Taming Of The Shrew Research Paper

Domestic abuse happens all the time, yet is often overlooked, ignored, or excused. For Katherine Minola, her husband’s friends, servants, and her family overlook any signs of abuse her husband, Petruchio, shows. To any upstander, it would’ve been clear to see that Petruchio would use his power to control Katherine and break her spirit. Petruchio’s verbal and physical behavior towards Katherine and others creates many signs that his relationship with Katherine may become abusive.

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).

The Taming of the Shrew, written by William Shakespeare, is historical proof that flirting and temptation, relating to the opposite sex, has been around since the earliest of times. Because males and females continue to interact, the complications in this play remain as relevant and humorous today as they did to Elizabethan audiences. This is a very fun play, full of comedy and sexual remarks. It's lasting impression imprints itself into the minds of its readers, for it is an unforgettable story of sex, flirting, and happiness. The Taming of the Shrew remains as relevant today because of its relation to the age-old story of the battle of the sexes and dynamics of marriage, as well as the woman's struggle with both of these.

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

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.

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

As time goes on, definitions of words change. In the Elizabethan era, the word shrew has been used to define ill-tempered and sharp-tongued women. Yet in present day, associating a specific gender with a word is not as important as it was in the past. The noun shrew could be used to define any human, despite their gender. In Taming of the Shrew, Katherina Minola is supposedly the shrew which the title of the play has labelled. However, when Petruchio is introduced to the play, it is easily apparent that he is a significantly more accurate depiction of a shrew. Petruchio, from Taming of the Shrew, accurately portrays a shrew because of his unpleasant characteristics and the cruel way he treats Katherina.

This interpretation of the speech also agrees with one of the overarching theme of the play: marriages use as an economic transaction. The true effect of Petruchio’s taming is not the creation of a beaten and unwaveringly obedient wife, but that of a wife capable of cooperation and happiness in married

According to Garner, “Before Hortensio marries the widow, he goes to visit Petruchio, to see his taming school” (212). This can foreshadow that Hortensio will treat his future wife the same way as Petruchio has treated Kate, and it shows how lowly men thought of woman. Although I agree with Garner in some aspect, this article is biased because it only explains why The Taming of the Shrew is considered a “bad” play. In my opinion the play is rather questionable than “bad” because this play can be perceived in different ways. For example, Katherine’s final speech can also foreshadow that she will pretend to secretly obey Petruchio in public while she is the boss of the household when both of them are in private.

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

Most people know of at least of one shrew in their life. Yet they may not realize that their maybe more shrews in their lives that they think there are. In the book “taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare is about trying to tame Katherina, the shrew, to be able to wed Bianca. Although Katerina is the main shrew, she’s not the only one. Many can say that Bianca and Petruchio are as well.

The damsel in distress, a young woman in trouble who needs to be saved by a prince, is a common archetype used in literature. For example, in Shakespeare's plays, Ophelia from Hamlet and Juliet from Romeo and Juliet illustrate the prevalent theme of a weak, female character. However, Katherine Minola from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is not by any means a damsel in distress. Hard-headed, sharp-tongued, and foul-tempered, Katherine's defiance and anger stem from her loneliness and unhappiness. Although she is intelligent and independent, Petruchio humiliates and mentally beats Katherine into what society considers a desirable, obedient wife. At

Their arranged marriage, based on the agreement between Katherine’s father and Petruccio, bonds in the extreme sense. During the arrangement Katherine was present, but had no input in the matter. The fact that Katherine denies Petruccio to be her husband and they are wed anyways, suggests that it did not matter as much when a woman opposed her marriage to a man. In this time period a woman’s input was overlooked, especially living in a patriarchal society. From a 21st century perspective, having an arranged marriage seems to not make for a happy life, even in the time period of Shakespeare. At Katherine and Petruccio’s wedding, Petruccio arrived very poorly dressed, almost homely looking, he deprived Katherine of food, clothes, and sleep, and argued with her until she agreed with him. All of these circumstances do not call for a happy marriage. However, in the fifth act of TOS, Katherine brings hope to light that she can be happy, even in her situation of an arranged marriage. When she gives the speech to her sister, Bianca, and the widow, the reader gets the sense that she is now “tamed.” Although, the marriage was arranged and Katherine does not seem happy, she leaves the reader thinking that there can be hope for happiness when you meet in the middle. Petruccio has the pleasure of having an obedient wife while Katherine gets to keep her witty

Katherine’s desperation is met with refusal for fair treatment, showing the corrupt inner workings of the court all being orchestrated by Wolsey. For even after Katherine’s exit, the King himself declares “That man i’th’ world who shall report he has a better wife, let him in naught be trusted for speaking false in that.” (2.4.131). The King knows he has a good and loyal wife, but is only brought to question their marriage by Wolsey.

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.