William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, has often been accused of being a farce and farce, for those of you who don’t know is a subgenre of comedy that chooses to entertain through the use of verbal humor both low-brow and witty, as well as improbable and exaggerated situations (“Farce.”). The male lead Petruccio openly declares to the audience; “Thus have I politically begun my reign, and ‘tis my hope to end successfully. My falcon now is sharp and passing empty, and till she stoop she must not be full-gorged, for then she never looks upon her lure...” his plan to train his wife Kate, the shrew of Padua, as if she were some sort of animal (4.1. 169-72). Petruccio’s success in wooing and taming Kate through the use of ludicrous and absurd techniques such as killing Kate’s shrewdness with kindness, word play, and public embarrassment are what lead the play to be considered a farce.
Petruccio was laying down the ground work for his taming of Kate even from the first moment they met. He even openly admits to his plan to tame her during the quick witted banter when they first met each other:
Petruccio. Come, come, you wasp, i’faith you are too angry.
Katherine. If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Petruccio. My remedy is then to pluck it out. (2.1.207-09)
The rest of this first conversation between Kate and Petruccio is riddled with sexual innuendos, clever word choices and it is this feature of the dialogue that can easily lead readers (or viewers in the case of a stage performance) to see this play as a farce. To further exemplify the wit and absurdity of the Petruccio/Kate dynamic, one could look at a scene later in the play where
Petruccio claims the moon is shining brightly in the middle of the day. Kate f...
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...ming techniques are showing result. If the reader sees Petruccio’s behavior as more altruistic, instead of cruel then it would be easier to reconcile the play with a true farce.
In conclusion, The Taming of the Shrew, contains many of the mainstay features of a farce in particular when in concern of Petruccio’s taming of Kate. The quick witted wordplay, the absurd scenarios, and the often borderline slapstick humor, along with the very premise of taming a woman should lead the play to be considered a farce.
Works Cited
“Farce.” Princeton University. Princeton University, 5 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
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.
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He is rich, madly in love, and willing to do anything to get what he wants; he is Lucentio. Lucentio is one of the main characters of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. His role in the play begins as he arrives in Padua, Italy as a rich student with the intent of furthering his education at a university in Padua. Mind you, Lucentio is accompanied by his servant Tranio who reminds him to enjoy life and not to exclusively focus on his studies. However, this conversation is abruptly interrupted by a boisterous crowd containing Baptista Minola and his alluring daughter Bianca. Upon seeing Bianca, Lucentio proclaims, “Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio, if I achieve not this young modest girl. (Act 1, Scene 1)” This ultimately leads to Lucentio’s passionate pursuit of Bianca.
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...ironic use of manipulation before and after the wedding, Petruchio is able to tame Kate. Or so he thinks. The only real change is that Kate agrees with him, but she only does this to get her way. Therefore she is manipulating him by pretending that he has been able to tame her. He has not tamed her, because she also utilizes the art of manipulation. Before, Kate’s only defense against patriarchy is to be outspoken; now, she negotiates her own sense of power within patriarchy by using manipulation. Shakespeare’s critic of the patriarchal social structure is therefore just, because not only are women denied the same legal power as men, but their manipulative power is also disregarded and considered a weakness. Therefore women are not to be blamed for utilizing this powerful form of control, because that is what the patriarchal social structure forces them into.