Katherine The Shrew

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In act three, Katherine’s character continues to be developed as a more insecure side of her is revealed. By translating act three, scene two (lines 0-30) into modern language, it becomes easier to analyze Katherine’s dialogue to take a deeper look into her own self image. Once this side of her is acknowledged and pulled apart, the true meaning of being a “shrew” comes to light.

To begin this analysis, it is noteworthy that Katherine’s role as the shrew is, in hindsight, satirical to modern society. This means that her behavior and independence, while unheard of in Shakespeare's time, is rather normal and even expected of women in the Western world. An advantage readers have today, as opposed to when The Taming of the Shrew was published …show more content…

As reference, in the translation above Katherine begins her dialogue with, “No one should be ashamed but I.” This line immediately stands out, seeing as Katherine has been quick to put the blame of her misfortunes on those around her in the past, whereas now she acknowledges her role in the matter and how it has negatively affected her. She goes on to say, “I’m forced to give my hand to someone I do not love,” revealing her disinclination to be married without her consent. This is a nearly inconceivable mindset of the rich in Shakespeare's time, and only works to further portray Katherine as the disobedient shrew. Her honestly reveals her insecurities further as she continues with, “Now everyone will look at me / and say, “There’s Petruchio’s poor wife/ If only he would come and actually marry her.” By vocalizing her stream of consciousness, Katherine allows her guard down in a rush of emotions and then reveals that she is aware of how poorly others think of her. To talk so fearfully about the shame of being left at the altar shows how little faith Katherine had about Petruchio's proposal in the first place. Being filled with doubt, it makes sense that this reflects into Katherine’s self image, as she already admitted to blaming herself for her fiance’s absence. And finally, to weep in sadness at the end of her dialogue shows the most vulnerability out of all

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