Taming of the Shrew Essay
In the Elizabethan Era, a shrew meant a woman who was ill-tempered, assertive, unpleasant, and was generally far from the ideal woman. Katherine Minola in William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew, is a headstrong, outspoken woman who is condemned for being a shrew by the residents of Padua. In Shakespeare’s time, the ideal woman was to be submissive, obedient, and silent - unlike Katherine whose fiery temper makes her seem undesirable, despite the fact that she is beautiful and wealthy. Bianca, Katherine’s younger sister, however, seems to fit the criteria for the perfect woman, and is sweet-tempered and innocent, thus, adored by all. Katherine and Bianca seem to be complete opposites, but Bianca is
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When Baptista tells Hortensio and Gremio that they can marry Katherine if they want, Hortensio remarks that no one, especially not him, will marry her. As a result, Katherine is offended and insults Hortensio instead of ignoring the comment. She states “... doubt not her care should be/To comb your noddle with a three legged stool/And paint your face and use you like a fool.” (I.i.64-66). In response to Hortensio’s rude comment, Katherine states that that the only thing related to him that she would care for is to hit him on the head with a stool and humiliate him. This causes Hortensio to call her a devil because she is rude and violent, defying the set social standards for women. Unlike Katherine, Bianca is silent and submissive. She obeys her father’s every command and does not speak unless she is directly spoken to. When Katherine insults Bianca after Baptista tells Bianca she should go inside, and he will always love her no matter what, Bianca tries to calm Katherine down and obeys her father without objection. Bianca states, “Sister, content you in my discontent.-/ Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe”(I.i.81-82). Though Katherine has insulted her, Bianca does not try to respond back harshly and instead …show more content…
For instance, in Act I, Bianca submits to her father and says that she will do as he says, using her books, instruments, and studies to be comforted. However, in Act III, Bianca seems to disregard what she had earlier told her father, and instead of being educated by her tutors, and telling Lucentio that she does not want to deceive her father by associating with him like this, she tells him that although she does not trust him, he should not give up in his plan to woo her. When she tells Lucentio,“ In time I may believe, yet I mistrust,”(III.i.54) she is indicating that she is wary of him, but given more time, she may return Lucentio’s love for her. Furthermore, in Act IV, Scene ii, Bianca and Lucentio are flirting and they share a kiss that Hortensio sees, causing him to view Bianca as unworthy and shrewish. As a result of what he sees, he tells Tranio disguised as Lucentio, “Here is my hand and I firmly vow/Never to woo her more, but do forswear her/As one unworthy of all the former favors/That I have fondly flattered [her] withal ”(IV.ii.28-31). Hortensio sees how Bianca continues to deceive her father and love a man who he presumes is of the lower class under the guise of studying, something that a woman of her social class should not do. As a
The two characters who play Bianca and Lucentio are also dating during the making of the play. Lois, who plays Bianca, is a very flirtatious woman who always seems to get more than her share of attention form men. Bianca is also a character who receives similar attention from men. These two roles fit hand and hand. Bill Calhoun plays Licentious, who eventually weds Bianca. Bill is dating Lois throughout the performance of the play. He, like Lucentio, feels insecure and worrisome about the way his relationship with the woman that he is in love with. When her and Lucentio get married in the movie, it appears to be directly following the wedding of her sister. In the play they are married in ACTIV and Katherina was married in ACTIII SCENE II. There is a lot of detail in between, that the movie does not show. For instance, the play talks about a man named Vicentio. This is the father of Lucentio. Tremio, Lucentio’s
In Taming of the Shrew, the opening starts with an act of deceit. A drunk man comes into a bar and refuses to pay for his drinks. After one too many, he passes out on the floor and is carried home in a carriage by a lord. Once in the lord’s home, he wakes up and is tricked into believing that not only is he a lord, but that he has a wife and that they are watching a play which is how the book begins. Later in the play, Lucentio, a suitor for Bianca, disguises himself as a school teacher to get close to her. His manservant, Tranio, and himself come up with the ploy so that while they search for a man for Kate, Lucentio can win Bianca’s, heart. He was not the only one to use this idea, another suitor of Bianca’s also disguises himself as a teacher. However, it is Lucentio’s ploy that is successful and the two young people fall in love and agree to the marriage. Before they can be married, Bianca’s father needs to meet Lucentio’s father. However, instead of getting his real father, Lucentio finds a man on the street and gets him to act as though he is his father. Again, the ploy works and the two fathers meet and the marriage is arranged. Lucentio is no the only one who uses deceiving as a way to get married, Petruchio too deceives Kate and her father to gain marriage. First, he vows to deceive Kate by telling her the opposite of what he feels. For example, if she was ugly, he would call her beautiful, and if she was mean he would call her the sweetest person he had ever met. This, he believed would allow him to woo her successfully. It did not go quite as planned, but when Kate’s father came in to see Kate and Petruchio together, Petruchio made it seem as though Kate loved him and wanted to be married to him. His
Lucentio is a suitor to Bianca. In the beginning of the play, Lucenito is portrayed as the cliché “love at first sight” type of person. He must do everything in his power to get Bianca to wed
Do women have an underlying power in the 17th century? Puritan societies did not believe women should have any major role in a community. They were expected to be subservient to men and forfeit their power to the authority of men. However, In Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, women were in power because they made the story have conflict. This shows that women do have a lot of power because what they say and do has a crucial part in developing the plot despite what this puritan society thinks of them.
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
Lucentio's treatment of Tranio is reflected in his treatment of Bianca and their role as man and woman. Lucentio never hits Bianca or mistreats her in anyway, but spends the play wooing her and showing her his love. However, Bianca does not completely mimic Tranio's obedience in her role as wife to Lucentio. Though Bianca is not as stubborn willed and shrewish as her sister, Katherine, she does not obey her husband when he calls her to him. Biondello comes back to Lucentio to report: "Sir, my mistress sends you word that she is busy and she cannot come." [7] This action is in direct contradiction with An Homily on the State of Matrimony which states: "Let not therefore the woman be too busy to call for the duty of her husband where she should be ready to perform her own, for that is not worthy any great commendation." [8] Though Lucentio is consistent with his role as master and husband. His relationship with Tranio differs slightly from Bianca, Tranio's servant hood more apparent and selfless.
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.
Lucentio is discovered by affection for Bianca at first perception, says that "he will die if he cannot win her heart", and thusly puts into movement a sentimental and capricious arrangement to do as such. Though cherish in the play is frequently moderated by monetary and entertaining concerns, Lucentio is cleared up in a dream of dignified affection that does exclude the useful contemplations of men like Petruchio. All through a great part of the play, then, Lucentio and Bianca's relationship seems, by all accounts, to be invigorating and unadulterated in contrast with the relationship amongst Petruchio and Katherine. Petruchio's choice to depends on his self-declared yearning to win a fortune, while Lucentio's depends on sentimental affection.
Bianca was described as sweet and quiet. She never spoke out of turn, and was always obedient, qualities that men desired in their future wives. For the majority of the book, this is how Bianca acts, but the audience watching the play is able to see small parts where there is another side of Bianca a side that she keeps hidden from the males in her society. One clear example of this is in Act 1 Scene 1 when Bianca whispers to her sister Katherine so that no one else can hear her;
The above passages can also be seen as placing an emphasis on the degradation Baptista inflicts on Katherine for coming across as the opposite of an ideal woman. Unlike Bianca, who comes across as mild-mannered and respectful to others, Katherine is established as an antagonistic woman who lashes out at those around her on the slightest provocation. But while her threat to "comb [Hortensio's] noodle with a three-legg'd stool/And paint [his] face, and use [him] like a fool" accentuates her fiery personality, it also suggests that her shrewish behavior is a statement that condemns the
Love is one of the most powerful things in this world. People will go to great lengths to achieve another’s love. From youth we have been showered with tales of true love’s kiss and of Prince Charming breaking the Evil Queen’s curse. Time and again, we are made to see the power of love. In the play, “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, the renowned playwright takes love deeper than just passion. Shakespeare goes under the surface of love, all the way to its core. The story truly begins as Baptista Minola’s two daughters are readied for marriage: Bianca the sweet and innocent; Katherina the shrewd and curst. Men gravitate towards beautiful Bianca and flee when Katherina appears. Hortensio, a good friend of the main protagonist, Petruchio, wants to marry Bianca, in order for that to happen, Hortensio must get Petruchio to marry Katherina. Yet, Petruchio knows what he is getting himself into and he wisely sees past Katherina’s prickly outer shell. He proves that the Katherina isn’t what everyone in Padua thinks she is. Petruchio exposes the superficial problems in his society and demonstrates that respect and love are one and the same. Furthermore, Petruchio’s determination and heart allows him to woo the girl, marry her and activate the Taming of the Shrew.
Throughout history, human societies have had conflicting views on insanity and how it is defined in life. Primitive cultures found peace within shamans and witch doctors because they believed the insane were possessed by evil spirits. From then on, in Roman and Greek cultures, there was a somewhat progressive ideology that mental illness came from biological and emotional ailments. They believed in treating those with mental disorders humanely and respectfully which is an attitude that has been forgotten through history and sadly, still is today. However, the Middle Ages became the end of these progressive ideas and introduced insane asylums who “helped” the mentally ill. Up until the 20th century, insane asylums were used to restrict
We first see some of these techniques in action in Act I scene 1 when
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.
The portrayal of both Katerina and Petruchio are absurd. Her wickedly ill temper and foul mouth and his chauvinistic domineering attitude exemplify the nature of relationships between men and women in Shakespeare’s day. I believe in Katherina’s final speech when she states that women were not meant to deal with the troubles of the world because they are the softer and weaker of the two species she is implying that a man’s use of brute force against his wife is an act of cowardice. However, she goes on to say that a woman who is sullen, sour, and peevish is a nonconforming dissenter who disrupts the natural balance between the marriage of two people. To have a peaceful marriage the wife must consider the sacrifices the husband is making and in turn, it is his responsibility to care for her in the correct way. In her offer to place her hand under her husband’s foot and his refusal to allow her to do so, substituting an offer of affection instead, Petruchio raises Katherina above the level of subjugation. Although their marriage is based on his patriarchal dominance, Katherina’s speech demonstrates Petruchio’s consideration for his wife’s treatment and