Masters and Husbands/ Wives and Servants: The Ideals of Renaissance
The relationships between servants and masters closely reflect the gender relationships in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Lucentio and Tranio's relationship as master and servant is an ideal of the Renaissance era according to "An Homily on the State of Matrimony." Tranio risks taking the place of his master because of his love for him and Lucentio always treats him with kindness and respect, almost like an equal. Though they are not involved romantically, Lucentio and Tranio fulfill these ideals better than any marriage in The Taming of the Shrew. Lucentio's relationship with Bianca reflects his role with Tranio: Bianca shows respect for Lucentio as he cherishes her and treats her with kindness, however Bianca fails to complete her role as an ideal wife by obeying her husband. Petruchio and his servant, Grumio, have a much different relationship, however. Grumio often disobeys his master, while Petruchio insults and even beats him. These roles are echoed in Petruchio's relationship with Katherine.
Shakespeare uses Lucentio and Tranio's relationship in the play as an ideal for both the master and servant relationship as well as gender relationships. Though Lucentio is the master, he always treats Tranio with respect and kind words. When the pair arrives in Padua, Lucentio tells Tranio that he his happy that he is with him: "And by my father's love and leave am arm'd with his good will and thy good company, my trusty servant well approv'd in all." [1] Rather than abusing his power over Tranio, he is grateful for him. In return Tranio refers to Lucentio as "gentle master mine" and "good master." [2]
Tranio demonstrates his obedience in par...
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...shers, 1994. (1:1:5-8)
[2] Ibid. 1.1.25-29 {http://3.hidemyass.com/ip-1/encoded/Oi8vd3d3LjEyM2hlbHBtZS5jb20%3D&f=norefer}
[3] Ibid. 1.1.206-212{http://mason.gmu.edu/~rmatz/TSsamplef04.html}
[4] Ibid. 1.1.232-238 {http://5.hidemyass.com/ip-1/encoded/Oi8vd3d3LnlvdXBvcm4uY29t&f=norefer}
[5] Ibid. 5.1.115-6 {http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8}
[6] Ed. McDonald, Russ. "An Homily of the state of Matrimony" Bedford Companion to Shakespeare, 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001. Pg 288
[7] Ed. Alexander, Peter. "The Taming of the Shrew" 5.2.80-1
[8] Ed. McDonald, Russ. "An Homily of the state of Matrimony" Pg 288
[9] Ed. Alexander, Peter. "The Taming of the Shrew" 1.2.8
[10] Ed. McDonald, Russ. "An Homily of the state of Matrimony" Pg 288
[11] Ibid. Pg.288
[12] Ed. Alexander, Peter. "The Taming of the Shrew" 1.2.18
Ranald, Margaret Loftus. “ 'As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks': English Marriage and Shakespeare” Shakespeare Quarterly 30, (1979): 68-81.
Twelfth Night, written by Shakespeare between the years of 1599 and 1601 (“Shakespeare-Online”), is easily one of his most well-known plays. A year after the assumed date of publication, on February the 2nd of 1602, Twelfth Night was performed for the first time (“William-Shakespeare)”. The location of the production is thought to have taken place in the Middle Temple, which was one of four law schools within London that were known as the Inns of Court (“Shakespeare-Online”). Though some would classify Twelfth Night as generic, it is laced with a sharp sense of humor and controversial concerns that can easily be applied to the issues of present day. Many of these issues, such as marriage, gender identity, sex, homosexuality, and social ambition, are relevant in today’s society, making them easy to relate to. The central theme of the play is romance. The characters all experience love, in one way or another, whether it be unrequited or shared between more than one person. The plot is intricately woven, sometimes confusingly so, between twists and turns throughout the multiple acts, but it never strays too far from the subject of adoration. Despite the hardships, misperception and deceit the characters experience, six individuals are brought together in the name of holy matrimony in three distinct nuptials.
Amussen, Susan. "The Family and the Household" in A Companion to Shakespeare. Ed. David Kastan. Malden Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1999. 85-99.
Using the same satirical techniques, he points out, a little more subtly, that servants, like women, are treated like less than people, when they are people just as good as everybody else. throughout the play we see instances of the mistreatment of servants, such as Vincentio beating Biondello, Petruchio abusing his entire staff, and Lucentio using Tranio as a pawn to help him win over a girl. Tranio even laments about this, saying, “Oh, sir, Lucentio slipped me like his greyhound, which runs himself and catches for his master.” Tranio is comparing himself to a dog to be used at Lucentio’s command in this quote, commenting on how Lucentio may treat him well, but he still does not value him as a person.
Over the past 400 or so years since Shakespeare wrote _The Taming of the Shrew_, many writers, painters, musicians and directors have adapted and reformed this play of control and subjugation into timeless pieces of art. In _10 Things I Hate About You_ and Kiss Me Kate from two very different times in the twentieth century, and paintings of Katherina and Bianca from the late nineteenth century, the creators of these adaptations have chosen to focus on the role of the two main female characters in the play. The ideas surrounding these women have changed through the years, from Katherina and Bianca simply being young women who deviated from the norm of Shakespeare’s time to women who embody feminist ideals and stereotypes of the more modern world.
The Taming of the Shrew written by William Shakespeare depicts the common roles of men and women in the early seventeenth century. Shakespeare writes of Petruchio and Kate, a male and female who sharply oppose each other. Petruicho must "tame" his wife Kate without breaking her true inner spirit.
Power is the capability of influencing others in their behavior. It all connects to him trying to tame Katherine. He wants to change her behavior and he contains the power of doing this because at the end she respects him more than any other female would respect their husband. Throughout the play, The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, Petruchio, Katherine 's husband, contains the power in the relationship because he is able to change her behavior.
" 'As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks': English Marriage and Shakespeare" Shakespeare Quarterly 30, (1979):
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is a play that is ahead of its time in its views toward gender roles within society. Katherine is a woman who is intelligent, and is not afraid to assert her views on any given situation. She is paired with another obstinate character in Pertuchio. The Marriage formed between the two is a match made in heaven for two reasons. First Because Katherine is strong enough to assert her views, and more importantly, she realizes when she should assert them. The second reason the bond survives is that Petruchio is strong enough to accept the fact that Katherine has a mind and, more importantly he loves her for that reason. Petruchio cleverly weaves the relationship into the framework of society without compromising the integrity of the relationship. Petruchio does this by comparing Katherine’s at attitude to repulsive clothing. Carefully and calculatingly, Petruchio forges a relationship that is envied by all who witness it.
Ranald, Margaret Loftus. “ 'As Marriage Binds, and Blood Breaks': English Marriage and Shakespeare” Shakespeare Quarterly 30, (1979): 68-81.
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.
Sexism is an ever changing concept in today’s world. Every day the concept morphs a little bit, changing the entire definition of what is sexist and what is not. In The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, the male characters lie to and abuse their women in order to have the women marry them. Lucentio come to Padua to study, but when he sees a beautiful girl, he pretends to be a teacher in order to marry Bianca. Petruchio on the other hand forces a woman to marry him and then trains her to follow his every command. Although the The Taming of the Shrew is frequently regarded as a particularly sexist play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women.
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.
It is well known that Shakespeare’s comedies contain many marriages, some arranged, some spontaneous. During Queen Elizabeth's time, it was considered foolish to marry for love. However, in Shakespeare’s plays, people often marry for love. With a closer look into two of his most famous plays As You Like It and Twelfth Night or What You Will, I found that while marriages are defined and approached differently in these two plays, Shakespeare’s attitudes toward love in both plays share similarities. The marriages in As You Like It’s conform to social expectation, while the marriages are more rebellious in Twelfth Night. Love, in both plays, was defined as
When someone is a female their first thought should not be weak or nurturing, just as when someone is male their first though shouldn’t always be powerful. Unfortunately it has becomes so ingrained in societies mentality that this is the way that things work. The Taming of the Shrew is a past writing piece that expands on a mentality that is modern. The male gender cannot be put into this same constraint. Petruchio is the epitome of what society would describe a male as. He thinks he is in charge and always the superior to women. He expects Katherine to always do what he tells her to do, because he believes that is her duty as his wife. Moreover he should not be expected to do that for her. Furthermore, Bianca is what many would describe as the perfect woman. She is nurturing and she does not speak out against what she is told. When she does speak she always speaks like a lady. She exists merely for decoration in the home and to serve her husband. Katherine is the inconsistency in this stereotype on femininity. Her purpose in the novel originally is to rebel against this biased thought on female gender roles. Katherine is not afraid to speak out against the things that she is told to do. If she disagrees with something she will act on it and she is just as strong as the men in the novel; which is why many of the men actually fear her. Katherine is not submissive and does not believe that the only reason that she exists is to serve a husband. Katherine does not want to be just the damsel in distress, she wants to be in charge. At the end of the novel there is a switch in the personalities of Katherine and Bianca. This alteration provides the purpose of showing that gender is not something that someone can be confined in just because they were born a female. A woman can have many different traits and still be feminine. It is impossible to put femininity in a box because there are no real qualities for what