"Contemporary anxieties about women's sexuality are sharply reflected in Shakespeare's plays where sexual slander against women is life-threatening even in comedy".

... Amaru Villanueva Rance AS English Literature Coursework Date: Monday, 19 April 2004 Essay Title: "Contemporary anxieties about women's sexuality are sharply reflected in Shakespeare's plays where sexual slander against women is life-threatening even in comedy" (from Julia Briggs This Stage Play World). Examine how Shakespeare explores contemporary anxiety about women's sexuality in Much Ado About Nothing making close reference to the Church Scene. In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare not only conveys Elizabethan attitudes to women as common targets of slander and mistrust, he also creates a play where these attitudes are questioned and challenged by exposing them, and encouraging the audience -especially the Elizabethan audience- to judge for itself. The anxieties about female sexuality explored in the play are orchestrated by a group of foolish and immature males, who in the end, turn out to be wrong about their suspicions altogether. Shakespeare is clever to introduce a strong and witty female character, Beatrice, whose

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