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The role of women in literature
The role of women in literature
Gender roles for women in Shakespeare plays
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Taming of the shrew was the time where women were the underdog. Females were meant to be obedient and not outspoken. However, the woman who puts that to rest was a girl named Katherine. With women aside, the men set themselves in societal classes for them to be set higher than those who have less. The more money the man has, the better chances he gets the better trophy wife. The setting tells the readers exactly what time line they are reading into when they hear certain words like “dowry.” The story continues in this transversal period of women changing the perception of how they should be looked at and seen with their lover or equal. The women, Katherine and Bianca, are of age to finally marry someone of good prosper. For Bianca her pickings were more than Katherine could ever have because of her sharp tongue. The men looking to have …show more content…
But the girls’ father had other plans. The men needed Petruchio to marry Katherine, so they can have Bianca for themselves and Katherine did not like that her baby sister was getting all the attention. When Petruchio and Katherine finally meet it was something to behold. The dialogue between Petruchio and Kate was very quick. For most of the exchange, each spoke one witty line before the other responds. Petruchio beats Kate at insults and she has not exchanged insults with someone as clever as Petruchio, and she seems upset by the challenge he presents. Petruchio meant to flatter and indulge her through most of their first meeting, but also deals with her firmly. “Your father hath consented / That you shall be my wife; your dowry ’greed on, / And, will you, nill you, I will marry you.” Petruchio tells Kate that she will marry him with or without her consent because her father has agreed. Petruchio is strong-willed, and as Kate is, too, he feels that they are equally matched. Neither will drown the other out, but rather their meeting of passion will temper them
Kate and The Taming of the Shrew describes the progression of the outspoken and headstrong Kate, wife of Petruchio, as she gradually transitions into an almost perfect example of an archetypal loyal wife. This classic female archetype can be expressed through blind and ignorant support of their husband without any personal opinion or any priorities and objectives other than to satisfy the needs and desires of their husbands. While Kate begins possessing traits that oppose the loyal wife archetype due to her strong willed personality, her shift to obedience. However she continues to think with cunning strategy throughout the entire play, regardless of her weakened mental state caused by Petruchio limiting her food and sleep.
“Then God be blessed, it is the blessed sun, But sun it is not when you say it is not, And the moon changes even as your mind. What you will have it named, even that it is,And so it shall be still for Katherine. (IV.vi.19–23) The relationship of Katherine and Petruchio has changed throughout the various adaptations of the Taming of the Shrew. Things such as the motives to the interaction, even the role of love has changed. These differences between these adaptations were not a mistake but made to appeal to a variety of audiences.
...is also helping herself gain power. Also, the speech lets you know that she is aware of the difference between public and private behavior and just because she is “giving in” to her husband, she knows that she will not always have to do so, especially in private. It also shows that Kate has grown in maturity and can handle things in an adult way, such as give and take, instead of having to use physical force. It shows that instead of a tamed shrew, she is a women that knows how to get what she wants but goes about it in a different way at the end of the play than at the beginning.
My focus of inquiry is gender roles. I chose gender roles as my focus of inquiry because there are multiple differences and similarities in the expectations of women and men then and now. The comparisons between the roles of each gender was enlightening. It made me want to know more, like how, when ,and why they changed if they did, or if they stayed the same what was there significance. This topic seemed to be interesting because these roles are something men and women everywhere experience in everyday life, but in each place around the world they could be different.
In this marriage Katherine has no power. She is verbally abused by Petruchio and denied what she needs. As said in the article,“ Kate is transformed after enduring the irrational world of Petruchio 's country house, where she is denied food, sleep, and fashionable accoutrements of her social class” (Karen 263). Katherine is tamed and she praises and respects him now that she is tamed. At the end of the play, when Katherine and Petruchio are at the wedding, Katherine is the only woman out of all at the wedding that actually listens to her husband when they all call their wives. Katherine ends up giving them a speech and telling them to respect their husband: “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head thy sovereign, one that cares for thee And for thy maintenance commits his body” (Shakespear V. ii . 162-164). She respects who he is and all the work that he does for her. Petruchio has the power in marriage because she respects him and his
Taming of the Shrew: Male Domination. The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, deals with marriage. The ideas explored are primarily shown through the characters of Petruchio and Katharina. We are introduced to the trials and tribulations which present themselves in their everyday lives.
Instead of being reserved she speaks her mind with a sharp tongue. In the early stages of the play the suitors witness the personality of their future wife should they choose to court her. After seeing Katherina, Gremio says, “ To cart her, rather. She’s too rough for me.” (I.i 55). Immediately after Katherina says to Baptista, “I pray you sir, is it your will To make a stale of me amongst these mates?” (I.i 57-58). From this small portion of dialogue, one can gather that Gremio thinks Katherina is outspoken making her uncontrollable. In response to Gremio, Katherina faces her father and asks if it is his intention to publicly humiliate her. Katherina shows her repugnance toward the role of women from a man’s perspective when she challenges the intentions of her father. As she indirectly denounces the idea that men are above women Katherina detests being a prop to a man and says it in front of her potential suitors and her
When Katherine is first introduced to the audience during her meeting with Petruccio, she is an uncontrollable, sharp-witted shrew. Katherine is angered that her father Baptista is desperate to wed her to any man who will accept the challenge. Petruccio is eager to woo Katherine and tame her shrewish spirit. He is attracted to Katherine’s lively nature and professes that his attraction has multiplied greatly after getting a glimpse of how much of a spitfire Katherine is. During their first encounter, Petruccio seeks to demonstrate his wit and power in an attempt to control Katherine’s spirit. When he informally addresses Katherine as her nickname Kate she sharply puts him in his place by responding “Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing: They call me Katherine that do talk of me” (Shrew 2.1.182-3). She insults him as
"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
Over time, there have been many remakes of Shakespeare’s works; some of them are bad, while others turn out better than others. The Taming of the Shrew is one of the few that are reenacted quite well. The Taming of the Shrew and the movie 10 Things I hate About You are pretty similar, with few differences between the two. 10 things I hate About You is a film that was released on March 31, 1999 which is based off of the play written by Shakespeare. The film is an updated version with the times to make the fit in modern day society, but the movie is still highly similar to The Taming of the Shrew. The movie and Shakespeare’s play basically have almost all of the same characters, with the exception of a few names. The plot line is really similar
Called "cursed Kate" throughout the play, Katherine is openly jealous of the attention he sister is receiving, whereas she, because she speaks her mind, is being bypassed and even avoided in the wooing process. Katherine reveals this attitude in act 2 scene1, lines 31-35, "nay, now i see she is your treasure, she must have a husband; i must dance barefoot on my wedding day, and for your love to her, lead the apes to hell. Talk not to me i will sit and weep!...." This anger is not concealed, it serves to provide motivation as to why a rational person would rebuke petrucchio so rudely upon first encountering him. Katherine surely realizes that petruchio is interested in her for ulterior motives other than love. Be it purse that the dowry will bring or the actions of an...
In this piece, it can be translated that women would be considered a rebel if she is rude and shrewish to her husband. In all, wives are objects to their husbands, and must do all that her husband says. This limited Katherine’s identity because it took away her personality of being a shrew, and turned her into something she wasn’t; kind and
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare’s is a comedy about marriage and Taming of the wife. This comedy highlights the themes of transformation, gender roles and marriage in the eyes for Shakespeare and his views of these topics. The comedy revolves around this event where these two suitors Gremio and Hortensio are pursing this. Beautiful women Bianca. Then comes along Lucentio who at the sight of Bianca instantly falls in love with her. The comedy goes on to show the crazy things they do to win her over and how to get rid of her ill tempered sister Kate.These themes play a major role and riddled throughout the comedy and help us understand the overall
By charming her with kind words, Petruchio is able to manipulate Katherine into marriage and woo her, but in an unaccustomed way, as Kate is not used to men being so nice and direct with her. Petruchio is able to achieve this end by manipulating Katherine’s words. He twists what Kate says and makes it seem as if she is coming on to him sexually, while in reality he is the one implying the sexual innuendo. This manipulation can be seen when they have an argument about whether or not the wasp carries his sting on his tail or tongue, and Petruchio says “What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, good Kate. I am a gentleman—” (II, 1; 230-231). By contorting the words he ...
The universal nature of the themes in The Taming of the Shrew, beg analysis and social critique. This comedic farce, by William Shakespeare, creates an elegant depiction of a modern life and romantic love with all of its masks and pretensions. It is easy to assume the perspective of a psychotherapist while witnessing the drama of Katherine and Petruchio’s love affair unfolding. Concepts like “emotional repression” and “therapeutic catharsis” neatly fit the “taming” scenario. In fact, this play offers many new insights into what it takes to create an enduring, viable marriage—if one understands it from a very contemporary, psychotherapeutic or even spiritual point of view. If one is distracted by the recent feminist perspectives of this play, it is easy to miss the integrity and practicality expressed in Katherine’s final exhortation to women on how to love their men: