Act 5 Scene 2 of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare For a Modern Audience

Act 5 Scene 2 of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare For a Modern Audience

'The Taming of the Shrew' involves a rich businessman, Baptista, who

has two daughters. He forbids anyone to court his beautiful daughter,

Bianca, until he finds someone to marry his other daughter, Katherina,

who is labelled a shrew. The man marries Katherina is Petruchio; who

treats her cruelly until she obeys and agrees with him.

At the time the play was written, the role of women in life was

different. Today, we learn that men and women should be seen as

equals. In act 5 scene 2 of the play, this is not seen. In Padua,

women were seen as possessions of men among with other things such as

the man's house or horse. It was a woman's duty to obey her husband

and because Kate did not, she is seen by the male characters as

unnatural which is evidence of evil.

With a modern audience, this role of women will cause some people,

especially the women, to feel insulted or uncomfortable. In the play,

if Kate is dressed in old-fashioned clothes then her speeches will be

taken seriously, but if Kate is dressed in modern designer clothes

with sunglasses and maybe a mobile telephone, then the audience will

assume she is being sarcastic in her speech. A lot of what the

audience thinks will also depend upon the other characters' reactions

to what Kate says. They could be shocked and surprised at what she

says or they could see it as a big joke.

I will describe how I would direct part of act 5 scene 2 to a modern

audience. This is where most of the main characters are together and

Petruchio shows all the other men that he has tamed Kate. All the men

have...

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...nge then they will be happy with Bianca as she changes, almost to

how Kate used to be. This balances the play so the situation at the

end is similar to the one at the beginning but with roles reversed.

I have made Kate become like this because Petruchio mistreats her that

much that she can't take it anymore. She also realises that he loves

her deep down. So Kate obeys him and loves him in return in order for

a happy lifestyle. Eventually this love becomes genuine and she is, in

a way, 'brainwashed.' This is why she goes on to tell the two wives

they shouldn't be like they are even though she used to be worse.

Bianca has become worse than she was because as she was watching her

sister being cruelly tamed by Petruchio, I think she got convinced

that women should be allowed to behave like that because men do not

own them.