Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

In The Taming of the Shrew, the audience sees the equilibrium between a man and woman through their relationship and their gender roles placed upon them because of their society and upbringing. In order to be tamed, Kate embarks on a journey to change her shrewish qualities. She transforms herself from a loud, vicious woman to the ideal wife that her husband Petruchio desired. In Act four, the audience experiences Kate’s tamed manner in a conversation between her and Petruchio, where she tells Petruchio that whatever he believes is right, to her, it is right as well. “…And be it moon, or sun, or what you please; / An if you please to call it a rush candle, / Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me” (4.5.13-15). Kate had finally submerged herself into the socially accepted role of wife. She puts all of her own faith and truth that she has learned in her

In the play Taming of the Shrew, written by William Shakespeare, many characters are reshaped and given new personality traits. Petruchio is known as being a cocky man who intends to help tame a shrewish young lady named Kate. There are many critics that believe Petruchio is solely obnoxious and a bully but through out his interactions with Kate it is shown that he truly cares about the well being of others. Of course at the beginning of Petruchio’s plan to tame a young lady he is acting off of his confidence and trying to impress those around him but this soon changes once he begins to interact with Kate. Petruchio proves that his ways have changed and he is only taming Kate to make her feel better about herself, “Petruchio uses psychological methods, not aggressive or barbaric ones, to tame Kate, which alls her to still be witty and intellectual, but also happily married, at the end of the play”(Natale,98). Petruchio truly believes that by taming Kate he is preforming a good deed and helping her accept herself in this process.

In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is a foolish nobleman who tames the character of Kate because she is a shrew. A shrew is ill-spoken woman who has a negative reputation in the Elizabethan period. Petruchio tames Kate by abusing her physically and mentally, Petruchio starves Kate and deprives her of any sleep, finally he humiliates her. Kate is forced under submission because of Petruchio trying to “...cure her wild and willful nature...” (Act 4, Scene 1, Pg. 10). Petruchio explains that all his abusing is because he loves her and for her own good, when in fact he is trying to break her down. The Taming of the Shrew is about the conflict between Kate and Bianca in which their father’s rule which does not allow Bianca to get married

In The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare explains how the character Petruchio marries Kate, the shrew, and in doing so, attempts to tame her through various means. Petruchio accomplishes taming Katherine through his determination and confidence. He masters these tames by forcing her to consent to insanely false statements. Petruchio's success of taming Katherine is completed by his behavioral actions, lack of understanding, and self-centered mind.

When she ties Bianca’s hands and questions her about her suitors, Kate realizes how terrible she was acting toward her sister. She was only acting this way out of jealousy of her sister and her quest for love. Her anger and rudeness toward others actually was a mask for her deep insecurity of herself. Kate feels as though everyone, even her own father, prefers her sister over her. She does not feel valued or loved especially after her father said, “[Bianca] is your treasure” (2.1 32). Kate must have felt as though she would never find anyone to love and that she would die an old widow. Little did she know she was about to meet the man that would completely throw her for a

Since the beginning of the book, Kate has had trouble with her behavior. No man wants to marry her because she acts like a shrew. The underlying cause of her issues start with her relationship with her father and sister. Kate’s bad relationship with her father and sister has caused her shrewish behavior; Petruchio has caused her to change for the good by forcing her to submit to him. Kate’s submission is key to her changing her shrewish behavior.

Petruchio uses cruel methods to tame Kate, keeping her sleepless and hungry. The taming is praised by fellow men in Padua, men watching how Petruchio tames Kate because out of all the men, “he knows better how to tame a shrew”

The Taming Of The Shrew is a comic play based around a town in Italy

In the story "Taming of The Shrew" by William Shakespeare, we see the daily life of characters living in the Italian town of Padua. In this story, Lucentio brings his servants, Biondello and Tranio, to Padua. Soon, Lucentio sees a beautiful woman named Bianca which shifts his focus. The only problem is that Bianca can't get married until Kate get married due to a rule made by their father, Baptista Minola. At first, this seems like it is not a possibility to Bianca, as Kate is considered the "Shrew" and seems to not want to change her ways. Although she acts like this at the beginning of the book, we begin to see big changes throughout the book. These changes occur because Kate is a dynamic character, and there are many examples to prove this.

Her fast-paced dialogues with other characters are usually no more than four lines. In fact, she speaks a total of 82 times in the play and only 13 of those times does she have more than four lines. This is especially noted during Petruchio and Katherine’s first heated discussion. He calls her Kate instead of Katherine and she immediately gets the sense that’s she’s being taunted. This prompts her to rely heavily on quick metaphors that defend her character whenever disrespected. Her repartee with him shows off their equal intelligences but also her sensitivity to being mocked. During the conversation, Petruchio calls her a “slow-winged turtle”, a turtledove, which is a symbol of love (II.1.210). Thinking that he had just compared her to a real turtle, she fires back and then chooses to compare herself to a wasp whose stinger is “in its tongue” (II.1.217). Through this metaphor she lets him know that her language is dangerous and not to be underestimated. It’s evident through her speech that Kate is quick in her comebacks to avoid being hurt. From experience, she expects all men to treat her badly and her quick, violent way of speaking suggests a defensive mechanism against the hurtful

Kate loses her dominant nature after she is married and becomes an obedient, loving wife. Some others oppose the idea that Kate is changed for the worse, but rather they believe that she is in a mutual relationship. Henze describes it as, “That distinction between a practical joke and the comedy very of life is evident... and Kate, who is well-suited for her role as the obedient wife at the end of the play...” (391). Truly, Kate is not “well-suited” for her role, but is rather forced to become her role. If it were up to her, Kate would continue to live unmarried, but she is instead pushed into marrying Petruchio. Kate learns things from her husband that she later tells other women at his command. After Kate is summoned by Petruchio at her sister Bianca’s wedding, she is asked to repeat what Petruchio has taught her with which she announces, “To watch the night in storms, the day in cold, / Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe, / And craves no other tribute at thy hands / But love, fair looks, and true obedience - Too little a payment for so great a debt” (Shakespeare 166-70). Despite Kate’s true thoughts on marriage that she exhibits throughout the play, she tells the other women the things that her husband has asked her to tell. In the end, Petruchio “wins” with himself being the head of the relationship. He gains what all other men want; an obedient wife who will submit to anything he

Kate should be able to correct Petruchio because he can not always be right. If she was able to correct him, this would make her marriage with him

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). "

The motif in the (almost) finale chapters of The Taming of the Shrew, was language and communication. In this section of reading several of the characters learn how to communicate effectively with each other. For example, the newly weds Katherina and Petruchio had a rough patch in the beginning, but by and by are learning to get along with each other. Katherina was horrible to everyone at the beginning of the play, now in Pisa her husband, Petruchio gives her a taste of her own medicine. First, he starves her, “What, did he marry me to famish me?” (4.3.1960). Second, Petruchio has a dress and hat made for Kate, and purposely finds fault in the garments and destroys them. Katherine even tries to say that they are beautiful and that every gentlewoman at that time was wearing them, to which her husband replies “When you are gentle, you shall have one too, and not till then.” (4.3.2034-2035). Thirdly, when off to see Baptista, Kate argues about what time the would get to Padua if they left at a certain time, because of this Petruchio refuses to leave,

Kate’s words here mark a point of transition in her feelings for Petruchio. Although she is still arguing, her words of choice are much more mellow than previous times, turning the statement into almost a gentle reminder rather than argument. Furthermore, Kate respectfully addresses Petruchio as “sir”, providing great contrast to the vulgar and derogatory terms she called him earlier in the play. Such progression in her use of language clearly demonstrate her growing feelings for Petruchio, now using much more gentle and polite language when interacting with the man. During the final stages of the play, Kate’s words become even more affectionate, openly displaying her