Shakespeare’s Theme of Male Dominance: It Happened One Night (1934) by Mary Grace

Mary Grace Cusumano

Professor Sinowitz

ENG 255

19 February 2020

Shakespeare’s Theme of Male Dominance: It Happened One Night (1934) 

            William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing conforms to society’s gender expectations and their behavior during that time period. During this time, men were granted more privileges compared to women due to the patriarchal society encapsulated in Shakespeare’s work. In Much Ado About Nothing, a man’s word is always to be trusted, to the point where it can destroy the reputation of a woman. While marriage is the ultimate end goal, it cannot be if a man were to lose his pride. The play sets the stage for the romantic comedy genre and inspired many 1930 films. Much Ado’s bickering lovers Benedick and Beatrice are transformed into Peter Warne (Clark Gable) and Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) in Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (1934). It Happened One Night reveals Much Ado’s theme of male dominance and female helplessness through the female character’s reliance on a male character’s guidance. 

It Happened One Night exemplifies the consistent theme of male dominance, where men must consistently instruct women on how to behave. This relates to Shakespeare’s idea that women are helpless in that they always need a man to guide them throughout life, and in this film, it is the case. Ellie Andrews, a spoiled heiress, runs away from her wealthy lifestyle to escape her controlling father. With the clothes on her back and little money, she realizes how incompetent she is and luckily runs into Peter Warne, a news reporter, who comes to her aid during her time in crisis. Ellie has been coddled her whole life due to her lavish lifestyle and when it comes to traveling to New York, she realizes she cannot do it on her own. Even though Peter comes to her rescue, he asserts his dominance over her and criticizes Ellie’s actions.

            Towards the beginning of the film, Peter and Ellie must stay in a cabin together. In the morning, they sit down for breakfast, which Peter has prepared, and Peter observes Ellie as she eats her donut. Peter looks at Ellie in pure disgust as she dunks her donut into her coffee. It is as if she is committing a crime, and Peter must come in to fix the situation. Peter asks Ellie, “Where did you learn to dunk, in finishing school?” and continues to reprimand her that she doesn't know how to dunk a donut. Peter says, “Dunking’s an art. Don’t let it soak so long. A dip and plop into your mouth” (It Happened One Night, 1934). As he stuffs the donut into his mouth, he tells her that he will write a book about it. The camera moves back to Ellie as she nods her head, not questioning a single word that is coming out of his mouth. At this moment, it portrays Peter’s arrogance and influence that he has over Ellie. Even though Ellie makes a comment about how she does not want him to tell her what she is doing wrong again, she still believes that he is right. By Peter telling her the right way on how to dunk her donut, he is inflicting his power over her, in which Peter is always correct. For Ellie, she is in a vulnerable state, does not know any better, and trusts Peter because he is a man. 

Like Ellie in the film, in Much ADo, Hero is unable to stand up for herself since she is dominated by a primitive male figure in her life: her father, Leonato. Hero is in a vulnerable state because she has been humiliated from being accused of having sex before marriage. No matter how many times she tells the truth of her purity, no single man believes her. Leonato agrees to follow Friar Francis’ plan for Hero to fake her death in order for Claudio to feel remorse for her. Friar says, “'Tis well consented. Presently away, / For to strange sores strangely they strain the cure. - / Come, lady, die to live” (IV. I. 263-66). Ultimately, Leonato wants whatever will save the reputation of their family. Hero does not fight back because she does not have a choice. Just as Ellie listens to Peter’s advice in her time of struggle, Hero also accepts her fate due to her father’s male dominance. 

            After Ellie’s cover had almost been blown during their bus ride to New York, Peter and Ellie decide to travel on their own. From sleeping in bales of hay to eating carrots because they have no money for food, life on the road has been quite challenging. Peter decides to teach Ellie yet another lesson, but this one is on how to hitchhike. He explains to her his technique on how to get a ride by the way he holds his thumb. Through a medium shot, Peter fails miserably as multiple cars pass him right before his eyes and Ellie observes from the fence in the background. Ellie decides to give it a try, but Peter laughs in her face as if she is incapable of hitchhiking. Ellie responds in a sarcastic and jokingly manner, “Nobody knows anything but you. I’ll stop a car, and I won’t use my thumb” (It Happened One Night, 1934). The camera returns to a shot across the road as another car approaches. Ellie moves towards the road and lifts her skirt above her knee. Through an extreme close up of Ellie’s exposed leg, she grabs the driver’s attention and is able to hitch them a ride. Nothing can stop traffic like Ellie’s leg. This exemplifies an I-told-you-so moment to Peter, and it also shows how far Ellie has come to be the one who is able to solve the problem, not Peter. Their gender roles have reversed, and Ellie has denied the typical helpless women stereotype. Now, Peter is the one who needs to take note of Ellie’s lessons. 

            It is evident in the play and film that Beatrice and Ellie both deny the helpless woman stereotype. Much like Ellie in the hitchhiking scene, Beatrice is not afraid to speak her mind to anyone she comes across to. This is noticeable in her and Benedick’s first encounter when she denies the messenger’s claim that Benedick is, “A lord to a lord, a man to a man, stuffed / With all honorable virtues” (I. I. 55-56). Beatrice quickly replies, “It is so indeed. He is no less than a stuffed / Man but for the stuffing - well, we are all mortal” (I. I. 57-58). Beatrice’s immediate response proves that she is not afraid to talk back to a man. This shows that as a woman she is capable of having her own ideas and does not need a male figure to support her or tell her what to do and how to think. 

            While Ellie is able to prove Peter wrong at the end of the film and deny her helplessness, it still takes her the whole movie to reach this point. She needed Peter (a man) to be pushed to her limits. If Ellie had not run away from her father and into Peter’s arms, she would still be considered helpless. On the other hand, in the play, Beatrice finally gives into her love for Benedick proving that she does need a man for her ultimate happiness. Both Much Ado About Nothing and It Happened One Night demonstrate the overarching theme of male dominance and female helplessness. In romcoms, it is clear that men are crucial to women’s guidance when they find themselves in vulnerable positions. 

 

Works Cited 

Capra, Frank. It Happened One Night. Columbia Pictures Corp., 1934.

Shakespeare, William. Much Ado About Nothing. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2018.