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How women are portrayed in Shakespeare plays
Taming of the shrew act 1 and 2 gender role
Taming of the shrew act 1 and 2 gender role
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William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
In the beginning of “The Taming of the Shrew”, some say Shakespeare portrays Katherina as a very shrewish figure. Others may argue that she is not shrewish but just a very strong willed person. At the end of the play some people say she is transformed into a very kind and gentle person, while again others will argue that she is not “tamed” but just putting on an act to “show up” her younger sister Bianca, whom has always been more beautiful and charming. Kate is “like a wasp, like a foal, like foal that kicks from his halter; pert, quick and determined, but full of good heart.” 1. This statement made by one author, shows clearly that he does not see her as shrew-like, even at the beginning of the play. The same author states that at the end of the play she has not really transformed, rather she has just fallen in love with Petruchio, in essence she is free from torment because she is no longer seen as the shrew.
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.
Kate’s first reaction to Petruchio, her “mad wooer”, is self-pity, and even her father feels that his treatment of her would “vex a saint”. He takes her away from the home she is used to, with servants and maids to wait on her hand and foot, to the country. There she is away from the luxurious town life and is cold, hungry and tired. She somewhat learns to watch her temper and obey Petruchio so that he will feed her so she can survive peacefully rather than miserably. I believe that his method of taming her is not cruel yet very effective. He shows her that she can get much farther and live life a lot happier if she is nice and “entreats” him rather than fighting him.
One author (pattern in carpet) says that Shakespeare sees Katherine and Petruchio as in love at first sight. He says that their fights are partly like a game and partly a matter of egoism. He sees Katherine as “testing” Petruchio making sure he is “man” enough to put up with the worst of her and prove to be the husband she requires. Petruchio accept...
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...y. She may be submissive to him, but at the same time, he is just as submissive to her. I think that he didn’t only tame her, but she tamed and controls him by craft and not violence.
Katherina is not the only one in the play to undergo a transformation. Petruchio, in the beginning went to woo Katherina only for money. He was offered a dowry by Seignior Baptista to “get rid of” Kate so he could wed his younger daughter Bianca to one of her many suitors. By the end of the play, it is made clear that Petruchio too changed and had fallen in love with Kate. The relationship that they have at the end of the play is truly love. They both are willing to change to make each other happy and they both try in every way possible to make peace in their family. The ironic part of the play is that they both think that they have control over the other one.
All in all Katherina undergoes a complete metamorphosis from the beginning of the play to the end of the play. She starts out a girl, acting like foal trying to kick free from her harness and ends up a submissive, sweet, gentle and kind woman, whom is controlled yet, controls her husband Petruchio, whom she ends up loving dearly.
Different Interpretations of the Relationship Between Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew
Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’
way in taming a shrew. “This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,”
Here we see Petruchio, the misogynistic male lead of the play, arrive in Padua to find a wife –ideally a rich woman, no matter her looks or personality. Upon hearing of Katharina “Kate” Minola, he decides, at once, that he will marry her. Petruchio thus seeks out Kate’s father, Baptista, to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Once he is granted permission, he meets Katharina for the first time. Their first interaction is less than civil, with Kate firing insult after insult at Petruchio, calling him things such as a “buzzard,” meaning he is useless, and saying that he is too much a fool to find her “stinger” – with which her sharp words come from (2.1). Even still, Petruchio insists on marrying, and in doing so, taming Katharina, and will not take any of her protests,
many years. She is hurt and she seeks revenge. This is seen in Act II. Scene I, when Katherine sums up her own state: "I will go sit and weep." Till I can find an occasion of revenge" (35-36). It is an immature response. but the only one she knows, and it serves the dual purpose of cloaking her. hurt. The transformation, which she undergoes near the end of the play, is not one of character, but one of attitude. At the end of the play, we find out that her negative attitude becomes a positive one. & nbsp; The shrew is not a shrew at all beneath the surface. & nbsp; The play begins by introducing Katherine with her father's words of shame towards her when he offers his eldest daughter to the two suitors of Bianca. The audience is then given their first impression of Katherine.
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 younger sister cannot have a relationship with a man until her older sister does remain the same in both the play and the film. In the play, Lucentio wants to marry Bianca and pretends to be her tutor so he can spend more time with her. He pays Petruchio to wed Bianca’s sister, Kate, so he can marry Bianca. Cameron acts as Bianca’s French tutor to gain more face time with her. He convinces Joey Donner to pay Patrick to date Kat. Patrick is nice to Kat throughout the movie and tries to win her back after she finds out that he was paid to go out with her. Kate never finds out that Petruchio was paid to marry her. Petruchio and Patrick both use deceitful tactics in order to be with their respective loves. They disguise their true feelings and motives for being with their girl. Both Kat and Katherine fall in love with the man who was paid to be with her. The fact that they fell in love is meant to show how they were tamed. Kate gives a speech about how she understands how she should be subordinate to her husband. Petruchio has tamed her bec...
A long time ago, a drunken man fell asleep outside an alehouse. This man, Christopher Sly, was discovered by a mischievous lord who took him into his home. The witty lord then convinced Sly that he was a lord, as well. The lord then put on a play for him. The play, The Taming of the Shrew, was about the two young daughters of Baptista. The youngest daughter, Bianca, wished to wed but her father, Baptista, would not allow this until his eldest daughter, Katherina, was married. Under normal circumstances, it would be easy to find a husband for Katherina with all her beauty, but all her beauty was covered by her shrewd personality. By this time Bianca's suitors were growing very impatient, so they decide to team up and find a husband for Katherina. In jest they mentioned their plan to a friend, Petruchio, who surprisingly agreed to marry Katherina. All her beauty and wealth were enough for him. Katherina reluctantly was wed to Petruchio and she was taken to his home to be tamed. With Katherina out of the way, Bianca was now allowed to marry Lucentio, who offered her father the highest dowry for her. In the final scenes of the play, Katherina proves that she is tamed by winning an obedience contest at a dinner party. Katherina is now even more in accordance with her wifely duties than Bianca. A fare is a type of comedy based on a ridiculous situation. The Taming of the Shrew, an eminent example of a farce, is the first of three farces written by Shakespeare.
"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.
The story is about two sisters Katherine and Bianca. Bianca has a suitor who would like to marry her, Lucentio, but the only way that he will be able to marry her is if her older sister is married first. When Petruccio arrives to Padua he agrees to court and marry Katherine because she will provide a lovely dowry. Rumor has it that Katherine is a cynical, unruly, and extremely unpleasant female. Bianca on the other hand is the typical image of a lovely woman, beautiful, soft-spoken, and very feminine.
...st play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women. Petruchio, Hortensio, and Lucentio may have bet on their wives compliance in some eyes, but after further analysis, they were actually betting on the trust between the couple. The reader must also take into account the time period the play was written in which was the 16th century, where women were usually not even allowed to go to school to be educated, and Bianca was having private tutors for her education. Kate was changed by Petruchio’s “taming” from the beginning to the end of the play, but at the end of the novel when Kate was called upon and made her speech, she was the happiest she had been in the entire story. There are however some sexist elements in the story, but just because there are certain characteristics of sexism in a play does not mean the play in itself is sexist and demeaning towards women.
Patrick and Petruchio’s desire to date Kat or Katerina is influenced by money. In Taming of the Shrew Hortensio mentions that Katerina is a shrew, but Petruchio does not care because she is wealthy. Petruchio could have easily found another woman, but with money involved, Petruchio does what he can to “win” her love by attempting to talk with Katerina and eventually takes his time to try and tame Katerina. “When Petruchio first meets Baptista, Petruchio inquires about the dowry, once Baptista replies, Petruchio immediately demands to sign the contract.
The next way that Petruchio abuses Kate is by taking her dress for her sister’s wedding and making her wear rags to the wedding. The tailor has a beautiful dress made for Kate, when Petruchio sees it he criticizes it and ruins the dress. When Kate starts to tell him to stop Petruchio replies by saying, “‘Well, come, my Kate, We will unto your father’s, Even in these honest mean habiliments. Our
...nt to creating a deeper, more harmonious relationship involved a mature acceptance of the dark, shadow sides of Kate. The “baggage” of her wounded past with all of its unmet needs had been waiting to be loved and transformed. In the radical courtship of Kate and Petruchio, all “buttons” got pressed, character armor was released, and in the mirror of lover and beloved, childhood vulnerabilities eventually diminished freeing up enormous reserves of creative energy. It is in this light that I appreciate Kate’s final impassioned speech to the other women who, in their selfish defiance of their new husbands had acted immaturely. For here, Shakespeare ironically exposes Bianca as the real, untamed shrew and reveals a very sagacious and loving Katherine.