"The Husband Her Father Chooses”: A Change in Patriarchal Power from Shakespeare to Libeled Lady

Lauren Leal

Professor Sinowitz

Romantic Comedy 

Paper #1

2/25/20

“The Husband Her Father Chooses”: A Change in Patriarchal Power from Shakespeare to Libeled Lady 

In Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare establishes a pattern in which the male is capable of making the female his wife without encountering any form of resistance from her or her father. Solely basing his decision off of her appearance, Claudio has chosen Hero as a wife moments after seeing her for the second time in his life. He had no real obstacles placed before him that he had to overcome to gain her hand in marriage. The social aspect of courting someone was not an obstacle that he had to deal with as Don Pedro gave him the ability to avoid speaking to both her and her father about the matter of marriage. Similarly, an arguably bigger obstacle, that almost every man has to face, is the father of his love interest. Yet for some reason, Shakespeare dismisses the role of a father as he neglects to use Leonato as an obstacle for Claudio. Modernly, the father’s effect on a relationship is an aspect of romantic comedy stories, such as Jack Conway’s Libeled Lady, that harshly clashes with Shakespeare’s pattern. By focusing on the role of a father figure during an examination of the developments of the romantic comedy genre throughout history, an increase in patriarchal power is noticeable when one might expect to see the significance of the father decline. 

            For Claudio’s sake, the father was not a concern as Don Pedro volunteered to ask Leonato for Hero’s hand while pretending to be Claudio, meaning that he did not even have to speak to her father and was still able to gain Hero as a fiancé. In the entirety of his play, Shakespeare chooses to mention this specific conversation between fake Claudio and Leonato in a single line.

“Sure my brother is amorous on Hero and / hath withdrawn her father to break with him about / it. The ladies follow her and but one visor remains.” (2.1.154-156)

The small amount of attention this aspect of the story receives, solidifies Shakespeare’s stance that winning over the father was not a concern for the suitor. The audience never actually learns what Don Pedro says to Leonato regarding Hero’s hand in marriage, therefore we do not know how that conversation went. The audience can, however, assume it did not take much of an effort for Don Pedro to convince Leonato that fake Claudio was a good match for his daughter, since it only took one conversation for Don Pedro to achieve this. Marrying off one’s daughter to another individual is a serious decision that Shakespeare allowed to be made in a seemingly short conversation. It is important to keep in mind that this is during a time period in which divorce did not exist, making marriage a lifelong final decision. Hundreds of years have passed since the publishing of Much Ado About Nothing, and the father's role has shifted into a larger one during that time. This can be seen when Bill Chandler’s (played by William Powell) experience with winning over Connie Allenbury (played by Myrna Loy) in Libeled Lady is compared to Claudio’s experience with winning over Hero.

A minimal amount of Claudio’s effort is required to be put towards Hero, whereas Conway produces strikingly different demands that Bill must encounter. Throughout the movie, Bill is faced with many obstacles that he must maneuver around if he is to gain the chance to set Connie up. In the beginning, Bill is similar to Claudio in the way that he did not have to worry about there being any difficulty in getting the girl because he is used to being a ladies man. Bill is poorly misled by his own self-confidence as he runs into what is arguably one of his most challenging obstacles, Walter Connolly’s character, Mr. Allenbury. 

            Although Bill did not intend to seek Connie’s hand in marriage, in order to have his scheme enacted, he still had to first win over Mr. Allenbury to get closer to her. This is why, after boarding the boat, Bill demands to be brought every book on angling as he hoped to win over Mr. Allenbury by demonstrating interest in his hobbies. Although he was unsuccessful in gaining enough of Connie’s attention on the boat trip returning to America to enact his scheme, the relationship built between Bill and Mr. Allenbury became essential for him to have another chance at setting her up. This next opportunity for the set-up occurs at the angling trip they three take to Glen Arden. The fishing scene holds many symbolic references to this theme of patriarchal power. 

In this scene the Walleye fish is like Connie, a big catch for any willing bachelor to try to reel in but always turns up unsuccessful. We see the Walleye fish being hesitantly intrigued by the fish bait which mirrors Connie’s gradual draw towards Bill although she is very suspicious of him and his intentions. After the Walleye fish takes the bait, we see that it is not so much Bill pulling on the fish, but rather the fish who is pulling the ladies’ man down the stream. This mirrors how Connie fell for Bill’s tricks, yet it was Bill who found himself unexpectedly taken by her. At the end of this scene the viewer sees the three characters all together in the same frame shot when the Walleye fish was caught in the net. An excellent use of character placement was established here as Connie was positioned in the middle with Bill on one side of her and her father on the other. 

This symbolically represents a common romantic comedy theme of the daughter stuck between belonging to her father and the eligible bachelor. It is suitable here that Connie is also the one holding the Walleye fish in the net as the fish symbolically represented her earlier in the same scene. The net itself is the dominant element in the remainder of the scene as it is suspended evenly between the father and the suitor until it is first pointed towards Bill before being redirected and ultimately pointing towards the father. This is in part because Bill offers Mr. Allenbury the honor of unhooking of the fish. Unhooking the Walleye fish so that Bill may have it, is a reflection of how Mr. Allenbury’s blessing is what needs to be given to Bill in order to be with Connie.

            A final important Mise En Scene element in this scene is the character proxemics. Even though they are in a wide river, the three characters are standing shoulder to shoulder in discussion over the Walleye fish, which has already been established as a symbol for Connie. The physical closeness amongst the characters is appropriate as the three of them are key pieces to allowing a romantic life-long journey between Connie and Bill to sprout. The way they are hovering excitedly around the fish harbors a sense that love is a fragile and delicate thing that is not to be thrown around insensitively and should only be shared amongst them as if a treasured secret that must be protected. It is very fitting that Mr. Allenbury is the one who unhooks the Walleye fish, because if he hadn’t then the fish would not have been taken home, just as without a father’s approval, love between a daughter and an admirer does not have a base to grow upon.

It is arguable that a father’s influence on the romantic relationships in these stories should be irrelevant. He is not technically part of the relationship because it is between his daughter and another. It is therefore fair to assert that the future of that relationship should be placed in only the hands of the two immediate parties involved. While this may be true to an extent, the presence of a patriarchal influence cannot be avoided. This idea of patriarchal significance reaches so far beyond the covers of romantic comedy stories; it is embedded in virtually every culture. When one wants to propose, it is customary that he approaches the father to inform him of his intentions and ask for a blessing to marry his daughter before doing so. As a society, we also use the phrase “giving her away” when referring to the father walking the bride down the aisle. There is a clear difference in the portrayal of patriarchal power from Shakespeare’s time to modern time. This theme has definitely grown more substantial throughout history in both romantic stories and in real life. It's grown from being a subject which was brushed aside in society, to a subject which holds a lot of weight in cultural tradition and practices. 

  

  

Work Cited

Conway, Jack, director. Libeled Lady. M-G-M, 1936.

Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing, edited by David L. Stevenson, Signet Classic,

1998.