Kate Controls Her Own Actions in William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew
Who is primarily in control of Kate's actions in William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew? Is Kate primarily controlling her actions, or do other characters in the play control her? If you just read through the play, but don't study it in-depth, it appears that Kate is controlled by other characters' actions towards her, but is this actually the case? Isn't it very possible that Kate is actually in control of all her decisions, but is just strongly influenced by others? After studying the text in-depth, you can see for yourself that although Kate is strongly influenced by others, she is the one who actually makes the decisions to act in the manner in which she acts.
As was stated, although Kate, in many instances, appears to be controlled by others, she is actually in control of her actions. She is the one who does everything, such as allowing herself to be married off to Petruchio. Some people may say that she was forced to marry Petruchio, but she could have just run away if she really hadn't wanted to marry him. In this instance, Kate's family, especially her father Baptista, and society were influencing Kate to make the choice to not run away and follow through with the marriage. In the end, though, this was Kate's decision - no one made it for her, she had to make it for herself. She had the ability to choose to run away or do something else about being forced to marry Petruchio. Kate was already considered a shrew and often did not let society's roles for men and women influence her: Why couldn't she have done the same in this instance?
Another instance in which it may seem to some people reading the play that Kate is being controlled by...
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...Petruchio mistreat his servants. After coming home from the wedding, Petruchio says, "Here, sir! here, sir! here, sir! here, sir!/You logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms!/What, no attendance? no regard? no duty?/Where is the foolish knave I sent before?" (4.1.115-118). He continues to mistreat his servants right in front of Kate; he even hits a few of them. Kate sees this and realizes how poorly she has treated others in the past and realizes that she doesn't want to be a shrew any longer.
In class, when discussing the topic of control, everyone was pretty much able to agree on one point: Although there are many influences on our decisions, we are ultimately the ones who make our decisions and no one can do that for us. In Taming of the Shrew, there are numerous examples of times Kate is influenced greatly by others, and yet she makes the final decision herself.
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Petruccio was laying down the ground work for his taming of Kate even from the first moment they met. He even openly admits to his plan to tame her during the quick witted banter when they first met each other:
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When Kate was a Shrew no one listened to what she had to say, now she
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.
In Taming of the Shrew Hortensio mentions that Katerina is a shrew, but Petruchio does not care because she is wealthy. Petruchio could have easily found another woman, but with money involved Petruchio does what he can to “win” her love by attempting to talk with Katerina and eventually takes his time to try and tame Katerina. “When Petruchio first meets Baptista, Petruchio inquires about the dowry, once Baptista replies, Petruchio immediately demands to sign the contract. Baptista tells Petruchio to first win her love. Petruchio acts and has a one to one debate with Katerina, Petruchio does not win her love but tells Katerina he will marry her anyways, resulting in Petruchio tricking Baptista in winning Katerina’s love” (Shakespeare, Act 2 Scene 1 Lines 110-308). The paraphrase examines Petruchio increased desire to marry Katerina after being told about the dowry or money involved by attempting to win her love and deceiving Baptista of achieving to win Katerina’s. In 10 Things I Hate About You Patrick has an increased desire to attempt again and date Kat after being offered more money. Patrick takes the money and takes her out to different places, however, Patrick ends up falling in love with Kat and money began to no longer play a role for him showing a difference between the play Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You. In the scene where Joey confronts Patrick about his failed