Stereotypes..psh..not really

I think there are very few stereotypes presented in this play. The only thing that presents itself to me is the stereotypes of classes of people (upper class and the lower class) and the "separate spheres" of men and women's activities. To start it off, I found stereotypes in the nobles of the play. For example, in act 1 scene 1, Leonato asked how many men had been killed and the messenger replies not many and none of name. That's a stereotype that the nobles don't really care about the lower class and what happens to them. Next, Shakespeare stereotypes the lower class as being insolent. Although Dogberry may just be comic relief, I think he is stereotypical of the lower classes. Finally, I also think Shakespeare down plays women's rights. The men go off to war, but the women are left at Leonato's house. The women must be chaste, but that doesn't necessarily parallel with the men. This goes back to Jean-Jacques Rousseau's theory of separate spheres. Maybe this might be the way it goes during the time, but still it is a little stereotypical.

Although I can identify stereotypes, I disagree with the question. I think these stereotypes are in there because they were common place at the time. The same things happen today, like the movie, "The Kingdom", which takes place conveniently takes place in Iraq. That creates a stereotype that most people in Iraq are killers, when only a small number of Muslim extremists do that type of stuff. Therefore because I believe his stereotypes are just based off the time frame, I don't think he was trying to teach anyone a lesson.

Jack