Ryann Tucker
Dr. Maxwell
Shakespeare`
March 5, 2015
To Be Feminine or Not To Be… There Is No Question During Elizabethan times in England, femininity was an important part of the extremely patriarchal society. A quiet, fragile, and obedient woman was what men wanted to marry because she would obey and never cross them. When a woman did not fit under this category of obedient, fragile, and quiet she was considered a shrew. When a woman was considered to be this awful creature, she either was avoided or remained unmarried unless a “brave” man attempted to “tame” her. The idea that women could be strong willed, out spoken, and sharp tongued was extremely undesirable to men at the time. In his play titled, “The Taming of The Shrew” William Shakespeare
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These examples were the un-wed daughters, Katherine and Bianca, of Baptista Minola, a wealthy man living in Padua wishing to marry them to eligible bachelors. Interestingly, by using two sisters close enough in age to both be married, he shows these two different sides of femininity while introducing other aspects such as jealousy and competition to his construction. To display the double edge sword that is femininity in the “Taming of The Shrew” the use of Katherine and Bianca is interesting because between sisters there is oftentimes competition and jealousy that stems from childhood. This element of competition makes the differences between the two young women even more apparent. The contrast between the two sisters is made clear as soon as they are introduced in the first act when Gremio says “To cart her rather! She’s too rough for me. There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife” ( 1.1.55) This quote comes after Baptista offers up his eldest daughter, Katherine, for marriage. Katherine is strong willed, she has a very sharp tongue and has no problem with letting anyone know what she thinks. This is a problem for a lot of men which can be seen in Gremio’s
Have you ever asked yourself what it was like to be a strong independent person in the past? Strong independent women especially were rare in history. In the play Taming of the Shrew written by William Shakespeare shows this by portraying an independent woman named Kate not wanting to get married but is forced by a man who’s name is Petruchio. Although she has been tamed by being married, at the end of the play Kate reveals that she has maintained control of her spouse without him knowing. Also in the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, shows a independent woman named Eliza who wants to be self employed in a flower shop but is a peasant and cannot escape poverty because of her way of lower class speech. To fix this she asks a linguist named
unable to win Bianca or “Achieve” as he puts in act 1 scene 1 line
The Role of Women in Challenging the Status Quo in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew
Many critics have lambasted the female characters in Shakespeare's plays as two-dimensional and unrealistic portrayals of subservient women. Others have asserted that the roles of women in his plays were prominent for the time and culture that he lived in. Two works, Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night, stand out particularly well in regards to Shakespeare's use of female characters. After examining these two plays, one will see that Shakespeare, though conforming to contemporary attitudes of women, circumvented them by creating resolute female characters with a strong sense of self.
The relationships between servants and masters closely reflect the gender relationships in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Lucentio and Tranio's relationship as master and servant is an ideal of the Renaissance era according to "An Homily on the State of Matrimony." Tranio risks taking the place of his master because of his love for him and Lucentio always treats him with kindness and respect, almost like an equal. Though they are not involved romantically, Lucentio and Tranio fulfill these ideals better than any marriage in The Taming of the Shrew. Lucentio's relationship with Bianca reflects his role with Tranio: Bianca shows respect for Lucentio as he cherishes her and treats her with kindness, however Bianca fails to complete her role as an ideal wife by obeying her husband. Petruchio and his servant, Grumio, have a much different relationship, however. Grumio often disobeys his master, while Petruchio insults and even beats him. These roles are echoed in Petruchio's relationship with Katherine.
In Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has a woman as one of the story's main characters. Katherine Minola (Kate) is off the wall, and kinda crazy. Because of her actions, the “male centered world” around her doesn't know what to do with her.
Taming of the Shrew is a play by William Shakespeare about the “taming” of a woman named Kate by a man named Petruchio. If Taming of the Shrew had taken place in modern times, there are many parts of the play that I believe would have ended quite differently. There were many human rights issues and violations that would not be acceptable in modern times to be found in the play as well. Regardless of this, there seemed to be a few hints towards modern concepts such as gender equality to be found in the play. While perhaps some of the concepts and ideas in Taming of the Shrew may lay in stark contrast with the ideas and concepts of today, there are some hints at modern ideals to be found in this play.
The Shrew described a lot of problems in the woman's issues, love, marriage, and family. Ancient Chinese Women’s opinion on their love and marriage has the conflict with the social system, moral norms, traditional ideas, customary forces by that time. Sometime the conflicts could also lead to tragedy and casual life. In the real-life, such events are common, thus causing widespread concern and attention in the society. In the feudal society, women are subject to restrictions, repression, abuse, persecution of the most profound, so their resistance is the strongest.
In her publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Femininity, Mary Shelley states, “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves” (Shelley 34). She desires to let women acknowledge that they need to take control of their own lives, and to not rely on a man for their success. This widely unaccepted message is not visible in The Taming of the Shrew. In the late 1590s, around the time William Shakespeare wrote the piece, women were scrutinized as the “weaker sex”, both physically and emotionally. This factor plays a huge contribution in the evident sexism scattered throughout the play. Shakespeare shows this mainly through his main character, Katherine, and through what she endures including an unwanted marriage,
In Shakespeare's, "The Taming of the Shrew" the relationship between the sisters Katherine and Bianca appears to be strained with rampant jealousy. Both daughters fight for the attentions of their father. In twisted parallel roles, they take turns being demure and hag-like. Father of the two, Baptista Minola, fusses with potential suitors for young Bianca and will not let them come calling until his elder, ill-tempered daughter Katherine is married. The reader is to assume that meek, mild-mannered, delicate Bianca is wasting away while her much older, aging, brutish sister torments the family with her foul tongue. Katherine seems to hold resentment toward Bianca. Her father favors Bianca over Katherine and keeps them away from eachothers' torment. When gentlemen come calling, Bianca cowers behind her father and Katherine speaks up for herself. "I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?" (1.1.57-58)
"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
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.
Someone once said, “To those who are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” Gender inequality has been a concept put into practice for hundreds of year, and the idea of equal rights for women has been continuously Women’s rights have always been a concept that has been fought for for years. Back in the Elizabethan Era, the idea of equal rights between men and women was out of the question. Women had to obey their husbands no matter what, were expected to produce children, and were considered the property of their husbands. Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew takes place in this time period, where Petruchio, a greedy, aggressive man, is set on marrying Katherine, an equally contentious, curt woman whose father is wealthy. Bound by a misogynistic society, Petruchio
Some have made the claim that Shakespeare was pro-feminist and did all he could to illuminate the wrong done to women of his time by creating some overwhelmingly misogynistic characters. This was his way of showing men the errors of their ways and shaming them into showing women more respect. This is an interesting hypothesis for a number of reasons. First of all, there are no signs that it worked, if Shakespeare did indeed intend to reform men. Could the Bard, supposing that he was trying to shame men into changing, influence men in this manner? Can we blame him if he failed? Secondly, and by far more interesting to me, is that, in some cases, feminists seem to be more interested in martyring the Bard than in promoting feminist agendas What proof do we have that Shakespeare was really that enlightened?
As it is known to the world all people are defined in society by gender roles. While reading, The Taming of the Shrew, readers get to see different views of men and women. Shakespeare uses his characters in order to define what men and women were like back in the 1500s. Shakespeare uses Petruchio, Baptista, and Katherine to develop the theme of gender roles.