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.
Petruchio's desire for Katherine to obey him leads to his behavioral actions by not allowing her to eat or drink. Petruchio compares Katherine to a falcon through his thoughts of owning her which makes his training seem necessary. As Petruchio correlates Katherine to a falcon he states, "My falcon now is sharp and passing empty, And till she
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This way, not allowing her to eat or sleep will make her give in to his curing of her personality. “I’ll find about the making of the bed, And here I’ll fling the pillow, there the bolster, This way the coverlet, another way the sheets. Ay, and amid this hurly I intend That all is done in reverend care of her...This is a way to kill a wife with kindness, And thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humor.” (4.1. 200-209). Petruchio tries to keep her from sleeping to get rid of her nasty personality and it is all out of love for her.
The Taming of the Shrew is set in a time where women are severally inferior to men and Katherine has in her mind that Petruchio controls him and therefore cannot lash out at him to what he is doing to her. She has to listen to him and obey him no matter what he says and that this is all out of love. Petruchio’s taming will make her love him. “The more my wrong, the more his spite appears...he does it under name of perfect love As who should say, if I should sleep or eat ’Twere deadly sickness or else present death.” (4.3.
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.
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
Last but not least, she closes the passage with the rhetorical appeal of pathos; “Then vail your stomachs for it is no boot, and place your hands below your husband’s foot: In token of which duty, if he please, my hand is ready; may it do him ease.” (5.2.41-44). As she says this, she is fully clarifying that she is a changed woman who is no longer a woman with attitude. She is stating that she is now submissive to Petruchio and respects the ground her husband walks on. She is ready to be a
The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, and has weathered well into our modern era. For all the praises it has garnered throughout the centuries, it is curious to note that many have considered it to be one of his most controversial in his treatment of women. The "taming" of Katherine has been contended as being excessively cruel by many writers and critics of the modern era. George Bernard Shaw himself pressed for its banning during the 19th century. The subservience of Katherine has been labeled as barbaric, antiquated, and generally demeaning. The play centers on her and her lack of suitors. It establishes in the first act her shrewish demeanor and its repercussions on her family. It is only with the introduction of the witty Petruchio as her suitor, that one begins to see an evolution in her character. Through an elaborate charade of humiliating behavior, Petruchio humbles her and by the end
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 The Taming of the Shrew, the concept of love is a means of emotional manipulation, and manipulation is nothing more than a means of control between men and women. William Shakespeare critiques the patriarchal social structure by ironically employing the manipulative stance Petruchio takes towards winning Katherine as his wife by charming her with words and manipulating her psychologically, and then taming her after their marriage through legal, physical, financial, and psychological control and manipulation. Though Petruchio may think he yields power over his wife, Katherine uses obedience as a tool of manipulation and has the control of the household, as can be seen
Another clear example of character deception in The Taming of the Shrew is Petruchio’s deception of Katherine. Petruchio pretends that he loves Katherine so much, that he cannot allow her to eat his inferior food or sleep in his poorly made bed; all in the name of ‘love’. “That bate and beat will not be obedient. She eat no meat today, not none shall eat; last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not,” (Act IV Scene I The Taming of the Shrew). The motive for Petruchio’s deception of Katherine is that he wishes to tame her. Katherine is the ‘shrew’ of the play and has needed to be tamed-not through violence or words; but by actions of ‘love’.
to describe his gentle transformation towards Kate. For he declares that this falcon ?must not be full-gorged (4.1)? and the use of the comparison single-handedly shows his care towards Kate and demolishes any faint idea of the play being a celebration of patriarchal power. Shakespeare uses Petruchio to bear the character of a man who only teaches and liberates his wife and is willing to suffer to complete this transformation. Thus, Shakespeare indicates the importance of transformation and shows of how a lack of brutality and presence of love can allow a mutual love relationship to effectively exist.
Men had the authority to say whatever they wanted to, no matter what it was. Although they were allowed to do a lot more that women, they were also allowed to say a lot more than women. Men did not really have boundaries when it came to speaking. They were allowed to speak their mind and have an opinion. Men could speak to and about women in a disrespectful and derogatory way. Women were also allowed to have an opinion, but they were not allowed to express it to others. Women were voiceless. They were deprived of their right to speak. The title itself, The Taming of the Shrew, already proves how strong men were compared to women during that time period. If a woman wanted to speak their mind, they would be criticized and judged. They would gain a bad reputation because women were expected to listen to men and follow their commands. However, Katherine did not like that. Instead, she spoke her mind and refused to do certain things. As a result, nobody liked her. They viewed her as a “fiend of hell” (I.i.90). A man would not be called that though. On the other hand, if a man did the same thing, no one would care. “Much more of shrew of thy impatient humour.” (III.ii.29) This proves that even the woman’s father would call their daughter a “shrew”. This was also normal
In Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, the main character, Katharina Minola is portrayed as a shrew. Her behavior emanated from the fact that a father who treated her with indifference raised her and there was a lack of a motherly influence in her life. “Shakespeare sketches her character with a depth the typical shrew lacks” (“The Taming and Comic Tradition” 1) so her behavior is a defense mechanism used to protect herself from rejection. Katharina “is aggressive and belligerent, but she recognizes her own repulsiveness and ultimately responds positively to love” (“The Taming and Comic Tradition” 1). Once Katharina meets Petruchio, her intended husband, her behavior starts to transform into that of a socially acceptable wife. Katharina’s metamorphosis in behavior is
During the play Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, Petruchio is a very intriguing character. One of the more notable things he does in the play is ‘tame’ Katerina. However while the play is called “taming” of the shrew, I believe his intentions are to have a loving relationship with his spouse. However I don't believe that was the case the whole time! Petruchio originally did not have feelings for Kate because he claims during the beginning of the play that he travelled to Pertua to marry a woman with a rich father. Whilst attempting to tame her he claims he is enjoying doing so, I believe that he is enjoying because he is getting to spend time with her, while falling in love with her and not even realizing it. After Petruchio has starved her and deprived her of sleep as well as other things, he makes a real attempt to be nice to Katherine and I believe that's what really tamed her. Overall I believe Petruchio’s original intentions were to use Katherine and marry her for her wealth. But over time he began to fall deeply in love with her. We see this by Petruchio putting a great amount of effort into his attempt at taming Katherine. We see this during his thoughts and speech about marriage and happiness. And lastly, we see this through his flirty and affectionate gesture towards Kate. Through these things I believe that Petruchio as well as the audience learn a valuable lesson about love, you cannot force it.
"Kate the curst" and "lusty wench" are just few of the many names used by the villagers to describe Katharina (Draper 93). Her sarcastic attitude and violent temper ruin all of her ladylike qualities. In order to tame her, Petruchio must act in the same manner in which Katharina acts. "Their war begins as mutual sexual provocation, which, after marriage, is replaced with childish tantrums" (Bloom 29). Petruchio plans to deprive her of what she is accompanied to, such as sleep and food; he does this in such a cunning manner in which she cannot possibly be mean to him, for he is acting the way in which she acts. Petruchio counterpoises his method of fighting fire with fire by constant praise of those
Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew An exploration of the way Shakespeare presents the characters and relationships of Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. The relationship between Kate and Petruchio is central to the development of The Taming of the Shrew, as both characters clearly represent and are centrally involved in the main theme of the play, the taming of the "shrew", Kate.
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.