William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew 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. From the beginning of the play, the differences between Katherina and Bianca are highlighted through their interactions via dialogue. Early in the second act, Bianca pleads with her sister to not “make a bondmaid and a slave of me” because, as deemed by society, Bianca is not supposed to marry before her older sister (2.1.2). Bianca asks Katherina to “unbind [her] hands” so that she can get rid of all the gawdy implements she is forced to wear as a polite woman of the time, because if she doesn’t want to follow one rule, she doesn’t see why she should follow any of them (2.1.4). This immediately sets up these two sisters by showing how one depends on the status of the other to be truly happy, or happy as deemed by the doctrines of society anyway. Katherina rebuts this whining after their father enters, and ends the scene with her own speech in which she argues that Nay, now I see She is your treasure, she must have a husband; I mus... ... middle of paper ... ... About You_.” Shakespeare Bulletin: A Journal of Performance Criticism and Scholarship 22.2 (2004): 45-66. Expanded Academic ASAP. Westfield State College Library, MA. 15 April 2005. 15 April 2005. Ostlere, Hilary. “Taming The Musical.” Dance Magazine 73.12 (1999): 84. Expanded Academic ASAP. Westfield State College Library, MA. 15 April 2005. Schneider, Gary. “The Public, the Private, and the Shaming of the Shrew.” SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 42.2 (2002): 235-258. Project Muse. Westfield State College Library, MA. 15 April 2005. Schuler, Robert M. “Bewitching The Shrew.” Texas Studies in Literature and Language 46.4 (2004): 387-431. Project Muse. Westfield State College Library, MA. 15 April 2005. Shakespeare, William. _The Taming of the Shrew_. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd ed. Ed. Dean Johnson. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 142-171.
.... She now obeys what is asked of her by Petruchio like such as when she is told to lecture the other wives about how to be a good wife, “Katherina, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women, what duty they do owe their lords and husbands.” Without arguing and saying a word against what is asked of her she gives her advice, “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee.”
William Shakespeare is a master of satire, and it is very evident in his work “The Taming Of The Shrew”. His use of exaggeration is impeccable, and he managed to make the entire work one giant parody. Through this satire, he makes a very important social commentary, using his influence to bring new ideas into people’s minds, and make them realize the flaws in their
In the beginning of the play Kate is “consistently in opposition to everything around her”2, meanwhile “Bianca obeys so gently and with such sweet submission that it is obvious why she is Baptista’s favorite daughter”2. In the end of the play, the roles switch and Katherina is submissive to every word of Petruchio and Bianca resists the commands of her new husband.
In the beginning, a lot of what we learn about Kate comes from what other people say about her. In Act I, she is only seen briefly and she speaks even less, but our picture of Kate is pretty clear. Shakespeare, sets up a teaching lesson, helping us to see the mistakes of our own judgment. When Baptista announces that Kate must marry before Bianca may take suitors, Gremio describes Kate by saying "She's too rough for me" (1.1.55). Later in the scene, Gremio reiterates his dislike for Kate, claiming she is a "fiend of hell" (88) and offering that "though her father may be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell" (124–126). He finishes by saying that to marry Kate is worse than to "take her dowry with this condition: to be whipped at the high cross every morning" (132–134). Hortensio, too, is quick to add to the situation, calling Kate a devil (66) and claiming that she is not likely to get a husband unless she is "of gentler, milder mold" (60). Tranio, Lucentio's servant, is perhaps the only man in this scene not to talk ugly about Kate, claiming she is either "stark mad or wonderful froward" (69).
During the Shakespearean era, obeying husbands and fathers was looked at so highly that it matched obeying the King of England; the uppermost pedestal was reserved for the Shakespearean man. Gender roles lead to the development of self-individualism which divided the men from the women by establishing a deep distrust of women into the men along with an authoritative dominance, and in hand locked women into a permanent submissive position. One of the most oppressed groups throughout history has been women, which were socially, economically, educationally and religiously oppressed during the time period of Shakespearean society. Social normality and political views has been throughout time, arguably the most extreme oppression enforcement over social outcaste subgroups. Society also held a strong grip on artists and the creative messages of the work that artist deliver to the world, which can depict a sometimes hidden, or subtle dropping of opinions of the hard hitting issues at hand during the present time period. Shakespeare is deemed as one of the greatest known writer’s in English history, not only because he was tremendously attentive towards the Elizabethan era and the diverse struggles that haunted the streets of England in everyday life’s routine, but because he did more than just take notice, as he acted upon the travesties he observed by weaving the representation of the world he came to know through his artwork, leaving the world with irreplaceable pieces of literature and insightful history of Shakespearean society.
Holderness, Graham. Shakespeare in Performance: The Taming of the Shrew. Manchester University Press. Manchester. 1989.
What does a modern audience learn about marriages and the rules of men and women in Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew?’
To begin with, the portrayal of the women in The Taming of the Shrew reflects the extent of how much Katherine and Bianca were belittled by men. Just for the way she spoke out against the majority, Katherine was labeled as “so curst and shrewd” by Bianca’s suitors (1.1.183). Becoming a part of every reason why she was below the patriarchy, Katherine’s stigma did just not solely remain in the small group of men who held disdain towards her. To further emphasize the unfairness, Author Coppélia Kahn argues in “The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare's Mirror of Marriage” that the only reason Katherine’s behavior is disgraced from those around her is because she is a woman. Establishing that women get punished for the behavior men are praised for,
The views and beliefs regarding this theme have changed drastically over the years. In the 17th century, a patriarchal, hierarchal, structured society, women were expected to be quiet, good at housechores and give babies. If we were to go back in that time period, Bianca would be considered as the ideal type of woman that all men would desire. Katherina, on the other hand, can be considered as the ideal type of woman men did NOT desire in the 17th century. She did not meet the requirements of an ideal as she was loud and very individual. She strongly disagreed to the marriage between herself and Petruchio but she had no authority to choose her husband. (“To give my hand, opposed against my heart” -Act 3, Scene 2, Line 9) . After her transformation, her beliefs have amended to suit the ideals of society. Her loud, individual self had suddenly become a calm, woman of service for her husband, stating Petruchio as her
"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
Shakespeare, William. "The Taming of the Shrew." The Riverside Shakespeare 2nd ed. Ed. Dean Johnson et al. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. 142-171.
Her looks can be described as breathtaking because with one glance Lucentio falls in love at first sight. As we know from Shakespeare tactics, looks can be deceiving. In the play, it reveals a darker side of Bianca, evidently showing her selfishness and resentment. In the final scene with the “challenge of obey” Katarina responding to her husband showed her growing more as the Elizabethan women. Bianca has married Lucentio and when the challenge presented itself, Bianca fells she does not have to obey her husband anymore because she’s is married and can use marriage to indulge her selfish desires, whereas Kate takes the role as a wife serious. The article, “The Public, the Private, and the Shaming of the Shrew,” written by Gary Schneider explains the woman’s in public and private life. Gray Schneider says, “For women to be publicized means to be confronted with the social role appropriate to her gender and class…” (Schneider 2002). Although Katharina is forced with the reality role as a woman she remains true to herself. She declined the thought of being a traditional Elizabethan woman not only because she never learned how to truly act and behave like the ideal women, but because no one ever took the time out to tell her not to act this way or explained to her why she should act in that way. However, Bianca sees that acting like a lady comes with benefits, For example, Bianca gets treated
Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew can be interpreted as a cultural critique of expected female roles (both domestic and maternal) throughout the seventeenth century Elizabethan era—and quite significantly, female subjugation within the framework of marital politics. Modernized adaptations of Shakespeare's play, such as Franco Zeffirelli's 1967 film The Taming of the Shrew, Gil Junger's "10 Thing I Hate About You", and David Richard's, more recent, "Shakespeare Re-Told - The Taming of the Shrew" reinforce the text's central themes of domestication, identity (or loss of) and transformation. These films, however, allow Shakespeare's text to become "a means by which, in Alan Sinfield's words, ‘certain ways of thinking about the world may be promoted
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).
This close reading essay will examine the early acts (Act 1 scenes 1 and 2) of Taming of the Shrew to figure out Katherine deserved to be tamed. It was very clear that she was a difficult individual to deal with, but was it motivated. Was she simply a nasty individual or was she holding on to some emotional baggage that resulted in shrewish behavior? The goal of this paper is to determine if Petruchio’s treatment of her later on in the play was justified based on what readers already knew about Katherine. This paper will not attempt to defend Petruchio or any of the men that arranged for him to appear in Katherine’s life. This essay only attempts to unpack motivational efforts that set the stage for Petruchio’s arrival.