Theme Of Marriage In The Odyssey

Both the Taming of the Schrew and The Odyssey handle marriage in very different ways, but both ways have their flaws. In the book, The Odyssey, Odysseus goes out on a journey that lasts him years. When making his trip home Odysseus is unfaithful to his wife Penelope who is waiting for him at home. This is a theme you never see Taming of the Shrew. In Taming of the Schrew Petruchio never cheats on his wife Katherine, but their marriage is far from perfect.

One thing that makes Petruchio's and Katherine's marriage unperfect, is that he originally only married Katherine for her money. Petruchio only came to town to find a rich girl to marry. Odysseus may have cheated on Penelope, but at least he truly loved her. Petruchio also married

Odysseus could have just run off and forgotten about his family but instead, he went and fought all the suitors to save his family. Petruchio, on the other hand, is not a family man at all. In fact, after his wedding, he wouldn't even stay for the family dinner/celebration instead he just took Katherine home. He only liked Katherine's family because they were wealthy.

One thing both couples do have in common is that in the end of both books, the couples were happily married. It was no surprise to the reader that when Odysseus came home that Penelope was happy to see him. What was a shock was that Katherine and Petruchio ended well. In the final act of The Taming of the Schrew, you see all the happy couples together including Petruchio and Katherine.

As you can see the relationships within The Odyssey and The Taming of the Schrew have their differences. These differences are based on the time period and culture of the author. You see how couples treated each other and handled conflicts during these times. Both stories show very unique marriages but in the end, both couples were happy, and as I said before, both ways are different but neither way is