First, there is the difference in actual blood
relationship. Beatrice is Hero's cousin and, as such, is living in her uncle Leonato's
house as a sort of charity. The play is not clear, but if her parents are dead, she
would have had nowhere to go and live, being unable to own her own property as a single
woman. Hero's father would have then taken his niece in to live with
him.
Katharine and Bianca are sisters and, as such, are
their father Baptista's responsibility to house, feed and maintain until the day that
they each will be married. There is stress and tension regarding this in the play,
since Bianca has plenty of suitors and could marry and leave her father's house, were it
not for the fact that Katharine is the elder and should be married first. Katharine and
potentially Baptista and Bianca are all under stress regarding this
circumstance.
Katharine can be compared to Beatrice in that
they both can give any man, in conversation, a run for his money. There is a sort of
shrewishness in each of them that prickles at society's requirement that they be more
traditionally feminine -- sweet and demure. Bianca, on the other hand, seems on the
surface to be a model young lady, just as Hero does. However, by the end of
Shrew, it is clear that, once married, Bianca has changed her
subservient ways and appears to have taken on a bit of shrewishness. Hero, however,
maintains her traditionally female demeanor throughout Much
Ado.
Perhaps the largest difference in the two
relationships is how protective Beatrice is of Hero, and how she appears to be willing
to give anything to be "a man" and fight for her cousin's honor when Hero is wronged by
Claudio. Katharine seems to have no such selfless concern for her sister. Her concern
and interest is very self-involved.
These two pairs of
women share some similarities, but ultimately, provide very different pictures of female
relationships.
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