Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Love in Romeo and Juliet essay
The theme of love in Shakespeare's plays
Love in Romeo and Juliet essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
If you took time to look through the vast works of Shakespeare, you would begin to notice that many of his plays contain similar themes or events. One of the recurring themes throughout his works is romance. The relationships that develop between characters can be observed at a closer level in order to draw out more connections between the plays. In some of Shakespeare’s works he also ends up including a developing relationship with side characters in order to compare one relationship to another. This can be seen in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew with Lucio and Bianca being compared to Petruchio and Katherine. The two relationships that are near polar opposites are Katherine and Petruchio, in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, …show more content…
At the beginning of their relationship it can easily be said that Katherine is the one with no modesty. Out of greed Petruchio approaches her house and tells Katherine’s father about his plans to marry her. She tries everything she can to get away from him. This is a scene that I find puzzling because Katherine was always mad with herself for never being able to find a suitor and affecting her younger sister Bianca 's love life. After Petruchio catches up with her they seem to switch roles. Petruchio is now the one with no modesty as he forces Katherine to stay and hear him out. Once they are on their way back to Petruchio’s home, the changing of roles intensifies as Petruchio treats Katherine as nothing more than a hindrance. When they finally arrive at the castle, Petruchio’s servants seem like they want to treat Katherine well, however Petruchio has a different plan. He ruins the whole dinner saying it is not fit for such a woman and sends Katherine off to bed hungry and tired. This is the point when some begin to question the validity of statements claiming Katherine as a shrew. According to Laurie E. Maguire, “ Katherine is described as a wild animal, a wildcat, a wasp, a devil, a fiend of hell, she does very little to earn her wild and diabolic epithets.” (30). Throughout the remainder of the play Petruchio continues to treat Katherine as his slave. He …show more content…
This relationship is similar, in a way, from the start. Neither of them show any signs of love or affection for one another, and they act as if they hate each other’s guts. This behavior proceeds through much of the play, that is until they are tricked into thinking that the other one is in love with them. After this event it seems as if they do a complete turn and now are head over heels in love with each other, however throughout the play we see Beatrice throwing jabs at Benedick. Laurie E. Maguire believes that these jabs input a factor of comedy into the relationship, “Words in Much Ado have considerable somatic power. In the comic plot, Beatrice ‘speaks poniards, and every word stabs’ (2.1.247-8); Benedick faces her ‘paper bullets of the brain’ (2.3.240-1).” (177). Benedick and Beatrice have known each other for a very long time and they are from two similar social classes. As the story implies the audience is to believe that they have had a previous relationship that went bad. Beatrice and Benedick seem to be in love, yes, however they only love each other because they heard false rumors about the other one’s feelings. As critic Stephen Greenblatt puts it, “Only Beatrice and Benedick, in that play and indeed among all the couples of the principal comedies, seem to hold out the possibility of a sustained intimacy, and then only if the
Benedick and Beatrice both benefit from the deceit that they encounter. At first, both are enemies in a battle of insults and wit, until they are each fooled into thinking that the other loves them. When Benedick hears that Beatrice is supposedly attracted to him, he thinks that it is “a gull, but that the white-bearded fellow speaks it: knavery cannot, sure, hide itself in such reverence” (111). Little does he know, Leonato, the "white-bearded fellow," is also in on the joke (111). Benedick starts to admire her when he is aware that Beatrice might actually be attracted to himself, as well. She is also astonished when she first hears that he loves her. However, when Beatrice comes to terms with their affection, she hopes "Benedick [will] love on... And [she] Believe it better than reportingly" (134). In other words, she falls in love with Benedick as soon as she believes that he, too, is fond of her. They each start to fall in love with one another under the pretense that other was hiding their affection from them. Now that they are both in love, they start to open up to each other and prove that the deception they endured was worth it in the end.
...ut Nothing is an extremely fast paced and witty play, Shakespeare very much has love as his central theme. There are two very different, yet equally compelling relationships that are explored in depth. They run through the play concurrently, allowing the reader to compare and contrast the different facets and complexities between the two. The playwright’s rich understanding of relationships, and particularly his understanding of the fact that love is not always as formulaic as many a writer would have us believe, makes for a fascinating read. In fact, by directly comparing a realistic couple, full of real world self doubt and a fear of rejection with a very stereotypical love-at-first-sight type of relationship, Shakespeare is possibly making the point that love and relationships have more depth than is often given credit.
Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’
Beatrice and Benedick seem to have had some relationship before the beginning of the book that ended badly. This suggests that the initial situation between Beatrice and Benedick was one of mutual attraction, not of the overt hate they seem to flaunt at the beginning of the play. Scorn of this magnitude is rare among people who dislike each other from the start, and seems very unlikely in a broken up couple. In addition, both Beatrice and Benedick turned out to be very willing to abandon their smear campaigns as soon as they are convinced the other is aching for them. It is ridiculous that one would abandon one's own principals to bail out a hated enemy in trouble. This makes clear that their attitude toward each other is an act. If this is so, what is the purpose of the act...
Both of them despise marriage, are witty, and are each their own people. These, however, are not the reasons why they come together. They are brought together by their respective companions who conspire to tell each of them that the one loves the other as the two misdirected lovers listen in. In his speech directly after this, Benedick is swayed to a life that he previously would have avoided at all costs. In hearing of Beatrice’s supposed affection, he immediately changes his entire outlook on perpetual bachelorhood and pronounces a love that is not real or his own, but comes secondhand from trickery.
They had similar characteristics Nevertheless, Beatrice was a unique woman in Shakespeare’s society. Beatrice occupies the complementary female role, the shrew who is curst with ill-temper and hatred of men. (Scheff)She was one of Shakespeare heroines who didn’t see herself as inferior to men in a difficult period for women. In addition, Beatrice was really proficient with words using this skill to make fun of other people. For instance, when she told Benedick: “A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours.” (Shakespeare). Benedick and Beatrice were like the same side of a coin that way. Benedick making fun of other people was his life. For example, when he told Beatrice: “Well, you are a rare parrot-teacher.” (Shakespeare)Throughout the play, they use figurative language to make fun of other people which were quite amusing and fascinating. The dialogue between Beatrice and Benedick suggest the presence of undifferentiated versions of the same emotions. They claim to scorn love and to be looking for the ideal partner which was hilarious because after a great deceit they discovered they belonged
Katharina was the main protagonist in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. As the title mentioned, she was the shrew, which meant, the woman whose violent personality will be controlled by her husband. For Katharina, the development of her personality was very much influenced by her interaction with other characters, namely Petruchio her husband, Bianca her sister and Baptista her father and among others. The aim of this paper is to explain the reasons of Katharina’s behavior, her development throughout the play, and gradually fell in love with Petruchio. Her falling in love will be the result of the success of Petruchio’s taming strategies.
Petruchio came to Padua. Petruchio could tame Katherine for the right amount of mazuma. Before Petruchio's advent, Katherine, the terrible, feral shrew, caused quandaries with everyone. All that kenned her execrated her. She felt very jealous of her pulchritudinous sister Bianca, because of her suitors and her resplendency. Katherine endeavors to commence fights with Bianca all of the time. She even hit Bianca. No one wanted to espouse Katherine until Petruchio arrives in Padua to find a wife. "I come to wives it affluent in Padua; if affluent, then ecstatically in Padua" (ShakespeareIii76-77). He and one of Bianca's suitors, Luciento had a conversation. As a jape, Luciento mentioned to Petruchio espouse Katherine. Petruchio thought of the profit and thought it could be great. "Petruchio can have no illusions about the fabled shrew, Katherine, for others are expeditious to tell him quite frankly what to expect"(Vaughn27). Petruchio and Katherine's father meet and decide that Petruchio will get twenty-thousand crowns if he weds Katherine. Petruchio and Katherine meet, but they do not start off on the best of terms. But Petruchio decides they should...
In the play The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Petrucio recognizes, respects and desires Katherine’s strength of character. Petrucio is a clever man who sees beyond facades because he uses them himself. (II, i 46) (II, I 283 - 89) He is stimulated by Katherine’s sharp tongue and harsh actions. He proves this many times throughout the play.
` Benedick and Beatrice hated each other at first. In the beginning of the play Beatrice makes a statement of “...will happily go to hell with Benedick.” This proves that Beatrice does not like Benedick, more hate. There is clearly tight tension in between them, and some background hatred as well. At the beginning of the play, Benedick and Beatrice had a hateful relationship.
Shakespeare often uses satire to showcase the flaws of human nature. In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare teaches us that people tend to put unrealistic standards on women. Women were treated very poorly at the time. The play is mainly about a man named Petruchio who agrees to marry Katherine for money. Throughout the play, Petruchio tames Katherine. He tries many different methods in attempt to tame her. He wants Katherine to be the ideal wife and behave the way he wants her to therefore he will have control over her. He starts off by almost dehumanizing her by starving her, depriving her of sleep, and forcing her to wear old rags. Petruchio tries to manipulate her in many other ways. He attempts to have Katherine agree with him
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.
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 ...
William Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew illistrates the difficulty of trying to tame a headstrong, stubborn, and a high-spirited woman so that she will make a docile wife. The one attempting to tame Kate, the shrew, is Petruchio. They contend with each other with tremendous vitality and have a forced relationship. In contrast, there is another romantically linked couple who seemingly possess an ideal relationship. These young lovers, Bianca and Lucentio, share a love that is not grounded in reality, but in fantasy. These two sub-plot characters are stock characters and Shakespeare creates the irony of the play through the differences between the two couples. It is through his use of stock characters and irony that the differences between the two couples are revealed.
Katharina and Petruchio share an unusual relationship; he has trouble taming her, and she battles with keeping him happy, for she is now in love and is experiencing something new. "The Taming of the Shrew is sometimes seen as an account of the tyranny of man over woman, but this is a misinterpretation stemming from our distance from the assumptions of Shakespeare's day" (Shakespeare A to Z 626). The irony of their marriage is vividly expressed when it is revealed that Petruchio is merely looking for a woman who is capable enough to run his estate. In this sense, he has taken advantage of her, for she has unwillingly fallen in love. "He chooses Kate as he would a horse, for her high mettle, and he must use at least as much intelligence and energy in bringing her trust to him, as he would in breaking a horse…" (Greer 40). Shakespeare also uses this recurring theme later in The Comedy of Errors, when Luciana reminds Adriana that " men are masters of their females" (The Comedy Of Errors).