answer. » Don Pedro is born...... middle of paper...... the forms of defiance are different but they both show certain forms of defiance towards traditional gender roles. Shakespeare was clearly ahead of his time with his view of women. . He probably took inspiration for his female characters from Elizabeth I, the English monarch of the time. Like Beatrice, Elizabeth I was a strong and very independent woman, she was the sole ruler of England during her reign as she never married. Elizabeth I was a strong leader, challenging traditional gender roles for women, which Shakespeare would have drawn from for his characters. Shakespeare's works were fictional, so even though he portrayed women in a positive way, society wanted to oppress women and portray the kind of independence that Beatrice shows as a negative thing. Shakespeare used his characters as a subtle way to empower women by presenting strong women in a positive light..