Place of Women in Society in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

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Place of Women in Society in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew At the time this play was written there was a huge debate ongoing about the place of women in society. I am aiming to evaluate Shakespeare's contribution to this debate. He raises a very controversial issue. In the induction he sets out clearly what the play is about, in the lord's speech we are told exactly how women should behave, this may be Shakespeare's opinion but this view is taken by many men in Shakespeare's day and age. This would make the play popular with some people and extremely unpopular with others, especially women. In act 5 scene 2 we see what Shakespeare is really saying about the role of women in society. In Katherina's speech she talks about the relationship between men and women, different actors and directors can interpret this in different ways, Katherina can either be playfully submissive, believing that what she says as humorously ironic knowing that she will in fact later be the one in charge. Or simply completely submissive knowing that Petruchio will always be the one in charge. Or, not giving in to Petruchio, but becoming a partner with him becoming mutually supportive and happy together. He uses noun patterns to tell us women have "bodies soft, and weak, and smooth". Katherina says "thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper" implying that the wife is simply another of the husbands possessions. Shakespeare uses language to aid his meaning. Prose is used by him to show which characters should be seen as low or comic. Sly in the induction uses prose, also the comic characters in the play such as Grumio and Biondello. Th... ... middle of paper ... ...ould understand much more about Italy. Maybe without this induction many people would not fully comprehend what point Shakespeare intended to put across. Marriage was very much a business arrangement; it was just a way for men to make money. Katherina may have gone along with Petruchio just to make money out of her father. It seemed that men had the most power, and the women had minimal power if any. Our modern day culture seems very different. We have now had the most powerful person in the world at the time (Queen of England) be a woman. We now have women in high positions of power. Shakespeare has made a valid contribution to the debate on the position of women. He has helped the debate along by asking questions, we can now see that the debate has followed on to a certain measure of equality between men and women.

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