Gender Roles Of Shakespeare 's ' Taming Of The Shrew '

Throughout the Elizabethan era, men had more advantages than women. William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew has characters such as Petruchio, Baptista, Katherine, and Bianca that show how men overpowered women. During the Elizabethan era, there was heavy sexism. Women were discriminated. Through Shakespeare’s language, men could speak to and about women in a disrespectful and derogatory manner. Women were voiceless and deprived of their right to speak. Women were inferior to men. During the Elizabethan era, through Shakespeare’s language, and in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, it is proven that men had more advantages than women.

“When love speaks the voice of all the gods makes heaven drowsy with the harmony,” Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, scene II.

In addition, Shakespeare intermingles the play with the idea of appearance versus reality, highlighting how truelove can exist within even the curst and is absent amongst even the most attractive. As the play progresses, we see how true this is, as Bianca and Katherina contrast one another on the interior as well, yet Katherina?s true love underneath, allows her to dwell in an effective relationship. As we know, Petruchio?s love is obvious yet Katherina?s shrewish nature masks her true love for Petruchio - proving the deceptiveness of appearances. On the other hand, even though Bianca has many desperate suitors we see how shrewish she really is as she questions, ?Am I your bird? (5.1)?. Bianca?s rhetorical question and indignant tone towards Petruchio highlights her lack of respect and her internal shrewish personality. Moreover, Bianca?s interior personality

In the play The Taming of the Shrew, men do quite absurd things to get what they desire. Petruchio, Lucentio, Hortensio, and Gremio all derive schemes to win the heart of the woman they choose. Throughout the play many characters create alternate personas to woo the one they love. However, one man, Petruchio, prefers to pursue his soon to be wife ingenuously. All of the ideas the men concoct are in hopes that Bianca or Kate might fall in love with them, whether or not they do fall in love is due to how well their suitors perform their acts of love.

The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare is an introduction in the everpresent battle of women to be loving and caring wives, while at the same time holding on to our independence. Its plot is derived from the popular 'war of the sexes' theme in which males and females are pitted against one another for dominance in marriage. The play begins with an induction in which a drunkard, Christopher Sly, is fooled into believing he is a king and has a play performed for him. The play he watches is what constitutes the main body of The Taming OfThe Shrew.

People have always gone out of their way to obtain what they want. Whether this obsession is greed, power, or a person, one will go to great lengths to achieve it. The negative influence of money is widely know and is still manipulating humans in many ways. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare should not be performed to RBHS students because it sends a detrimental message to the audience that women are dehumanized through another’s desire for money.

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

Lucentio's treatment of Tranio is reflected in his treatment of Bianca and their role as man and woman. Lucentio never hits Bianca or mistreats her in anyway, but spends the play wooing her and showing her his love. However, Bianca does not completely mimic Tranio's obedience in her role as wife to Lucentio. Though Bianca is not as stubborn willed and shrewish as her sister, Katherine, she does not obey her husband when he calls her to him. Biondello comes back to Lucentio to report: "Sir, my mistress sends you word that she is busy and she cannot come." [7] This action is in direct contradiction with An Homily on the State of Matrimony which states: "Let not therefore the woman be too busy to call for the duty of her husband where she should be ready to perform her own, for that is not worthy any great commendation." [8] Though Lucentio is consistent with his role as master and husband. His relationship with Tranio differs slightly from Bianca, Tranio's servant hood more apparent and selfless.

Throughout the play, Petruchio’s behavior illustrates his chauvinistic mindset to force Katharina into obedience. After the wedding ceremony, Petruchio wants to head home with Kate while she disagrees and he says “I will be master of what is mine own:/She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house,/My household stuff, my field, my barn,/My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing;” (Shakespeare 52). Instead of treating her like a human being, he speaks of her as if she is an object that he owns and controls. Also, when the newly married couple prepare to leave for Baptista’s house, Petruchio claims that the time is different from what it actually is and when Kate argues, he states, “Look, what I speak, or do, or think to do,/You are still crossing it. Sirs, let ’t alone:/I will not go to-day; and ere I do,/It shall be what o’clock I say it is” (Shakespeare 69). Petruchio is basically saying that the only opinion

The relationship between Kate and Petruchio is completely different from the love of Bianca and Lucentio. "Kate is a neglected, hurt, and humiliated daughter who disguises her grief from herself as well as others with a noisy shrewish temper" (Craig 342). She has a fiery disposition and a reputation for reacting violently to people. The challenge of capturing her is Petruchio's real attraction to her. He can be seen as a rough, unfeeling, greedy, "swash-buckler" who cares nothing for Kate's feelings (so long as she has money). "

Furthermore, the play also teaches us that without compromise love and attraction may not be enough to make a relationship successful. Today, much like Shakespeare’s time, unless a man and woman are willing to compromise and come to do agreement on their specific roles within gender, the relationship won’t be just as successful. The key message of gender expectations and gender bias is highly emphasised in Act 2 scene 3. The common belief during Shakespeare’s time and even today in some culture, was that the man was a dominant person in the relationship and the female is to be submissive to his desires.

Shakespeare is a phenomenal writer, known by all his successful stories created to entertain the many. A great variety of his stories and/or novels are ,in fact, debatable with many sides of specific topics being spoken of until this day. The Taming of the Shrew is actually one of Shakespeare's greatest works, full of cometic situations as well as romantic sequence of events amusing all who read this incredible novel. Within this play an assortment of people who have read The Taming of the Shrew have doubted/questioned Shakespeare in being sexist towards women in this distinguished time era. An imposing amount of evidence does show how Shakespeare’s play would be seen as a mockery against all women in their own time period.

Kate is venting her anger that Bianca should be able to get suitors while she remains alone. Kate knows that she is a smart and fiery woman and wouldn't be satisfied with such wimpy men as Gremio and Hortensio. She needs a strong man to go with her own strong and powerful personality. When Baptista enters and comes to Bianca's rescue, we find out what is really the cause of Kate's behavior: She's angry that Baptista likes her younger sister better than her. Kate tells her father, that Bianca is his "treasure" and "must have a husband" while she, embarrassed, dances "barefoot on her wedding day" and leads "apes in hell" (II.1, 31–36).

One of the most notorious topics of interest in the works of Shakespeare is the role women receive in his plays. The way Shakespeare wrote his plays, women were very submissive to men and had no will and choice of their own. Women were extremely reliant upon the men in their lives, believing that they were inferior and thus following their desire for the women’s lives. This included that marriages were usually arranged by a powerful male, instead of giving the woman the opportunity of choosing marriage for love. It is not surprising that Shakespeare portrayed women in a way that was familiar to him and the time era in which he lived. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew, both focus on the development of love and not, with

Love is one of the most powerful things in this world. People will go to great lengths to achieve another’s love. From youth we have been showered with tales of true love’s kiss and of Prince Charming breaking the Evil Queen’s curse. Time and again, we are made to see the power of love. In the play, “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, the renowned playwright takes love deeper than just passion. Shakespeare goes under the surface of love, all the way to its core. The story truly begins as Baptista Minola’s two daughters are readied for marriage: Bianca the sweet and innocent; Katherina the shrewd and curst. Men gravitate towards beautiful Bianca and flee when Katherina appears. Hortensio, a good friend of the main protagonist, Petruchio, wants to marry Bianca, in order for that to happen, Hortensio must get Petruchio to marry Katherina. Yet, Petruchio knows what he is getting himself into and he wisely sees past Katherina’s prickly outer shell. He proves that the Katherina isn’t what everyone in Padua thinks she is. Petruchio exposes the superficial problems in his society and demonstrates that respect and love are one and the same. Furthermore, Petruchio’s determination and heart allows him to woo the girl, marry her and activate the Taming of the Shrew.