“Much Ado About Nothing” is a romantic comedy (Hamilton, p. 49) written between 1598 and 1599 (The British Library) by William Shakespeare. The main plot of the play concerns the relationship between young lovers Claudio and Hero, and the subplots, in descending order of importance, are a) the relationship between Hero's cousin Beatrice and Claudio's friend , Benedick; b) Don John's plot against Claudio and c) Agents Dogberry and Verges, their arrest of Borachio and their discovery of Don John's deception. (Hamilton, p. 49) However, the play's early subplot tends to overshadow the main plot (Bryant, p. 126), with Benedick and Beatrice being more vivid, memorable, and relatable characters than their staid counterparts Claudio and Hero. (Jay, p. 28) Beatrice, in particular, is interesting in her subversion of traditional Renaissance femininity and in her role as the heroine of the play despite this unconventionality. Comedy, as a genre, is less serious and less formal than that of tragedy. . (Hamilton, p. 49) It is not intended to discuss the human condition or delve into social issues. (Neilson, p. 377) “From the nature of this kind of drama we do not expect in it the depth of penetration of human motives or the appeal to our deepest sympathies which we find in Tragedy; and the conventional happy ending of comedy makes it difficult to achieve the degree of truth to life that is expected of serious plays. (Neilson, p. 377) However, Shakespeare's comedies are not completely superficial. Many of them, such as "The Merchant of Venice", comment on the social issues of the time, in the case of "The Merchant of Venice", anti-Semitism (Shankman, p. 65) (Cohen, p. 25 ), although with less detail than Shakespeare's tragedies or historical stories... middle of paper ...... marriage is the ideal state of woman and negates most of the challenges that the character of Beatrice and his "inappropriate" behavior pose a challenge to the established patriarchal system of Renaissance England. Although Beatrice, as an unconventional heroine, is the most commonly analyzed female character in Much Ado About Nothing, it is important to note that she is only one of five female characters present in the play, among Innogen, Hero, Margaret and Ursula, and therefore her behavior in the play does not exist alone, but is compared and contrasted with the behavior of the other female characters in the play. Most modern editions of the play tend to leave out the character of Innogen, who, although listed in the Dramatis Personae of the play, is only present in two scenes (Act 1, Scene 1 and Act 2, Scene 1) and has no lines. This silence is particularly remarkable, because