The Taming of the Shrew - Feminism and Shakespeare

491 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender theme in taming of the shrew

Some have made the claim that Shakespeare was pro-feminist and did all he could to illuminate the wrong done to women of his time by creating some overwhelmingly misogynistic characters. This was his way of showing men the errors of their ways and shaming them into showing women more respect. This is an interesting hypothesis for a number of reasons. First of all, there are no signs that it worked, if Shakespeare did indeed intend to reform men. Could the Bard, supposing that he was trying to shame men into changing, influence men in this manner? Can we blame him if he failed? Secondly, and by far more interesting to me, is that, in some cases, feminists seem to be more interested in martyring the Bard than in promoting feminist agendas What proof do we have that Shakespeare was really that enlightened?

I was really quite entertained while reading the intro to The Taming of the Shrew. It was quite humorous to watch a person back flips to show what a righteous dude Mr. Bill really was. Anne Barton seems to be firmly entrenched in the "proto feminist Bard" camp. The introduction to this play was among the best I have read for this class and I don't mean to seem to be "slamming" Anne Barton, but her justifications for Petruchio and Shakespeare were pretty funny, in my opinion.

Maybe I am crazy, but I don't see how starving your new wife and refusing her sleep is enlightened behavior in any way, shape, or form. Barton tells us that, in Shakespeare's time, "shrewish" wives could become the victims of "physical violence, the more ingenious and excruciating the better." She further tells us that, in comparison to the men of that day, "Petruchio . . . is almost a model of intelligence and humanity" and that "what Petruchio wants, and ends up with, is a Katherina of unbroken spirit and gaiety who has suffered only minor physical discomfort . . ." (138). This is a very interesting take on the situation I read about. To me, Katherina's spirit was completely broken at the end of the play. I was anxious to see how Barton would, in addition to this proof of comparative enlightenment on Petruchio's part, find a way to claim that Shakespeare was also showing the men the error of their ways.

Show More
Related

  • Breaking Coventants for Self-Preservation over Family

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    Volo, Dorothy Denneen, and James M. Volo. Daily Life in Civil War America. Westport, Conn.:

    Read More

  • Antisthenes' Concept of Paideia

    2373 Words  | 5 Pages

    Antisthenes of Athens (445-360 B.C.) is remembered for being one of Socrates' older pupils. (1) In fact, he was old enough to have first studied under the sophists, before he met Socrates. (2) He thus stands straddling three important periods in the history of Greek philosophy. As a 5th century philosopher, he copied the rhetoric of Gorgias in his famous Ajax and Odysseus speeches and like the sophists, believed that virtue was teachable; surviving into the 4th century, he was taken seriously by Plato and Aristotle, composing essays in which he propounded an individual logical theory of his own; (3) and as precursor of Hellenistic Cynicism, he composed dialogues, teaching new ethical and social norms that resurfaced after his death in the teaching of Diogenes of Sinope and the Stoa. (4) In this paper, I would like to examine some aspects of Antisthenes' educational theory and his concept of paideia.

    Read More

  • A Political Revolution: America's Ideological Beginnings

    2168 Words  | 5 Pages

    "The Pamphlet War and the Boston Massacre." The American Revolution -. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • Voss: Bottled Water that Dared to be Different

    2129 Words  | 5 Pages

    Voss has two macro segments, each with its audience. To define the target groups in more detail, it is important to ask these three questions: what, who and how. In the first segment, the answer is: image, individuals and mineral water, and in the second segment: image, companies and mineral water (Neves, 2013). For the overall marketing of VOSS water, image seems to be the main drive for the company.

    Read More

  • Juveniles in Adult Court

    876 Words  | 2 Pages

    Division of Youth Services. (2014, 12 15). Retrieved from Division of Youth Services Juvenile Programs: http://www.in.gov/idoc/dys/2374.htm

    Read More

  • East Versus West: Challenging the Binary and Stereotypes

    1432 Words  | 3 Pages

    Safi, Omid. Memories of Muhammad: why the prophet matters. New York, NY: HarperOne, 20102009. Print.

    Read More

  • Gender Quotes In Taming Of The Shrew

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them." -Oscar Wilde. This quote embodies the fight over gender roles and the views of women in society. Taming of the Shrew deals with Kate and Bianca, two sisters who are at the time to he married off. However, suitors who seek Bianca as a wife have to wait for her sister to be married first. Kate is seen as a shrew because she is strong willed and unlike most women of the time. In his 1603 play The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare enforces traditional gender roles and demonstrates how little say women had in society. He accomplishes this through the strong personality of Kate, Baptista 's attitude towards his daughters as transactions, and

    Read More

  • The Feminist Perspective of Taming of the Shrew

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Petruchio achieves his goal through witty persuasion rather than resorting to beating his wife like many a man before him has done. Though Shakespeare does not go as far as some feminists would like him to, Shakespeare does much for the fight for equality of the sexes. Katherine’s as strong, or stronger than any woman in Shakespeare’s plays. The amazing thing is that she achieves this without ulterior motives, such as Lady Macbeth. She is an honest, bright, independent woman.

    Read More

  • Which Trait Theory Most Explains Criminal Behavior

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    Trait theory views criminality as a product of abnormal biological or psychological traits. It is based on a mix between biological factors and environmental factors. Certain traits alone cannot determine criminality. We are born with certain traits and these traits along with certain environmental factors can cause criminality (Siegel, 2013). According to (Siegel, 2013), the study of sociobiology sparked interest in biological or genetic makeup as an explanation for crime and delinquency. The thought is that biological or genetic makeup controls human behavior, and if this is true, then it should also be responsible for determining whether a person chooses crime or conventional behavior. This theory is referred to as trait theory (Siegel, 2013). According to Siegel (2013), due to the fact that offenders are different, one cannot pinpoint causality to crime to just a single biological or psychological attribute. Trait theorist looks at personal traits like intelligence, personality, and chemical and genetic makeup; and environmental factors, such as family life, educational attainment, economic factors, and neighborhood conditions (Siegel, 2013). There are the Biosocial Trait theories an...

    Read More

  • The Human Genome as Evidence of Life on Other Planets

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Arnold, Lee. “Mysterious Universe”. Life On Other Planets Likely, Alien UFO Visits Doubtful. 7, August 2013. Mysterious Universe. 4, April 2014. http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2003/07/life-on-other-planets-likely-alien-ufo-visits-doubtful/

    Read More

  • Lincoln Electric Company: Harvard Case Study

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of the biggest influences of the founders of Lincoln Electric is from James Lincoln, who created a board of advisors from the pool of employees to advise him (Sharplin, 1989). The board met every two weeks when it was first started, and it still meets today, nearly two hundred years after the company began. This board of advisors is made up of active employees in the company, and they are free to raise suggestions, criticism, or any topics of interest that the employees want the company to address. This level of honesty and openness is a rare quality, and this ability for employees to directly speak with their supervisors and discuss new ideas is probably one of the reasons why employees are so pleased.

    Read More

  • Justifying Philosophy and Paideia in the Modern World

    3099 Words  | 7 Pages

    ABSTRACT: If Paideia means education in the classical sense, that is, education of the whole person, then authentically justifying such education in the modern world is extremely problematic. We are first drawn to practical defenses of a liberal education, that it is in itself of service and useful, both to society and to the individual. However, a practical defense of Paideia in the classical sense simply comes across as feeble and even a bit desperate (that is, if it escapes sounding pompous) and every savvy student knows it. Far better, it seems, to take courses aimed at general problem solving, or at honing critical thinking skills, or at developing socio-political sophistication, than to read Shakespeare or Plato.

    Read More

  • Relationships Between Men and Women in The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

    3205 Words  | 7 Pages

    Shapiro, for example, goes so far as to claim that Shakespeare was 'the noblest feminist of them all.' Though Shakespeare pays more attention to the roles that men play in society and many of the female characters are constricted in their experiences. They do not have the same ability to be as fully human as the men. They do not learn by their experiences, except Paulina who is eventually chastised and pa... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Taming Of The Shrew?

    1613 Words  | 4 Pages

    When someone is a female their first thought should not be weak or nurturing, just as when someone is male their first though shouldn’t always be powerful. Unfortunately it has becomes so ingrained in societies mentality that this is the way that things work. The Taming of the Shrew is a past writing piece that expands on a mentality that is modern. The male gender cannot be put into this same constraint. Petruchio is the epitome of what society would describe a male as. He thinks he is in charge and always the superior to women. He expects Katherine to always do what he tells her to do, because he believes that is her duty as his wife. Moreover he should not be expected to do that for her. Furthermore, Bianca is what many would describe as the perfect woman. She is nurturing and she does not speak out against what she is told. When she does speak she always speaks like a lady. She exists merely for decoration in the home and to serve her husband. Katherine is the inconsistency in this stereotype on femininity. Her purpose in the novel originally is to rebel against this biased thought on female gender roles. Katherine is not afraid to speak out against the things that she is told to do. If she disagrees with something she will act on it and she is just as strong as the men in the novel; which is why many of the men actually fear her. Katherine is not submissive and does not believe that the only reason that she exists is to serve a husband. Katherine does not want to be just the damsel in distress, she wants to be in charge. At the end of the novel there is a switch in the personalities of Katherine and Bianca. This alteration provides the purpose of showing that gender is not something that someone can be confined in just because they were born a female. A woman can have many different traits and still be feminine. It is impossible to put femininity in a box because there are no real qualities for what

    Read More

  • The Role of Language in Shakespeare's Play The Tempest

    1137 Words  | 3 Pages

    Knight,G.Wilson. “The Shakespearean Superman: An essay on The Tempest.” The Crown of life: Essays in Interpretation of Shakespeare’s Final Plays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1947. 203-255

    Read More

More about The Taming of the Shrew - Feminism and Shakespeare

Open Document