How Is Katherine Presented In Taming Of The Shrew

In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Petruccio employs several methods to attempt to tame the shrewish Katherine. Petruccio and Katherine’s various encounters throughout the play illuminate their struggle to maintain power and control. At a certain point, the audience is convinced that Katherine has truly been tamed by Petruccio. However, the audience’s perception of Katherine changes during her final monologue in the comedy which evinces that, despite Petruccio’s attempt to tame her, Katherine still maintains aspects of her shrewishness. Shakespeare utilizes complex dialogue in order to outwardly portray Katherine as tamed, but upon closer inspection, still highlights her individuality. By analyzing Katherine’s final monologue in Act 5 scene 2, it is evident that she is still not tamed despite Petruccio’s sustained

When Katherine is first introduced to the audience during her meeting with Petruccio, she is an uncontrollable, sharp-witted shrew. Katherine is angered that her father Baptista is desperate to wed her to any man who will accept the challenge. Petruccio is eager to woo Katherine and tame her shrewish spirit. He is attracted to Katherine’s lively nature and professes that his attraction has multiplied greatly after getting a glimpse of how much of a spitfire Katherine is. During their first encounter, Petruccio seeks to demonstrate his wit and power in an attempt to control Katherine’s spirit. When he informally addresses Katherine as her nickname Kate she sharply puts him in his place by responding “Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing: They call me Katherine that do talk of me” (Shrew 2.1.182-3). She insults him as