Katherine and Bianca in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew shows two sisters: Katherina and Bianca, as two complete contrasts to each other. He used various techniques to achieve these effects. The same techniques are used for both sisters to show comparisons between their characters. Shakespeare created two different characters by making the outcome of the techniques very different from each other. Shakespeare has used the theme of deception and disguise and based the play on the idea that things are not always as they seem. One of the techniques used is presentation of the two girls based on their behaviour and speech. The oldest of the sisters is Katherina who is otherwise known as Kate. At her first entrance in Act 1 Scene 1 she threatens to hit Hortensio over the head with a stool: "comb your noddle with a three-legged stool". This is because they have been making snide remarks about her such as Gremio says, "to cart her! She's too rough for me"; meaning that she should be taken in an open cart and ridden down the streets, like a convicted prostitute, because she is not like the ideal Elizabethan woman and people are ashamed of her. The Shakespearean audience had the idea of a perfect woman. They should only speak when spoken to, be polite and do everything to suit their husband. This is completely the opposite of Katherina as she thinks that she has to stand up for herself all of the time and this is why the men always make snide comments about her, to her or loudly so that she can hear. By her threatening Hortensio she is being very aggressive and harsh. However Bianc... ... middle of paper ... ...language she uses is refined, polite, poetic and formal. Her personality is calmer and she only speaks when she is told to Bianca is more shrewish, not obedient, and not submissive. She appears to have no conscience about what she has done. She uses more forceful language smutty and crude. Lucentio has married Bianca but now wishes that she was more like Kate. The techniques used here is what each of them says and their use of language. At the end of the play Kate's speech is ironic because she is telling other women how to treat their husbands. When Kate was a Shrew no one listened to what she had to say, now she has been tamed men listen to every word, this is because she is talking about obeying men. This maybe suggests that Shakespeare was talking about his society, which was a male dominated world.
Juliet's Nurse is first introduced to the play in Act I Scene 3. It is
Kate and The Taming of the Shrew describes the progression of the outspoken and headstrong Kate, wife of Petruchio, as she gradually transitions into an almost perfect example of an archetypal loyal wife. This classic female archetype can be expressed through blind and ignorant support of their husband without any personal opinion or any priorities and objectives other than to satisfy the needs and desires of their husbands. While Kate begins possessing traits that oppose the loyal wife archetype due to her strong willed personality, her shift to obedience. However she continues to think with cunning strategy throughout the entire play, regardless of her weakened mental state caused by Petruchio limiting her food and sleep.
She always wanted to be the center of attention, she was prejudiced and believed things should stay the same, and she was very selfish. While she thinks she’s above everyone else, she feels that the world revolves around her.
marriage as well as being a wife is the proper role in life as did
Now at the end of the play Kate is perceived as the ideal woman; she
The Taming Of The Shrew is a comic play based around a town in Italy
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.
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.
in this play, women are used as a symbol of male power, or lack of it.
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 Shakespeare’s plays, Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew, the leading female characters have traits that can join them together or separate them. Juliet and Katherine both face having to marry a man they don’t want to wed and face pressure to marry them from their fathers. Both of their personalities come through by the decisions they make, Juliet can be unthoughtful on how she makes decisions and Katherine can be more sassy towards her family and society about marriage. Shakespeare still let some of the characters personalities clash together giving them some of the same qualities. The roles, Katherine and Juliet were different in the fact that Juliet was naive and spoiled unlike Katherine, but they both have stubbornness in common.
Her personality is strong and she is independent, unlike most women. This makes her unattractive to most suitors and gains her the label of shrew. She demonstrates her personality in the beginning of the play: "I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?" (1.1 57-58). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to demonstrate the defiance against traditional gender roles and how Kate almost immediately speaks out for herself, unlike her sister Bianca. In addition, Kate describes her future husband as a "mate," unlike how most women would describe their lovers. Moreover, Kate is educated: "I 'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear: I wis it is not half way to her heart; But if it were, doubt not her care should be to comb your noodle with a three-legg 'd stool and paint your face and use you like a fool." (1.1 61-65). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to demonstrate how she defies traditional gender roles by being the only person to speak in iambic pentameter. This demonstrates her intelligence unlike many women. In addition, Kate doesn 't enjoy receiving orders from others. When her father leaves with Bianca and tells Kate she may stay, she gets angry. "Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave, ha? (1.1 103-105). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to
Battle of the Sexes would have been another appropriate title for this play because the entire play is women verses men, men verses women. This battle of the sexes shows no boundaries between the rich and poor, young or old, man or women. The basis of all the rivalry stems from the fact that the men in this play look at the women as if they were objects, instead of human beings with feelings. This theory that women are merely objects creates an environment that the women have to adapt to and survive in and the environment of a person will depict what he or she will become, resulting in a battle between the sexes.
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.
Marriage in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew At the time Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew the idealistics