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
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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
“The Taming Of The Shrew” by William Shakespeare is a work of satire created to criticize the misogynistic outlooks of the 16th century. With this play, Shakespeare is trying to say that the idea and role of women in his society is deeply flawed and should be fixed, as well as to make other social commentaries, such as on the treatment of servants. Through exaggeration and parody, Shakespeare makes society look silly.
Consequently, in the play The taming of the Shrew and the sources of author Elizabeth Hutcheon, Marion Perrett and Dale Priest they have ideas amongst those sources and my three other sources have the common theme of women being objectifified and therefore the idea between those sources is that women’s roles become reversed when they let themselves be shrewed like the character Katherine did when it came to Petruchio. Amongst the first source the moral of it is one that Linda Boose argues that “Shrew and similar terms were transposed from their origin as contemptuous expressions for lower-class males into terms that gendered such hostility, displacing it away from the threat of male class revolt which remained real throughout the era and redirecting
...io calls for Kate she arrives, exhibiting that she has become obedient. "Kate's final verbalization chastising Bianca and the widow for their disobedience and cataloguing their obligations that a wife owes her husband engenders a different moment on the stage today"(Vaughn30). This shows that Katherine has been tamed and no longer acts as a shrew. Bianca has an outburst which proves Bianca to be genuinely the shrew. "Is a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so" (ShakespeareVii214-215). Now everyone kens the authentic Katherine.
In the play The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Petrucio recognizes, respects and desires Katherine’s strength of character. Petrucio is a clever man who sees beyond facades because he uses them himself. (II, i 46) (II, I 283 - 89) He is stimulated by Katherine’s sharp tongue and harsh actions. He proves this many times throughout the play.
Shakespeare, William. _The Taming of the Shrew_. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Ed. Dean Johnson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 142-171.
...is also helping herself gain power. Also, the speech lets you know that she is aware of the difference between public and private behavior and just because she is “giving in” to her husband, she knows that she will not always have to do so, especially in private. It also shows that Kate has grown in maturity and can handle things in an adult way, such as give and take, instead of having to use physical force. It shows that instead of a tamed shrew, she is a women that knows how to get what she wants but goes about it in a different way at the end of the play than at the beginning.
Garner, Shirley Nelson. “The Taming of the Shrew:Inside or Outside of the Joke?” “Bad” Shakespeare: Revaluations of the Shakespeare Canon. Dickinson: Farleigh Dickinson U P, 1988. 105-19. Rpt. in Shakespeare for Students. Ed. Catherine C. Dominic. Detroit: Gale, 1997. 374-78. Print.
The Taming of the Shrew unravels to reveal a wild beastly Katharine lacking respect for her family, herself and others around her. Kate is a very outspoken and vulgar woman without respect to authority. Katharine, although depicted as a beautiful woman quickly becomes the talk of Padua. Kate has found that if she is loud and obnoxious she can have her way. She screams and grunts and pushes those who she does not get along with. The general character of Katharine seems to be that of a small child.
In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew portrays the sexism in society by showing example of the treatment and the role of the woman in society. First this is shown by identifying the labels given to describe Katherine and Bianca in society. Another example is the dominance Petruchio has over Katherine now once he has married her. Marriage for a women symbolizes ultimate obedience for their husband. The woman is now the husband’s property. It happened to seem the two girls were far from different but in reality they were no different after all. Katherine has been tamed and now obeys her newly husband Petruchio indefinably.
"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
Shakespeare, William. “The Taming of the Shrew.” Ed. Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, Katharine Eisaman Maus, and Andrew Gurr. The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies. By William Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Jay. Greenblatt. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. 175-244. Print.
In this piece, it can be translated that women would be considered a rebel if she is rude and shrewish to her husband. In all, wives are objects to their husbands, and must do all that her husband says. This limited Katherine’s identity because it took away her personality of being a shrew, and turned her into something she wasn’t; kind and
This play has many themes of patriarchy concerning the roles of males and females in a marriage, the authority of fathers over their families, husbands over wives, and men over women (Bloom 13). In the title alone, there's the indication of the husband over the wife, the "taming" of the shrew (16), and the word shrew that is chosen to describe Katherine is somewhat demeaning. In modern day society there is no such boundaries put on women. There should not be one party who overpowers the other one. It is a marriage, a bond that is shared, and each should be respected in the same way. Today, women and men are equals in a marriage, or at least in the United States. Women are no longer as oppressed as they once were. This play is rather primitive on the views of women in society.
In summary, William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, explores the context in which he wrote it, highlighting some of the most prominent ideals and values of the Renaissance period in 17th century Europe. The play explores the inequality of power between genders, loyalty and obedience and the importance it plays in relationships and the social repression of females. These contextual elements, combined with the elements of fiction writing (characters, plot, theme, setting and style) work hand-in-hand to create a text laced with moral and social questions, satirical criticisms of the Renaissance and Shakespeare’s personal views of women.
“SparkNote on The Taming of the Shrew.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.