Marriage and Relationships in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

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Marriage and Relationships in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

Getting married in modern times is not something which is viewed as

necessary. There are many couples that are together, but do not want

to marry, because they do not feel they have to. Couples that do, can

have a marriage almost anywhere they choose. Couples can marry in

houses, shopping centres and even petrol stations. Anywhere you can

get a marriage licence and a vicar, is seen as a place fit to hold a

wedding these days.

In “The Taming of the Shrew” however, marriage was seen as something

of a necessity. It was a very important stage in life, but a stage in

which love was not seen as a key or important ingredient. Women were

sold off to the highest bidder and became the husband’s property to do

with as he saw fit. This is shown in “The Taming of the Shrew” when

Petruchio says: “I will be master of what is mine own. She is my

goods, my chattels, she is my house, my household stuff, my field, my

barn, my horse, my everything.” This proves that women were seen as

nothing but pieces of meat. Marriage was almost compulsory and if a

lady were not married by the time she reached the right age, she would

be seen as a worthless failure and would have no respect in Society.

This is a huge contrast with the modern day relationship.

In the play, Katherina is referred to as a shrew, because she is

constantly defying the more superior men, so is seen as a figure of

fun in the community. The roots of this stretch back to the Commedia

dell’Arte, a “panto dame”, someone who is constantly joking around and

no one takes seriously. However, Shakespeare looks beyond the...

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... truly dead.

Secondly, and more importantly we can look at Katherina’s speech and

see that in fact, she is being sarcastic. All the things that she says

about women serving men is a lie, once again, the battle of the sexes

that has been raging throughout the play comes into play. Katherina is

tricking Petruchio into a sense of security and triumph, so that she

can think about what she is going to do next, possibly take revenge on

Petruchio for that he did to her. So does she love him? No, Katherina

does not love Petruchio, she wants to be a free woman away from the

orders of the Elizabethan world and she always will be. They may

appear at the feast to be a happy couple, but underneath the surface

of smiles there is the dark truth, that marriage in Shakespeare’s day

was not happy at all but something that was just done.

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