Taming of the Shrew: Movie vs. Play

William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is an interesting story that demonstrates the patriarchal ideas of how a marriage is suppose to be according to society, what is acceptable of a woman's role in a relationship. It's a story that has many things to show for it's been remade, and remade, even slightly altered to better relate to the teenage audience.

The story is about two sisters Katherine and Bianca. Bianca has a suitor who would like to marry her, Lucentio, but the only way that he will be able to marry her is if her older sister is married first. When Petruccio arrives to Padua he agrees to court and marry Katherine because she will provide a lovely dowry. Rumor has it that Katherine is a cynical, unruly, and extremely unpleasant female. Bianca on the other hand is the typical image of a lovely woman, beautiful, soft-spoken, and very feminine.

This play has many themes of patriarchy concerning the roles of males and females in a marriage, the authority of fathers over their families, husbands over wives, and men over women (Bloom 13). In the title alone, there's the indication of the husband over the wife, the "taming" of the shrew (16), and the word shrew that is chosen to describe Katherine is somewhat demeaning. In modern day society there is no such boundaries put on women. There should not be one party who overpowers the other one. It is a marriage, a bond that is shared, and each should be respected in the same way. Today, women and men are equals in a marriage, or at least in the United States. Women are no longer as oppressed as they once were. This play is rather primitive on the views of women in society.

This play is also a story about the coming of age of young women (Blo...

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...that women need to be submissive to men in any way, nor do I believe that they should be overbearing. I believe that any sort of relationship or marriage needs to be equal. There shouldn't be any oppression of any kind; no domestic violence whether it's verbal or physical, should be tolerated. I feel that women have come a long way from the time of Shakespeare. We are stronger and more in control. But you still see men intimidated by the idea of strong opinionated woman. But it's a lot more accepted than it was before.

Works Cited

Bloom, Harold. Willam Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. New

York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.

Dolan, Frances E. The Taming of the Shrew Texts and Contexts. New York:

Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1996.

Smith, David Nichol. Shakespeare Criticism A Selection. London: Oxford

University Press, 1934.