Much Ado About Virtue
Candace Vance and Tim Horner
in Taproot's Much Ado About Nothing
Just got home from Taproot Theatre's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, and walked away wondering how in the world this play speaks to today's audience. The whole merry evening (and this Taproot production is quite merry) is built on the idea that a woman's virtue is tied intimately to her virginity, that chastity is a kind of trust between a woman and her soul. And even as I write this, hearing in my head the voices that say "Oh yeah? What about the man? All that chastity business was fine for the woman, but what about the man?", I make the extension of chastity to the man as well, and think, how do we post-moderns relate to this? Talking with a cast member after the play, he reminded me that there seems to be a movement back to virginity before marriage, that's it's a new trend. Hold on, let me go "google" it and see.
Turns out there may be some evidence to suggest such a trend. An article in The Forerunner (which looks to be an evangelical site pitching potential articles of Christian interest to high school and college campus newspapers) cites a report from the Princeton Religion Research Center (I couldn't find the report itself), saying "that an increasing proportion of Americans consider premarital sex wrong. The statistics they discovered demonstrate the reversal of an 18-year trend: two years ago, 39 percent said premarital sex was wrong; today 46 percent say it is wrong." Googling along, I also saw a cool web site put up by some East Texans promoting virginity, appropriately titled Virginity Rules.
Back to the play...in the midst of the laughter, I was deeply moved by Act IV, scene 1, in which Claudio humiliates Hero with the trumped up charges that "She knows the heat of a luxurious bed", destroying the ceremony and his bride in the same moment. The fury of Leonato (Hero's father) was truly unsettling, and the impending distruction reminded me of those far frequent confrontations in which a husband or wife or fiancee rages at their partner because of infidelity, real or imagined. And then comes Shakespeare's brillant scene between Benedick and Beatrice in which their newly discovered love is tested by the limits of loyalty, and true virtue is contrasted with false. A stunning bit of writing that makes me wonder what modern audiences do when they see it. Does everyone want to jump up and say, "See...see...that's the truth!"?
The play turns on the idea that virtue must be protected, fought for, and is the very basis for love, and that it's loss is shame, and that to falsely accuse is near worse. (But, of course, Shakespeare was writing in a time when the meanings of virtue were largely understood, if not always agreed upon.) And that idea, that virtue is worthy of--indeed, demands--honor and protection, impacted me. Inspired me.
I hope the Princeton guys are right...
12:10:49 AM 
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