In the play “The Taming of the Shrew” by Shakespeare, Katherine, a rowdy, impulsive, and loud woman–also known as the Shrew–goes through a personality change as she reinvents herself as a loving and husband-adoring wife, who’s main obligation is to serve her husband with pride. This reinvention is catalyzed by a factor, showing the bigger picture of how a human adapts to best survive when their environment changes. Shakespeare introduces the character Katherine initially as a disobedient daughter, who’s father somehow has to get her married since he wants his younger daughter to get married. Even though the few suitors that somehow bring themselves to meet the “ugly” Katherine–compared to her sister at the very least–try to strike a conversation with her with questions, Katherine is quick and witty with her …show more content…
Petruchio is well knowledgeable about Katherine’s family and their riches, and has the ulterior motive to eventually gain all of Katherine’s wealth. He is also well versed in Katherine’s behavior and to tame the shrew, Petruchio has a series of challenges that humble Katherine. Katherine was pretty proud to have found a suitor, but she knew nothing of what was coming: starting from an embarrassing insult from Petruchio at the altar to starvation and exploiting Katherine to act like a maid in Petruchio’s huge house finally humbles her forcefully. Katherine becomes a calm, and poised woman, as her husband, who now controls what Katherine does, is a catalyst to her reinvention. Katherine even changes the way she dresses–from using rather dark, and unpleasing fabrics and clothes to pleasing, and light clothes: especially pleasing to Petruchio despite the fact that Katherine never used to bow her head to anyone, not even her father. She made no difference in her behavior and showed that indifference, particularly when addressing men and women of any
Katherina and Petruchio's Relationship to the Title of the Play Taming of the Shrew In my essay, I am going to try and show my understanding and knowledge of how Shakespeare presents Katherina and Petruchio throughout the novel, and how this makes us understand the title of 'Taming of the shrew'. I will show how their relationship changes throughout the novel as the 'taming' process of Katherina progresses, and the ways in which we see how she is tamed. The novel 'The taming of the shrew'
that comedy blends pain with pleasure. How do you respond to this view in reference to The Taming of the Shrew? Has Shakespeare crafted The Taming of the Shrew so that the audience feels both emotions? 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
The Presentation of Petruchio by Shakespeare in The Taming of the Shrew In addition to being the title of one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies, The Taming of the Shrew was also the self appointed role and paramount purpose of one of it's main characters, Petruchio. Shakespeare presents this central character in a variety of ways and care must be taken so that early unfavourable impressions of Petruchio may not be misleading. What did Shakespeare want his audience to think about this 'apparent'
Sisters in The Taming of the Shrew This essay is on the playwright called The Taming of the shrew, and is written by William Shakespeare. The book or play was written in 1594 and was very successful. This play is about a group of villagers in everyday life but there are particular characters that stand out. The title of the play is, the taming of the shrew, and is based on trying to tame a particular person, in this case the person they are trying to tame is Katherina. Katherina is Baptista's
Shakespeare’s comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, supports Plato’s argument of comedy being a blend of pain and pleasure, as this essay will proceed to highlight. The play was written during Shakespeare’s England and would have been performed to an Elizabethan audience. This audience has different views to the themes and events of the play compared to a modern audience, which causes a variation in the amount of pain and pleasure the audience feels is included in the play- the audience would be more
William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew Over the past 400 or so years since Shakespeare wrote _The Taming of the Shrew_, many writers, painters, musicians and directors have adapted and reformed this play of control and subjugation into timeless pieces of art. In _10 Things I Hate About You_ and Kiss Me Kate from two very different times in the twentieth century, and paintings of Katherina and Bianca from the late nineteenth century, the creators of these adaptations have chosen to focus
The Taming of the Shrew Getting married in modern times is not something which is viewed as necessary. There are many couples that are together, but do not want to marry, because they do not feel they have to. Couples that do, can have a marriage almost anywhere they choose. Couples can marry in houses, shopping centres and even petrol stations. Anywhere you can get a marriage licence and a vicar, is seen as a place fit to hold a wedding these days. In “The Taming of the Shrew” however
tamed to achieve a more harmonious relationship. The concept of dominance prevails in Shakespeare’s plays Much Ado Nothing and The Taming of the Shrew. Katherina and Beatrice in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Much Ado about Nothing (respectively) respond differently to men in a chauvinistic society. Katherina initially presents herself as the quintessential shrew, resulting in the despair of other men who want to court the already tamed Bianca. Her cleverly witty speech and debasing treatment
The Taming of the Shrew is a Shakespearian dramatic comedy, focusing on the popular subject of the ‘shrew’, who were women considered to be ‘bad tempered’. This has caused a lot of controversy especially during the 20th and 21st centuries due to the emergence of feminism. This has created many different views on how women are presented in the play. Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory. In the simplest terms, ‘feminist literary criticism is concerned with
This is the viewpoint I wish to present Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew from. The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The main plot is about Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, and Katherina, the shrew. Katherina doesn’t really want the relationship, but Petruchio marries her (“will you, nill you, I will marry you” II.i.261–272) and ”breaks her in” with various psychological torments—the "taming"—until she becomes an obedient
Marriage is presented in Shakespeare?s play The Taming of the Shrew, in a complex manner allowing readers to view the play literally as a brutal taming or ironically as a subversive manifesto. Yet, Shakespeare intends to present marriage to be full of mutual love where neither male nor female dominate but compliment each other thriving together in a loved filled relationship. The portrayal of a deep understanding, which exists in an analogical relationship and the gentle transformation, which occurs
Born in April of 1564 to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden during the Elizabethan era, William Shakespeare grew up experiencing a quiet childhood in a small town of Warwickshire called Stratford. His mother, Mary, was the daughter of a wealthy landowner from a neighboring village, while his father, John, was a middle-class glove-maker and farm produce trader. John also held a number of responsible positions in Stratford's government and served as its mayor in 1569. William was the third oldest of eight
Disguised Men and Transformed Women in The Taming of the Shrew A recurrent theme in Shakespeare's plays is the idea that things are not always what they seem. The Taming of the Shrew provides a good example of this theme. In this play we find many discrepancies between what seems to be and what is. We can find these incongruities at many levels as we analyze the three main plot lines of the play: The Induction, The Wooing of Bianca and The Taming of Katherina. Each of these subplots is based on earlier
The Taming of the Shrew Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’ The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These characteristics include light-hearted and slapstick humour, disguises and deception and a happy ending in which most of the characters
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare What does the play say about attitudes toward love and marriage and about the relationship between the sexes? What might be the reaction of a modern audience to what takes place on stage? It could be said that “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare is focused entirely on attitudes toward love and marriage and the relationship between the sexes. This is demonstrated in many ways throughout the play. For example in Act 1 Scene 1