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Analysis of shakespeare's play the taming of the shrew
Gender in the taming of the shrew
Analysis of shakespeare's play the taming of the shrew
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What does a modern audience learn about marriages and the rules of men and women in Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew?’
During the Elizabethan time men and women had diverse roles in society. Shakespeare manifested these attitudes in a comical play called ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. I will be exploring what a modern audience learns about marriages and the roles of men and women in Shakespeare’s ‘.
The play The Taming of the Shrew’ is set in Italy, in a town called Padua. In Padua they believe that once their daughters are a certain age they should get married to a man that their father approves of. In Padua they also believe that the eldest daughter (Katherina) must get married before any of her other siblings (Bianca) ‘I firmly am resolved you know- That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter Before I have a husband for the elder’ Baptista (Katherina and Bianca’s father), is basically saying that Bianca can not get married until her elder sister Katherina is married. Baptista made the decision on who Katherina and Bianca should get married by asking them about their status, how wealthy they are. Dowries were paid to the suitors by their father-in-law because the suitors will be taking on their daughters as wives. When Petruchio arrives at Padua he said he will use marriage as a way to make money, ‘I come to wive it wealthily in Padua’, Petruchio is insinuating that he has only went to Padua to marry a wife and get rich from the dowry he will be given to by the father-in-law.
A scold is a woman that always says her opinion, even when she is not supposed to. She does not fear anyone and has some characteristic traits of a feminist. In Shakespeare’s time scolds were treated as a shrew, a vexatious woman, their behaviour ...
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... in war. Katherina compares a shrewish woman to a muddy fountain, ‘A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty’. Katherina is basically saying that no one likes a muddy fountain, which is what a shrew is considered to be. Katherina makes hand gestures to petruchio’s feet ‘And place your hands below your husband’s foot’ to show that she is completely obedient and submissive to Petruchio.
In Shakespeare’s time marriage was a big deal for women and men. Unlike today’s society were marriage does not have to be the only option to leave your parents house. Men in Shakespeare’s time also saw marriage as a way of making money. Women also had no say and power in anything but men did have the power to anything. However in today’s society men and women are seen to be equal, which is the total opposite to Shakespeare’s time.
The Renaissance may have been a time filled with the revolutionary concepts but the people of this time still regarded woman as mere property. This milieu formed the Taming of the Shrew, a play about an outspoken Katherina who gets tamed into a “good wife” by Petruchio. “She [Good Wife] is the eye of wariness, the hand of labour, and the heart of love, a companion of kindness, a Mistress of Passion, an exercise of Patience, and an example of experience. “ (Good and Badde)The methods used by Petruchio, to tame her such as starving Kat, are not seen as revolt...
Men saw marriage as a way to get rich; love didn’t even enter the equation. Padua is a rich area and therefore many suitors fled there in the hope of becoming wealthy. “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua,” says Petruchio. He asks outright, “Then tell me – if I get your daughter’s love, what dowry shall I have with her to wife?” (Page 37, act 2 scene 1, line 119-120) The husbands were given a dowry by the father of the daughter when they became married. Women didn’t have any say in who they chose to marry; instead the decision was given to the father. If a daughter was not married then they were looked shoddily upon within the society. In this era every woman was to be married otherwise they were frowned upon within the community. Further more without Katherina getting married, Bianca would also never marry. Within a family the eldest daughter must be married off first and in this play turned out to be a bonus. “Her father keeps from all access of suitors and will not promise her to any man until her elder sister first be wed.” This is the main an...
“The Taming Of The Shrew” by William Shakespeare is a work of satire created to criticize the misogynistic outlooks of the 16th century. With this play, Shakespeare is trying to say that the idea and role of women in his society is deeply flawed and should be fixed, as well as to make other social commentaries, such as on the treatment of servants. Through exaggeration and parody, Shakespeare makes society look silly.
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.
William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, takes an interesting approach to the role of women through his character Katherine. She is a wild and rebellious woman for her time, the complete opposite of the prefect elizabethan housewife. To most men she is undesirable while her sister, the perfect representation of a woman, was wanted by more men than she could ever indulge. Katherine is not the typical elizabethan woman, instead, she is the woman that the other married women in the play strive to be. Shakespeare uses interactions between Katherine and Bianca, as well as conversations between Petruchio and Katherine to express her character.
In this marriage Katherine has no power. She is verbally abused by Petruchio and denied what she needs. As said in the article,“ Kate is transformed after enduring the irrational world of Petruchio 's country house, where she is denied food, sleep, and fashionable accoutrements of her social class” (Karen 263). Katherine is tamed and she praises and respects him now that she is tamed. At the end of the play, when Katherine and Petruchio are at the wedding, Katherine is the only woman out of all at the wedding that actually listens to her husband when they all call their wives. Katherine ends up giving them a speech and telling them to respect their husband: “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head thy sovereign, one that cares for thee And for thy maintenance commits his body” (Shakespear V. ii . 162-164). She respects who he is and all the work that he does for her. Petruchio has the power in marriage because she respects him and his
The taming of the shrew by William Shakespeare is a dramatic play that takes places in a era that women’s rights were not even thought about, writers of the 1500’s used issues taking place in society to describe their stories. The issues addressed were women’s rights due to a system of power exerted over women to control them as respect and submission to the male was the principle requirement. The women were sold to there future husbands by the headman of the family choice. There was no courtship evolved much was determined on how much money would be exchanged. There was hierarchy in the family to marry the oldest daughter first as not to have a daughter left behind to be an old main rejected by many suitors.
"Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them." -Oscar Wilde. This quote embodies the fight over gender roles and the views of women in society. Taming of the Shrew deals with Kate and Bianca, two sisters who are at the time to he married off. However, suitors who seek Bianca as a wife have to wait for her sister to be married first. Kate is seen as a shrew because she is strong willed and unlike most women of the time. In his 1603 play The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare enforces traditional gender roles and demonstrates how little say women had in society. He accomplishes this through the strong personality of Kate, Baptista 's attitude towards his daughters as transactions, and
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.
Centuries ago in Elizabethan England there were many traditions about marriage and the treatment of women. One strong tradition of these times was the practice of marriage between races. Interracial marriages were considered extremely taboo. (High Beam). In this era marriages were arranged by the parents with strong help from the local church. The individuals had little choice as to who they would marry. (Elizabethan England Life). Yet another example of these traditions was the respectable treatment of women. While the husband was in charge of his wife, as was the father, the husband were expected to treat the women right (Elizbethi). In spurning all of these traditions, Shakespeare demonstrates a view of marriage far different from that of Elizabethan England, in doing this he is trying to plant new ideas in the people who read or view the play.
In the taming of the shrew, the play focused on two women in particular, Baptista's daughters, Bianca and Katherine. These women lived in this environment that gave men power for all their lives...
By charming her with kind words, Petruchio is able to manipulate Katherine into marriage and woo her, but in an unaccustomed way, as Kate is not used to men being so nice and direct with her. Petruchio is able to achieve this end by manipulating Katherine’s words. He twists what Kate says and makes it seem as if she is coming on to him sexually, while in reality he is the one implying the sexual innuendo. This manipulation can be seen when they have an argument about whether or not the wasp carries his sting on his tail or tongue, and Petruchio says “What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, good Kate. I am a gentleman—” (II, 1; 230-231). By contorting the words he ...
Throughout the historical literary periods, many writers underrepresented and undervalued the role of women in society, even more, they did not choose to yield the benefits of the numerous uses of the female character concerning the roles which women could accomplish as plot devices and literary tools. William Shakespeare was one playwright who found several uses for female characters in his works. Despite the fact that in Shakespeare's history play, Richard II, he did not use women in order to implement the facts regarding the historical events. Instead, he focused the use of women roles by making it clear that female characters significantly enriched the literary and theatrical facets of his work. Furthermore in Shakespeare’s history play, King Richard II, many critics have debated the role that women play, especially the queen. One of the arguments is that Shakespeare uses the queen’s role as every women’s role to show domestic life and emotion. Jo McMurtry explains the role of all women in his book, Understanding Shakespeare’s England A Companion for the American Reader, he states, “Women were seen, legally and socially, as wives. Marriage was a permanent state” (5). McMurtry argues that every woman’s role in the Elizabethan society is understood to be a legal permanent state that is socially correct as wives and mothers. Other critics believe that the role of the queen was to soften King Richard II’s personality for the nobles and commoners opinion of him. Shakespeare gives the queen only a few speaking scenes with limited lines in Acts two, four, and five through-out the play. Also, she is mentioned only a few times by several other of the characters of the play and is in multiple scenes wit...
Petruchio discusses the details of a marriage between him and Kate with Baptista, and demands to know what he will receive in return. With no care for Kate and her feelings, Petruchio declares her as his, “Then tell me, if I get your daughter’s love, / What dowry shall I have with her to wife?” (Shakespeare 2:1:126-127). Petruchio uses Kate to get to money for his greed and does not consider what she might be feeling. Treating her as a piece of property, Petruchio puts a price on Kate and “His role as property-owner is the model for his role as husband; Kate, for him, is a thing” (Kahn). Petruchio does not care for Kate’s feelings because he is simply after the money. As the play continues, Petruchio moves from treating Katherine as property to comparing her to his own property. After the wedding, Petruchio orders Katherine to come with him to his home. Comparing her to items of his property, he explains himself to the guests, “She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house; / My household stuff, my field, my barn, / My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything” (Shakespeare 3:2:236-238). Petruchio does not treat Katherine as a human being, therefore; not as an equal. As he compares her to his property, Petruchio is making Kate his. He is saying he owns Kate and can do what he wishes. Though some critics believe Petruchio is comparing Kate to valuables, in actuality he is degrading her to property and owning her. Petruchio sees Katherine as nothing more than a body that benefit him financially. Shakespeare reveals the inequality between the sexes as men disrespect women and degrade them to a piece of property. Different men in Katherine’s life continue to humiliate her as they treat her as property and not as a human with
During The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has used pleasure and pain in order to tell the story of Petruchio and Katherina’s courtship. This is problematic for modern day audiences, as they do not find the courtship methods that Petruchio employs to woo Katherina particularly comical. However, it could be argued that Shakespeare crafted The Taming of the Shrew precisely for this reason, to feature his views on patriarchy and to make the audience see what was happening through a new perspective. The Elizabethan audience would have been shocked at the methods used in order to achieve the taming, even though it was well within a man’s right to discipline his wife if she was deemed unfit. From the very beginning of The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare indicates that this play will not follow traditional rules of decorum, and that it is intended to both give pleasure and cause pain in order to make both Elizabethan and modern audiences take note of his underlying message.