Inequality In The Taming Of The Shrew '

Katharina is treated unkindly by many of the men in the play including Hortensio and Petruchio, but perhaps her father is the person who is most unkind to her. Baptista’s obvious lack of respect and compassion for his elder daughter becomes apparent early on in the play when, in Act 1, Scene 1, he shares with Gremio, Hortensio, Lucentio, and Tranio the fact that Katharina must have plans to marry before her younger sister Bianca can be seriously courted. In doing this, Baptista essentially offers his eldest daughter to the men, a display done with such detachment; it can only be seen as an exchange of property.

Petruchio wears the psychological mask of a guy who only has eyes for money. He makes his mask clear to the reader when he tells Hortensio to “wife wealthily” adding “you don’t know the power of gold.” after being told about Katherina’s bad behavior, not to mention her temper. It appears that Petruchio marries Kate for her money, but immediately starts to “kill her with kindness”. He begins going so by depriving her of food and sleep because he claims that neither the food from the kitchen nor the bed is good enough for her. Petruchio puts on a show of bad temper towards his servants for every fault, showing Kate what it is like to live with a bad-tempered person. For the first time in her life, Kate finds herself trying to get someone else to control their anger. Petruchio also shows Kate that she will get the things she wants when she learns to agree with what her husband says. By treating Kate in this manner, Petruchio seems cruel, but there is a reason for it. If he were truly interested only in money, he could have left Kate at home and gone out on his own. In the end, his efforts to improve his wife have worked. He improves Kate’s life, so that she does not continue to live an unhappy life. Because of Petruchio, Katherina the shrew is happily married in the end, and comes to be a good example to

Katherine Minola is a character who is pivotal to the progression of the exposition in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The dynamic Kate faces everything from being unsolicited and undesirable by men, being forced into marriage, and falling in love with someone who undoubtedly mistreats her from the beginning. Being tossed and thrown from one end of the spectrum to the other allows room for drastic change in attitude, values, and behavior. There is much evidence of a revolution of character in Baptista’s daughter and Petruchio’s wife, Katherine. Reader’s can follow the transformation of an untamable shrew of society to a well loved and respectable woman figure of the upper class.

This quote supports how a woman’s reputation is everything because in, the beginning, Leonato was very loving and supported her marriage with Claudio. But right after she was denounced as disloyal, his feelings towards her completely change and he lashes out at Hero. It is extremely drastic for a parent to wish death upon their own child ad proves the importance of a woman’s

Katherina may be a shrew, but Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew does not truly show a study of how a selfish, spoilt individual is made to conform to society’s expectations, or be tamed into a ‘proper’ woman. At the end of the play, Katherina is not, necessarily, tamed - she just realizes what she must to do in order to get the things she wants. Two main examples of her submitting to Petruchio in order to achieve her desires are in Act 4, scene 5, (the sun versus moon scene) as well as Act 5, scene 2 (the kiss me kate scene and her final monologue).

Petruchio, though rightfully attempting to stand as a master and man according to the homily, does not do so with his servant, Grumio, or wife, Katherine, with love and respect as it suggests. The scenes that introduce Petruchio and Lucentio begin by depicting their

In lines 183 through 235 of the second scene of the third act of William Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio tames Katherina with his controllability of harness, establishing a theme of Patriarchy. Furthermore, the theme is reinforced when he shows his patriarchism when he wants to “be master of what is mine own: she is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my household stuff, my field, barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything” (225-228). Provided that, she is treated like property, one of his possessions, as he degrades her to such common household objects. In addition, he has his own agenda.

Perhaps the theme that is most recurrent in William Shakespeare's plays is that of filial relationships, specifically the relationship between daughter and father. This particular dynamic has allowed Shakespeare to create complex female characters that come into conflict with their fathers over issues ranging from marriage to independence. At the same time, the dramatist exposes his audience to the struggles women face when attempting to assert themselves in a misogynistic world. Through the daughter-father dyads portrayed in The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare highlights the effects that gender constraints have on female characters while simultaneously drawing attention to the sharp contrast between both relationships.

On Petruchio, Katherine and Hortensio’s way to Baptista’s house, they meet Vincentio who is also heading towards Padua to visit his son, Lucentio.

Her honor is disgraced for her “actions” and Claudio will no longer accept her as his wife because of the dishonor she has caused him.

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

Also, another leading character in the Merchant of Venice was controlled by her father, Jessica. But she couldn't be controlled, she eventually did what she wanted and proved to be a modern woman. Similarly, in the Taming of the Shrew, Kate is expected to marry the man her father, Baptista chooses and she has no freedom and choice of her own will. However, in the Taming of the Shrew, Kate is also being called property by her husband, Petruchio. Petruchio says that, "She is my good, my chattels, she is my house, My household stuff, my field, my barn, My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything;" Not only her father but her future husband doesn't respect her and calls her everything but his wife. Almost all of the woman in Shakespeare's play were treated as property, here you can see Portia and Kate, this clearly means that Shakespeare also agrees with this type of behaviour towards woman and that is why he always shows this behaviour towards the main female protagonists of the play. This type of behaviour towards woman was very common and both these plays have similarly shown how.

When commencing the Extended Essay meeting the first topic that came up was the question I was addressing: Investigate if Taming of the Shrew promotes sexual inequality or constitutes a commentary about men's endeavor to subordinate women? My mentor, Ms.Davey, pointed out that I might not be able to know Shakespeare’s intent with the play, therefore, I need to feel comfortable not having an answer. Thus, I will need to expose both perspectives that can be interpreted from the play. Furthermore, I asked for some directions in regard to the structuring of my paragraphs. For instance, if I should divide them in characters or literary aspects. We agreed upon the fact that addressing literary aspects such as hyperbole (hunting language), motif

Subsequent of society’s views amid the time, “The Taming of The Shrew” heavily highlighted and reinforced the stereotype of the male character being dominant and a leader. Moreover, this undermined the growing support for the strong, independent character of Katherina. Consequently, the reinforcement of the male stereotype generates another stereotype of a submissive female where all she would ever amount to, would be an obedient wife. This is mimicked in Bianca’s character, she is benevolent in the eyes of the male characters, she knows exactly what they want of her and she plays the part.

In Victorian times the lower class people were out-casts, considered as nothing and often snubbed by the upper class. An example of this can be seen when we are first introduced to Lane (the butler) and Algernon (the master of the house) when they are discussing family life. Algernon goes on about his family while Lane listens with patience, but as soon as Lane says one thing about his past Algernon won’t have a piece of it. “I don’t know that I am much interested in your family life Lane. (Wilde)” Here, Algernon acts as though his family is superior to Lanes, even though he knows nothing about Lane’s family. One can imagine such a scene taking place in many homes in our society. In today’s world, the rich still rely on maids and other servants. It seems to be a practice that will always exist in the world, however, the important thing here is not the existence of their jobs but the fact that they are reckoned to be of a different class. Class is still a major part of the world’s order, especially in our society. Similar to what happens in our society; in the society that Wilde is presenting it seems that the place of the servants was not only for manual labour, but also to provide conversation, and to compliment the employer’s personalities