Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew illustrates the relationship between gender and authority while defining its imbalance as simple social construct, suggesting that gender, more or less, exists merely in association and connotation. In characterizing masculine and feminine personality without regard to physical sex, he in turn reveals the illusion gender-roles cast in assumption and stereotype. Doing so, Shakespeare writes to comment on the position of women in Elizabethan society and their faculty of power in general. Given that inequality and the institution of gender-identity still exist and that current culture still clings to it, it follows that themes expressed within the play still presently apply. As adaptation, BBC renovates in modern version the Taming of the Shrew and keeps with it Shakespeare’s original themes, altering several other aspects of it, taking away detail from which the original play capitalizes. Enough though, still remains to effectively portray Shakespeare’s work. It becomes evident that Petruchio decidedly woos Kate within the play just before their bantering scene, when he moves into soliloquy: “I will attend her here / And woo her with some spirit as she comes / Say that she rail, why then I’ll tell her plain / She sings as sweetly as a nightingale” (Shakespeare 2.1.169-172). For the remainder of his thought, Petruchio …show more content…
Prancing to Petruchio, Kate appears to mean what she says and truly believes it, as Petruchio verifies in the elevator afterwards (BBC). He tames her to the point of wholehearted respect, which she qualifies as mutual in front of her mother and
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
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.
Additionally, in the movie, Petruchio locks Kate in a room while he tells the Minolas that he and Kate will wed. Again, this does not occur in the play.
“What, in the midst of the street? / … / No, sir God forbid, be ashamed to kiss.” (v, ii, line 148, 149, page 205). Again, she is threatened with having to return home instead of joining in the festivities, and Kate gives Petruchio a kiss. This obedient kiss may indicate Petruchio’s power over her, but it was clear to Kate that if she did not give him the kiss he asked for, she would not have been allowed to proceed to the wedding feast. Kate is smart and cunning and she manipulated his yearn for her tameness in order to do everything that she wants to while making him happy and pleased.
This story also depicts that a woman is not suppose to be strong and opinionated. Kate is viewed by most suitors as undesirable because she speaks her mind and doesn't let the male population walk all over her (Dolan 32). She is very precautious of the intentions of the men that claim they would like to marry her. Throughout the story it's made clear that Petruccio's objective is to "tame" Kate so that she will be suitable to be a wife. It's not that it's in her nature to be mean but she has a different that on the role of a wife. She indeed believes that she should be good to her husband and do all that things that are expected of her but feels that it should be deserved. Her husband needs to be worthy of all of her affection and attention. Not only that, he needs to love her in such a way that makes her want to be a good woman to him (33).
Petruchio also manipulates Kate psychologically by pivoting her thoughts in the direction of them being suited to each other for marriage. When he says “I am too young for you” (Act 2 Scene 1, 250), he starts making her feel old and unwanted. This comment makes her mad, and causes her to feel the need to prove that he is old, which she accomplishes in the next line by saying “Yet you are withered” (II, 1; 251). Thus she unconsciously admits that he is at least suited to her in age for marriage, if nothing else. By complimenting her, Petruchio is also able to play with her psychologically. He begins by saying she is beautiful, nice, and modest. Even though he may not mean it, and Kate probably suspects he is lying, it still has a positive effect on her. Complements boost her confidence and make her feel wanted, which is a new experience for her. Such complements eventually lead her to believe that he may actually love her, or that there is a possibility of love between them in the future. This method of manipulation does have its effects, because she only opposes their marriage once in front of her father, and after Petruchio announces that they have decided that she should “still be curst [to him] in company” (II, 1; 324), but they really love each other, she offers no counterarguments.
The dehumanization of women should not be shown in a play because it is against the common morals of today’s society. In The Taming of the Shrew, the objectification of women is shown
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.
While the conclusion of The Taming of the Shrew seems to suggest that Kate’s opinionated, obstinate behavior has been subdued by Petruchio, further in-depth analysis of her character reveals that she is merely acting as the stereotypical submissive wife. The entire plot of this comedy revolves around the challenge of finding a husband for Katherine the “wild hawk” and is driven by the recurring themes of deceit and trickery (18). For example, Lucentio disguises himself as the schoolteacher Cambio to become closer to and woo Bianca. Hortensio, also hoping to win Bianca’s hand, plays the role as the music teacher Litio. Arriving in Padua seeking a wealthy wife, Petruchio assumes several personas to wed Katherine and tame her wild behavior.
Also, Katherine herself apprehended the error of her ways, making the women feel sheltered and making the men feel self-assured about their dominant position in society. The audience presumably went home contented, because such a shrew was tamed, and could be tamed so well. Katherine’s soliloquy reinforced the moral values of the Elizabethan era, making the conclusion of the play more enjoyable and entertaining. The final scene of The Taming of the Shrew shows ”the triumph of the unconventional over the conventional”, it shows that Katherina and Petruchio’s marriage, which has started rather unconventionally, seems to have better chances of being a happy. Shakespeare speaks out in clearly favors of the unconventional concept of love present in the relationship between Petruchio and
Kate is equal to Petruchio linguistically which also displays an aspect of her character, that she feels that she is easily the equal of any man. During their first exchange, Petruchio immediately sets about Kate, that he will, 'woo her with some spirit when she comes,' and that he will describe her as the opposite of everything she is in order to confuse her and break her down. In Petruchio's first exchange with Kate, it is clearly he who comes off better, immediately setting about her with short witty lines, and puns, 'for dainties are all Kates.' This gives the effect if making Petruchio seem very confident and sure of himself, if he begins his taming with such good humour and interest.
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
Elizabethan society was created on the belief the woman had no right or control over their own lives. Women had no choice in what their profession would be, as a matter of fact they weren’t allowed to have a profession such as medicine, politics and law. The only places they were allowed to work were in domestic areas. This essay will be focusing on the taming of the shrew with the role of status of women and attitudes towards marriage and courtship during the Elizabethan era. In Elizabethan society, all that women were considered of was the lower end of men and the weaker gender.
In The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare reveals the flaws in gender and class roles by pointing out the flaws in when women always listen to men. For everyone that has strict parents or been in a relationship you understand these examples, the man(dad) is the boss, the women obey the man, and class roles are determined by society. Shakespeare challenges through many situations, the class and gender roles that are determined by society.