Essay on The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

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.

During the course of the entire play, all of the characters except Petruchio treat Kate with disrespect. Baptista, her father, is especially insensitive to his daughter's feelings. When Petruchio comes to inquire about Kate, he describes her as fair and virtuous woman. Her father neglects to acknowledge that it was possible that his daughter could have those fine qualities (II.i.42-63).

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

In addition, Kate’s final monologue, also in Act 5, scene 2, tells the audience a lot; about the play itself, as well as the society in Shakespeare’s era. On face value, Kate’s final monologue seems to be a long lecture about serving your husband, no questions asked. “Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, / And place your hands below your husband’s foot” (v, ii, lines 92-3, page 221). However, Shakespeare gave Kate the last word in the play, a sign of her consistent power and control. As well, her monologue can be perceived as quite ironic. Kate is aware of the beliefs about how women in the household should act and, as clearly portrayed throughout the entire play, the role Petruchio has been trying to get her to fill. By playing along fullheartedly with society’s expectations, in front of the large audience of guests, Kate becomes “truly tamed” - or just incredibly

Specifically, Petruchio uses the technique of starving Kat in order to tame her (4.1.194-195). He uses a cruel strategy because he feels weakening her will make her obedient. Patrick pretends to be interested in reading a book Kat enjoys (10 Things). He wants to tame Kat by showing her they have similar interests while showing her his charming side. In summary, both try to tame Kat; however Patrick uses compassion to woo her while Petruchio uses a more aggressive strategy.

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.

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.

Marriage is presented in Shakespeare?s play The Taming of the Shrew, in a complex manner allowing readers to view the play literally as a brutal taming or ironically as a subversive manifesto. Yet, Shakespeare intends to present marriage to be full of mutual love where neither male nor female dominate but compliment each other thriving together in a loved filled relationship. The portrayal of a deep understanding, which exists in an analogical relationship and the gentle transformation, which occurs in marriage, clearly outlines marriage in the play to be a celebration of a mutual love relationship within the patriarchal foundations of society.

This is evident when Kate had her second round of fits. Once Kate realized that her symptoms could incite talk in the close-knit town, she decided to have another fainting fit. Sarah Bates described Kate as a lifeless corpse when she arrived at the house. However, when Kate overhears that she is about to be bled, she jumps back to life almost immediately (Godbeer 18). This shows that Kate was truly conscious the entire time. She only let go of her act once she believed she was about to be harmed. However, after learning that the pain would be minimal, she agrees to be bled. After she is bled, Kate lets out a scream and her mistress, Abigail Wescot, declares that “She is bewitched” (Godbeer 19). This prompts Kate into a laughing outburst, astonishing Sarah Bates once again. The fact that Kate only laughed after her mistress professed that she was bewitched exposed her guiltiness. She laughed because her acting turned out to be believable. She had successfully fooled her mistress with her false symptoms. Furthermore, her deceiving symptoms of bewitchment are also evident in her accusations, specifically her accusation of Mercy Disborough. When Abigail Wescot believed Kate was “no longer in her right senses,” she proceeded to name Mercy Holbridge, later known as Mercy Disborough, as the woman who she thought was responsible for Kate’s torments (Godbeer 38-39). Before this statement, Kate was unable to name the woman

In contrast to this, Kate is very angry and frustrated by the Petruchio, and immediately becomes "shrewish," resorting to insults, 'A joint stool,' and violence. This gives the effect of Kate being much less in control of what is going on, and perhaps reflects the direction their relationship is going to take, that Petruchio will be the one in charge, and Kate will not have any control. This could however also demonstrate Kate's intelligence and wit, that she is able to keep up and match Petruchio's wordplay. However Kate feels the need to resort to violence, again demonstrating Petruchio's intelligent wordplay and calm attitude, as he does not react violently towards Kate, but simply

Petruchio shows a number of verbal warning signs that foreshadow abuse starting when he and Baptista meet to discuss the dowry of Katherine. Baptista voices his concerns that Katherine and Petruchio may have trouble falling in love with one another. To assure Baptista that there will be no trouble, Petruchio says that “...little fire grows great with little wind/ yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all/ So I to her and so she yields to me, or I am rough and woo not like a babe.” (II.i.127-129). Petruchio is basically stating that he will be the great gust of wind to Katherine’s small fire and will blow away all of her spirit. To most fathers, this would be an evident red flag and immediately arouse doubt as if whether or not this marriage should take place, but to Baptista this statement is perfectly reasonable and he warns Petruchio that he might receive some harsh words from Katherine.

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.

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

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). "

Marriage in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew At the time Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew the idealistics