Taming Of The Shrew Master And Servant Relationship

1817 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Analysis of shakespeare's play the taming of the shrew

In Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” the upper-class, and their servants made up for the most normal theme in the play. The servant and master relationship was a general theme in this story. Shakespeare showed two kinds of master-servant relationships in the story. The first relationship is an unusual one where the master treats the servant with courtesies and fairness. The other is a traditional relationship that most readers are familiar with, the master abusing the servants and treating them as property. Shakespeare inspects the relationships and duties of the master and servant. Shakespeare brings up questions of the social status by reversing the servant- master roles. In Dennis Romano “The Regulation of Domestic Service …show more content…

Lucentio who is a master treats his servant Tranio with respect. Tranio’s and Lucentio’s relationship was not the traditional master servant relationship. Tranio despite obeying his master, and being subject to his will, had a friendship with his master. Similarly, to the other two relationships, Tranio and Lucentio’s relationship was forbidden. The relationship between Lucentio and Tranio was viewed as unusual because masters did not treat servants as friends. Lucentio regarded Tranio as his friend or as his relative. Lucentio notes, “Tranio, since for the great desire I had To see fair Padua, nursery of arts, I am arrived for fruitful Lombardy, The pleasant garden of great Italy, And by my father’s love and leave am armed With his good will and thy good company. My trusty servant well approved in all” (Shakespeare 1.1.9). In this quote, Lucentio expresses his love and happiness for Triano. Lucentio conveys his gratitude to Tranio for being his servant and a friend. Traino notes, “Mi perdonato gentle master mine. I am in all affected as yourself, Glad that you thus continue your resolve To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy. Only, good master, while we do admire This virtue, and this moral discipline, Let’s be no stoics, nor no stocks I pray, Or so devote to Aristotle’s checks As Ovid” (Shakespeare 1.1.25). In this quote, Traino expresses altruism towards Lucentio calling him a gentle, kind man. Tranino saw Lucentio beyond his servant and treated him as a person. Lucentio was willing to trade places with Tranio in order to persuade Bianca to marry him, seen in this quote, “For I have it full. We have not yet been seen in any house, Nor can we be distinguished by our faces, For man or master. Then it follows thus: Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead, Keep house, and port, and servants, as I should” (Shakespeare 1.1.195). The

Show More
Related

  • The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V by Shakespeare

    2326 Words  | 5 Pages

    Upon reading Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V, I have noticed that the issue of gender ideology and identity has been an intriguing study in both Shakespearean comedies and histories. These traditional Western views have, in a sense deemed which roles are appropriate and socially acceptable, in regards to both males and females. This practice of ‘social typecasting’ has given men and women certain socially acceptable characteristics, which has influenced how they should think and act. In this essay I take an in-depth look regarding how Shakespeare dealt with gender identity, and if certain characters in The Taming of the Shrew and Henry V accepted their socially predetermined gender identity or if they rejected it.

    Read More

  • The Taming of the Shrew

    1784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’

    Read More

  • Taming Of The Shrew Analysis

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    Taming of the Shrew, had a great story line, which can be related to several movies that exist today i.e. Othello, 10 Things I Hate about You, and The Lion King. In William Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, the shrew played by Katherine, had a terrible perspective on life and just about everything else. Her negativity was caused by her younger, more pulchritudinous sister Bianca. Bianca wanted to get espoused. She had all of the men's hearts, Katherine retained none. If Katherine got espoused then Bianca could get espoused. She authentically was a shrew who needed to be tamed.

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

    3143 Words  | 7 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. _The Taming of the Shrew_. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Ed. Dean Johnson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 142-171.

    Read More

  • Power In The Taming Of The Shrew

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    Power is the capability of influencing others in their behavior. It all connects to him trying to tame Katherine. He wants to change her behavior and he contains the power of doing this because at the end she respects him more than any other female would respect their husband. Throughout the play, The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, Petruchio, Katherine 's husband, contains the power in the relationship because he is able to change her behavior.

    Read More

  • The Battle of the Sexes in Zeffirelli's Taming of the Shrew

    938 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first Shakespeare play which Zeffirelli adopted to the cinema, The Taming of the Shrew, deals with the theme of gender roles. In a grander scale the play explores the behavior expectations of males and females both in society at large and within a domestic relationship. For many years, most critics agreed that the heart of the play suggested male domination and female submission, especially to the authority of their husbands, as the accepted male-female dynamic. This view went unchanged for many years and audiences widely accepted Petruchio's “taming” of Katherina as politically correct.

    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

  • Taming a Shrewd Farce

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, has often been accused of being a farce and farce, for those of you who don’t know is a subgenre of comedy that chooses to entertain through the use of verbal humor both low-brow and witty, as well as improbable and exaggerated situations (“Farce.”). The male lead Petruccio openly declares to the audience; “Thus have I politically begun my reign, and ‘tis my hope to end successfully. My falcon now is sharp and passing empty, and till she stoop she must not be full-gorged, for then she never looks upon her lure...” his plan to train his wife Kate, the shrew of Padua, as if she were some sort of animal (4.1. 169-72). Petruccio’s success in wooing and taming Kate through the use of ludicrous and absurd techniques such as killing Kate’s shrewdness with kindness, word play, and public embarrassment are what lead the play to be considered a farce.

    Read More

  • The Feminist Perspective of Taming of the Shrew

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is a play that is ahead of its time in its views toward gender roles within society. Katherine is a woman who is intelligent, and is not afraid to assert her views on any given situation. She is paired with another obstinate character in Pertuchio. The Marriage formed between the two is a match made in heaven for two reasons. First Because Katherine is strong enough to assert her views, and more importantly, she realizes when she should assert them. The second reason the bond survives is that Petruchio is strong enough to accept the fact that Katherine has a mind and, more importantly he loves her for that reason. Petruchio cleverly weaves the relationship into the framework of society without compromising the integrity of the relationship. Petruchio does this by comparing Katherine’s at attitude to repulsive clothing. Carefully and calculatingly, Petruchio forges a relationship that is envied by all who witness it.

    Read More

  • Taming Of The Shrew Social Roles

    1751 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Taming of the Shrew is one of the earliest comedies written by William Shakespeare. The Taming of the Shrew focuses a great deal on courtship and marriage. Especially the life after marriage, which was generally not focused on in other comedies. Notably, the play focuses on the social roles that each character plays, and how each character faces the major struggles of their social roles. Which plays into one of the most prevalent themes of The Taming of the Shrew. The theme of how social roles play into a person’s individual happiness. This is displayed through the characters in the play that desperately try to break out of the social roles that are forced upon them. This exemplified through the character, Katherine, an upper-class young maiden-in-waiting, who wishes to have nothing to do with her role.

    Read More

  • Essay on the Battle of the Sexes in Taming of the Shrew

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Taming of the Shrew is set in a time period that did not accept women as we do today. In today's society, women who are strong and independent and quick witted are praised. In Elizabethan times women were supposed to know their role in life, being good to their husbands, making children and taking care of them. There were no women in politics, there were no women in business, it was only acceptable for women to participate in domestic areas of life. Women could not live a respectable life in this time period without a male figure to take care of them, rendering them helpless without men. If there was anything that must be done involving economics or education, it was up to the men. Men were the ones who worked and brought home the money to support the family. The roles of men and women were very distinct, and it resulted in giving the men the majority of the power.

    Read More

  • Manipulation in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

    1554 Words  | 4 Pages

    In The Taming of the Shrew, the concept of love is a means of emotional manipulation, and manipulation is nothing more than a means of control between men and women. William Shakespeare critiques the patriarchal social structure by ironically employing the manipulative stance Petruchio takes towards winning Katherine as his wife by charming her with words and manipulating her psychologically, and then taming her after their marriage through legal, physical, financial, and psychological control and manipulation. Though Petruchio may think he yields power over his wife, Katherine uses obedience as a tool of manipulation and has the control of the household, as can be seen by her ironic speech at the end of the play, where she claims women must serve their men. Shakespeare uses the irony of a man using manipulation as a tool for control to magnify the significance of the power women yield through manipulation, thus proving that men and women engage in a power-shifting struggle.

    Read More

  • Gender Roles In The Taming Of The Shrew?

    1613 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Shakespearean scholar expanded on this, “The play enacts the defeat of the threat of a woman’s revolt; it does so in a comic form – thus so offers the audience the chance to revel in and reinforce their misogyny while at the same time feeling good” (Gay). The Taming of the Shrew at many points is just praising the men in the novel despite their behavior and putting down the women for being anything but perfect. The novel makes the actions happening comedic and the reader does not get upset at the things happening, but in reading further into it and comparing in to modern day, it is not hard to see the plain and simple abuse. Although gender roles are still prominent into today’s society they are toned back. In contemporary version of The

    Read More

  • A Critique of The Taming of the Shrew

    1893 Words  | 4 Pages

    of the men who desired Bianca needed somebody to marry Kate, as it was customary

    Read More

  • The Taming Of The Shrew Analysis

    1393 Words  | 3 Pages

    During The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has used pleasure and pain in order to tell the story of Petruchio and Katherina’s courtship. This is problematic for modern day audiences, as they do not find the courtship methods that Petruchio employs to woo Katherina particularly comical. However, it could be argued that Shakespeare crafted The Taming of the Shrew precisely for this reason, to feature his views on patriarchy and to make the audience see what was happening through a new perspective. The Elizabethan audience would have been shocked at the methods used in order to achieve the taming, even though it was well within a man’s right to discipline his wife if she was deemed unfit. From the very beginning of The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare indicates that this play will not follow traditional rules of decorum, and that it is intended to both give pleasure and cause pain in order to make both Elizabethan and modern audiences take note of his underlying message.

    Read More

More about Taming Of The Shrew Master And Servant Relationship

Open Document