The Construction of Femininity In Taming of The Shrew In Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare tells the story of two sisters with conflicting personalities representing constructions of femininity. I will be looking at the different constructions of femininity throughout the play and the different ways a female can be constructed through illusion. At the start of the play, a tinker called Sly has a trick played upon him. The trick is a trick of illusion, making him believe he is a lord. He is told he has a mock wife. However, The fact that his 'wife' is the ultimate deception being a boy. Shakespeare constructs the text so that you can guess that it is a boy dressed as a girl from the comments he makes about the suggestive remarks that Sly makes to Page. Sly's wife is illusory as is our communes of the two women. This is also a hint of what they might be seeing in the play that follows, is also in illusory. The play could be seen as Shakespeare discussing what really constitutes femininity and what is illusory. Katherine and Bianca in the main play eventually appear to be deceptive as well as the "Wife" Sly story. The story constructs the appearances of both women through the men's words, giving you a idea of how both women are seen through men's eyes. The descriptions show the extent of how both women are locked into their identity that has been constructed for them, for example, Act 1 Scene 2; the conversation with Hortensio and Petruchio is discussing the two sisters. 'And wish thee a shrewd ill-favored wife? Thou'd thank me but a little' Hortensio believes that Katherine is not suitable for his friend. Petruchio believes that none is ever bad, they are always unbind from the spell, he refers... ... middle of paper ... ...ianca and Hortensio who marries a widow, both abused Kate saying she was a shrew and not a good figure to marry. Both men however end up with shrewish wives and are both socially mockable and degraded. Petruchio, by having Kate come to him is elevated in social status by comparison. But equally so is she. She is seen to be the socially preferable and she gets her revenge on the men who constructed her as shrewish at the beginning. Shakespeare has ended the play just how the Sly story begins at the start of Taming of The Shrew. The introduction Scene 2 shows Page dressing up as Sly's obedient 'wife' and that is just how the play ends with Kate the obedient wife of Petruchio. However Kate is a real wife of a real man who has managed to tame her into a socially acceptable figure but also he is just the way she was which was the figure he fell in love with.
Kate and The Taming of the Shrew describes the progression of the outspoken and headstrong Kate, wife of Petruchio, as she gradually transitions into an almost perfect example of an archetypal loyal wife. This classic female archetype can be expressed through blind and ignorant support of their husband without any personal opinion or any priorities and objectives other than to satisfy the needs and desires of their husbands. While Kate begins possessing traits that oppose the loyal wife archetype due to her strong willed personality, her shift to obedience. However she continues to think with cunning strategy throughout the entire play, regardless of her weakened mental state caused by Petruchio limiting her food and sleep.
Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’
"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
find a wife. "I come to wives it wealthy in Padua; If wealthy, then happily in
In Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has a woman as one of the story's main characters. Katherine Minola (Kate) is off the wall, and kinda crazy. Because of her actions, the “male centered world” around her doesn't know what to do with her.
Constructed upon the model of the ‘tale of the unjust judge’, Measure for Measure presents us with an ambiance which is scarcely typical of Shakespearean comedy. The play is soaked through and through with libidinal urge, sexual appetite, abuse of authority and real threat of dishonour and death, and the characters are not at all light-hearted about life as they usually are in Shakespearean comedy. Prison houses, brothels, judgement chambers and rather uncomfortably enclosed and dark places are the locations where much of the action takes place.
Battle of the Sexes would have been another appropriate title for this play because the entire play is women verses men, men verses women. This battle of the sexes shows no boundaries between the rich and poor, young or old, man or women. The basis of all the rivalry stems from the fact that the men in this play look at the women as if they were objects, instead of human beings with feelings. This theory that women are merely objects creates an environment that the women have to adapt to and survive in and the environment of a person will depict what he or she will become, resulting in a battle between the sexes.
Tragedy, irony and modernism are only a few interpretations of the valued play The Taming of the Shrew by the respected writer William Shakespeare. However, one of the most intriguing and popular of these analyses is comedy. Shakespeare is recognized for writing several plays with comedic genres, a few of which include Much Ado About Nothing and The Comedy of Errors. Comedy, being a complex genre, is composed of many different concepts. This particular play can be interpreted as a Shakespearian comedy, a screwball comedy, a farce, or slapstick.
Plato argued that comedy blends pain with pleasure. How do you respond to this view in reference to The Taming of the Shrew? Has Shakespeare crafted The Taming of the Shrew so that the audience feels both emotions?
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.
Some have made the claim that Shakespeare was pro-feminist and did all he could to illuminate the wrong done to women of his time by creating some overwhelmingly misogynistic characters. This was his way of showing men the errors of their ways and shaming them into showing women more respect. This is an interesting hypothesis for a number of reasons. First of all, there are no signs that it worked, if Shakespeare did indeed intend to reform men. Could the Bard, supposing that he was trying to shame men into changing, influence men in this manner? Can we blame him if he failed? Secondly, and by far more interesting to me, is that, in some cases, feminists seem to be more interested in martyring the Bard than in promoting feminist agendas What proof do we have that Shakespeare was really that enlightened?
Sexism is an ever changing concept in today’s world. Every day the concept morphs a little bit, changing the entire definition of what is sexist and what is not. In The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, the male characters lie to and abuse their women in order to have the women marry them. Lucentio come to Padua to study, but when he sees a beautiful girl, he pretends to be a teacher in order to marry Bianca. Petruchio on the other hand forces a woman to marry him and then trains her to follow his every command. Although the The Taming of the Shrew is frequently regarded as a particularly sexist play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women.
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.
is a warning to them if they bother to listen. The basis of the play
The characters of the play are in no way able to comprehend what may lie