Tennessee Williams and William Shakespeare are two writers of different times who experienced vastly different events in their lives. Tennessee Williams was born in 1911 and while he was in University, his sister, Rose, had begun suffering from a mental illness. She later underwent a prefrontal lobotomy. We can see that his play ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ reflects this experience, perhaps through the character of Blanche who is very frantic and hysterical. William Shakespeare lived through the time of change - England was a proud nation and full of power. This reflects through the male, dominating characters and the way women are submissive such as Hero and Claudio. Beatrice and Benedick, however, contrasts the typical relationship of that time as Beatrice doesn’t necessarily conform to the way a woman should behave, signifying a time of change. In both of these plays, we can see that men dominate and females are usually submissive to them. However, there are exceptions which are clearly shown through Beatrice in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ who has little regard for what is considered proper and is very outspoken and witty and rarely conforms to what is expected of her. This is also shown in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ through Blanche, who holds herself very high and thinks of herself above men. Both Blanche and Beatrice insult the men around them. It suggests that this is considered normal of both of these different times and as a result, men appear to hold higher power and importance over women, leaving them as conforming to what the men want. In Act 1, Scene 1 in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, Beatrice interrupts her Uncle, Leonato, and Messenger in the middle of their conversation which immediately juxtaposes her cousin, Hero. In this scene and throughout the play, Hero hardly contributes and is only seen talking when spoken to. This interruption reflects