Shakespeare's Presentation of Power in the The Taming of the Shrew

Shakespeare's Presentation of Power in the The Taming of the Shrew

Power is defined as ‘the ability to act or control,’ and it is evident

from the title that a ‘shrew’ is going to be tamed, i.e. it will be

controlled. The shrew turns out to be a woman called ‘Katherina.’ I

think he reason Shakespeare has a women as the shrew is to prove that

controlling women didn’t get very far. It was a male dominated world.

Whilst reading the play we come to learn that the shrew is a lady

called Katherina, it is her rebellious and wild ways that get her this

nickname. Katherina has more power than, I think, she realises. It is

Katherina who is the eldest daughter of Baptista and so she has a

significant amount of power over her younger sister Bianca. In act 2

scene 1, Katherina argues with Bianca and uses physical power to hit

Bianca. Before this incident, Katherina is unintentionally given the

power to determine when Bianca marries. Their father has said Bianca

will not be married until he has “a husband for the elder.” This gives

Katherina a kind of hold over Bianca, she knows there are a lot of

potential suitors for Bianca and hardly any for herself because of her

reputation and so as Bianca says in act 2 Katherina seems content in

her sister’s discontent. Katherina uses violence and shouting to get

her point across, this gives her power because even her father keeps

out of her way. People are scared of her because she is unstable and

unpredictable. This means that she has control over many things going

on around her, and having control means having power. Again, whether

or not she knows she has this power is unknown, but either way she

uses h...

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...to Bianca if they die

before her. As the wealthy citizen, Baptista can afford to finance his

daughters until he finds a suitable match for them. This works to his

advantage because he can afford to keep Bianca until her elder sister,

the “shrew” Katherina is made a sensible offer for marriage which is

to the standards of Baptista.

The purpose of this play was for Shakespeare to prove hat domineering

women didn’t make it in the 16th century. Katherina’s soliloquy in act

5 scene to is about a women’s role and in some parts it seems like

Shakespeare is mocking this view, especially when Katherina calls men

“king.”

Power in this play was presented in a number of ways. A lot of the

power presented in the play started with a female but ended up with a

male. This shows how male dominated the times of Shakespeare were.