Shakespeare's Use Of Dynamic Characters In Taming Of The Shrew

In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, there is a recurring theme of people hiding their real identity. First, there are cases of deception, such as Tranio pretending to be Lucentio, Lucentio pretending to be a Latin tutor, Hortensio pretending to be a music tutor. More complex than these obvious examples of deception are Shakespeare’s clever uses of psychological masks. Several characters in the play take on roles that do not agree with their personalities. The psychological masks that they wear are not immediately apparent to the audience, or even to the characters themselves, until they are unmasked through the course of the play. Shakespeare mostly uses this device with the characters of Katherina, Bianca,

Baptista Minola, the heavy-handed father in The Taming of the Shrew, can be characterized as having difficulty expressing his love effectively to his daughters Bianca and Katherine. While Bianca is charming, tranquil, and stunning, Katherine, being the shrew of the play, is hostile, peevish, and quick witted. After raising both daughters until the day of their marriage, Baptista has been caught in the middle of their opposing characteristics. Understandingly, his actions to deal with this discrepancy can be viewed as cruel and tyrannical; however, he is a loving father that cares deeply for his daughters and their well-being. Many readers only consider Baptista’s concern for the marriage of his daughters as cruel and the amount of wealth they may inherit as greedy when describing his manner and personality, but he acts with logic in each situation and values the happiness of his daughters.

In the play Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare includes several appeals of pathos, ethos and logos. In the last passage of the book, Katharina speaks out to all of the characters with a speech. Katharina describes how she has changed into a person who looks to her husband as her lord, her care taker. The characters who listened to her speech seemed impressed on how she has finally changed her rude attitude and how she obeys her husband Pertruchio’s every word.

The first comedic device used in The Taming of the Shrew is family drama. Katherina can’t find a husband she likes, and no man likes her. Bianca is her younger sister and wants to marry but can’t until Katharina does. This puts tension on their relationship and also their father’s. In this line, ““Are you so formal, sir? Well, I must wait. And watch withal, for, but I be

Besides being a well written play, the comedic devices that each act holds is used to help develop the plot and the comedy effect of The Taming of the Shrew. The devices used has shown the audience how the shrew could be changed by receiving the same treatment it has been giving. Shakespeare used comedic devices to help keep the audience focused on the story and keep them guessing to what Petruchio was going to do to make Katharina tame. The plot becomes developed when certain events with family drama, quick-witted language, and unexpected scenarios that take place to create plot twists that no one can foreshadow. All of the materials used above shape a story of how a woman changes dramatically with the help of one man who she undoubted calls her husband without any choice of decision.

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

I must and will have Katherine to my wife. (Act 2, Scene 1, Page 13)

William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is an interesting story that demonstrates the patriarchal ideas of how a marriage is suppose to be according to society, what is acceptable of a woman's role in a relationship. It's a story that has many things to show for it's been remade, and remade, even slightly altered to better relate to the teenage audience.

The relationships between servants and masters closely reflect the gender relationships in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Lucentio and Tranio's relationship as master and servant is an ideal of the Renaissance era according to "An Homily on the State of Matrimony." Tranio risks taking the place of his master because of his love for him and Lucentio always treats him with kindness and respect, almost like an equal. Though they are not involved romantically, Lucentio and Tranio fulfill these ideals better than any marriage in The Taming of the Shrew. Lucentio's relationship with Bianca reflects his role with Tranio: Bianca shows respect for Lucentio as he

In addition, Petruchio’s taming has taken away her unique confidence and forced her to change into a woman that accepts the patriarchal norms. Moreover, since Katherine follows the “good girl” definition, it proves Petruchio’s taming plan worked. Likewise, when they finally reach the banquet, Katherine asserts herself as a changed woman who conforms to the social norms. She gives a long speech describing her newly found views: “Even such a woman oweth to her husband,/ And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,/ And not obedient to his honest will,/ What is she but a foul contending rebel,/ And graceless traitor to her loving lord?/ I am ashamed that women are so simple/ To offer war where they should kneel for peace” (V.ii. 160-166). In this ironic speech, Katherine urges women not “to offer war where they should kneel for

Women in the era of Queen Elizabeth I were often portrayed through stereotypes such as, “The Good and the Badde” by Nicholas Breton. In this work women have desired traits such as loyalty, obedience, and innocence. Undesirable traits would be just the opposite, disobedience, raunchiness, treachery, loudness, and being outspoken. The play, “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, plays heavily to these stereotypes with the two female main characters; Bianca and Kate. Whereas Kate plays the Un-quiet one in the beginning, but transitions to more of a quiet one or the good wife while Bianca plays The Virgin.

The Katherina that gives the final speech in The Taming of the Shrew is quite a departure from the Katherina we were introduced to in Act I. This new Kate is modest, quiet and obedient. All of these qualities were not present until Act V. Such a profound personality change prompts the questions how this happened and what purpose do her changes serve?

In the Shakespearian play: The Taming of the Shrew, deception is one of the major concepts. A tangled web is created in the play through deception of character behavior and the change between clothing and class. Most of the deception in the play have particular motives behind them and create dramatic irony. Shakespeare has used dramatic irony to create a comedic play.

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

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.