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Gender issues in taming of the shrew
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Gender issues in taming of the shrew
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Lies and deception that consume William Shakespeare’s play are made out to be a joke in The Taming of the Shrew, yet the center of the comedy revolves around the most honest character on set. Katherine Minola, the first daughter of Baptista Minola, was only portrayed as “shrewd,” through other characters’ assuming perception of her persona (Shakespeare 1.2.91). Those characters openly criticize her throughout the play and treat her like an animal by not giving her any sort of acknowledgment. Furthermore, Katherine has no voice at the beginning because she was silenced by the stubborn patriarchal sovereignty that degrades the idea of a woman’s opinion, thus their society perceives Katherine’s outspoken nature to be shrewish. She understood that …show more content…
Petruchio’s arrival not only marks new opportunities for Baptista to sell his most prized daughter, Bianca, which had allowed Bianca’s suitors to fully boast and appeal, and get rid of the despised Katherine, but also introduces an escape for Katherine to establish a new reputation. Petruchio sought to pursue Katherine through methods of positively taming her and his persistent personality lead them to accomplish Shakespeare’s joyous ordeal of marriage. The outspoken Katherine and selfish Petruchio were initially battling each other from opposite ends of their aberrant relationship, however as they discover parallel traits and succumb to one another’s schemes, their strange compatibility reveals that a shared passion is key to success in the ideal form of long …show more content…
By being dauntlessly audacious, Katherine’s truthfulness draws in Petruchio’s trust and devotion, and Petruchio’s security and boldness to go against the current for them both appeals to Katherine’s loyalty. She recognizes his trick in mocking the other characters and jumps in to humiliate them and gain their respect, such as Hortensio attempting to follow Petruchio’s footsteps. Petruchio helps her realize that she does not have to stand alone against a world filled with those who had refused to give her a chance to truly present herself, thus his respectable status helps her by being a partner who can make her look like the idea wife that disproves everyone’s initial perception of her. She could never prove them wrong because of the patriarchal ideology, and he gives her that opportunity by marrying-something others highly doubted. Kate provides Petruchio with dowry and a strong-minded wife whom he enjoys because she is honest to herself and does not conform. Furthermore, she also provides him the satisfaction of triumphing the other men with an ideal wife that he has seemingly molded her into through the powerful speech she addresses. Both characters share a secret understanding of what society desires and they help each other’s cruel satisfaction by mockingly representing that through their compatible
However, it is the the effects of each of these situations that allow us to evaluate the two as a whole. Although Kat’s emotions go up and down about Patrick nonstop throughout the movie, in the end she is much happier than she was before she met Patrick. Similarly, Katherine ends up stating how submission has “made her heart great”, implying that she is content with the situation, but she does not appear to be truly happy with Petruchio. She is aware that she has no choice in regards to submission, and that her life will be better if she just accepts it. Thus, Katherine’s happiness is superficial as opposed to Kat’s which is real. Also feminism did not exist until the 19th century, so during the time of Shakespeare Katherine and Bianca did not even think of the idea that they could have a choice when it comes to men. Marriages were arranged, and that concept was accepted for many centuries,In fact, Katherine and Bianca are not even considered to be citizens because they
Kate and The Taming of the Shrew describes the progression of the outspoken and headstrong Kate, wife of Petruchio, as she gradually transitions into an almost perfect example of an archetypal loyal wife. This classic female archetype can be expressed through blind and ignorant support of their husband without any personal opinion or any priorities and objectives other than to satisfy the needs and desires of their husbands. While Kate begins possessing traits that oppose the loyal wife archetype due to her strong willed personality, her shift to obedience. However she continues to think with cunning strategy throughout the entire play, regardless of her weakened mental state caused by Petruchio limiting her food and sleep.
“The Taming Of The Shrew” by William Shakespeare is a work of satire created to criticize the misogynistic outlooks of the 16th century. With this play, Shakespeare is trying to say that the idea and role of women in his society is deeply flawed and should be fixed, as well as to make other social commentaries, such as on the treatment of servants. Through exaggeration and parody, Shakespeare makes society look silly.
find a wife. "I come to wives it wealthy in Padua; If wealthy, then happily in
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.
Thorne, Sherri. "Shakespeare: Advocate for Women in The Taming of the Shrew." Http://www.hsu.edu/uploadedFiles/Faculty/Academic_Forum/2003-4/2003-4 AFShakespeare.pdf. Henderson State University Department of English and Foreign Languages, 2003-2004. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
In this marriage Katherine has no power. She is verbally abused by Petruchio and denied what she needs. As said in the article,“ Kate is transformed after enduring the irrational world of Petruchio 's country house, where she is denied food, sleep, and fashionable accoutrements of her social class” (Karen 263). Katherine is tamed and she praises and respects him now that she is tamed. At the end of the play, when Katherine and Petruchio are at the wedding, Katherine is the only woman out of all at the wedding that actually listens to her husband when they all call their wives. Katherine ends up giving them a speech and telling them to respect their husband: “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head thy sovereign, one that cares for thee And for thy maintenance commits his body” (Shakespear V. ii . 162-164). She respects who he is and all the work that he does for her. Petruchio has the power in marriage because she respects him and his
In Shakespeare's, "The Taming of the Shrew" the relationship between the sisters Katherine and Bianca appears to be strained with rampant jealousy. Both daughters fight for the attentions of their father. In twisted parallel roles, they take turns being demure and hag-like. Father of the two, Baptista Minola, fusses with potential suitors for young Bianca and will not let them come calling until his elder, ill-tempered daughter Katherine is married. The reader is to assume that meek, mild-mannered, delicate Bianca is wasting away while her much older, aging, brutish sister torments the family with her foul tongue. Katherine seems to hold resentment toward Bianca. Her father favors Bianca over Katherine and keeps them away from each others' torment. When gentlemen come calling, Bianca cowers behind her father and Katherine speaks up for herself. "I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?" (1.1.57-58) Bianca and Katherine dislike each other feverishly. Katherine torments Bianca with words and physical harm. She binds her hands, pulls her hair then brings her forth to her father and the gentlemen callers. Bianca denies liking any of the visitors and portrays herself an innocent that merely wants to learn and obey her elders. She says, "Sister, content you in my discontent to your pleasure humbly I subscribe. My books and instruments shall be my company, on them to look and practise by myself." (1.1.80-84) Because Katherine speaks freely and asserts herself she is labeled as "shrewish." When Hortensio describes her to Petruccio, he spews out that she is "renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue." ( 1.2.96) He gilds the lily further by clearly telling of her fair fortune if suitable man comes courting and wins her hand in marriage. Petruccio sees dollar signs and rushes onwards in grand dress and fluently gestures to court the gracious "Kate." When he first begins his ritual of winning the family and Katherine to his love, he is seeking his fortune in her dowry. The mention of her being at all undesirable does not put rocks in his path.
Hortensio, one of Bianca’s old suitors, also reaches Padua with his new wife, a wealthy widow. Everyone expects Katherine to be just as shrewish as she was before she was married to Petruchio. Even the widow refers to Katherine as a shrew. “Your husband being troubled with a shrew/ Measures my husband’s sorrow by his woe,” the widow states, calling Katherine a shrew and saying that she feels sorry for Petruchio (5.2.29-30). After the three women leave, Lucentio, Hortensio, and Petruchio wager that each of their wives is the most obedient. They each send for their wives, proving to be unsuccessful until Petruchio sends for Katherine. To everyone else’s astonishment, Katherine arrives obediently, and Petruchio wins the bet. Katherine then goes and fetches her sister and Hortensio’s widow wife. She reprimands them for not obeying their husbands. “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper/ Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee/ And for thy maintenance commits his body/ To painful labor by both sea and land/ To watch the night in storms, the day in cold/ Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe” (5.2.162-167). She explains that a woman’s husband protects her and supports her, living a life of danger and responsibility. In return, she says that the husband asks only for his wife’s kindness and obedience, which is “too little payment for so great a debt” (5.2.170).
...is not a normal relationship. Katherine doesn't actually love Petruchio and neither does Petruchio. Petruchio only married Kate for the money and because he wants a challenge, to try to tame Katherine. Their relationship is only for the money, and to prove that Kate can change from being a shrew.
One of the most wildly debated monologues in Shakespeare’s work is Katherine’s’ ending one from The Taming of the Shrew. Many have understood the final speech to be one of genuine submission while others read it as Katherine having control over the women in the room. It’s my belief, however, that this final speech is just Katherine getting in her two-cents in a way that won’t cause her to be tortured by her husband. Katherine hasn’t been wooed or changed into submission and in my opinion isn’t trying to get the upper-hand with the women in the room. She has been broken and is tired but not changed. Thus, she masks her true intentions with wit and subtext. This theory is supposed by many direct examples from the monologue itself.
Shakespeare, Wiliam, and Sylvan Barnet. The Taming of the Shrew. . Reprint. London: New American Library, 1998. Print.
"Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them." -Oscar Wilde. This quote embodies the fight over gender roles and the views of women in society. Taming of the Shrew deals with Kate and Bianca, two sisters who are at the time to he married off. However, suitors who seek Bianca as a wife have to wait for her sister to be married first. Kate is seen as a shrew because she is strong willed and unlike most women of the time. In his 1603 play The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare enforces traditional gender roles and demonstrates how little say women had in society. He accomplishes this through the strong personality of Kate, Baptista 's attitude towards his daughters as transactions, and
In Shakespeare’s time women were looked upon as servants, their only job was to please their husband, as their husband was the superior one of the household. Likewise, that social construct led Shakespeare to having that construct bleed over into his play, The Taming of the Shrew, where Katherine and Petruchio represent the classic patriarchal household. This is perfectly represented in Act 5, Scene 2, lines 155-169, which is a part of Katherine’s speech aimed towards Bianca and the Widow at the end of the play. This speech is significant to the play as a whole because it shows how Katherine’s character changes over the course of five acts, how men would have been viewed in a Elizabethan society, and the influence of the societal ladder in
Patrick and Petruchio’s desire to date Kat or Katerina is influenced by money. In Taming of the Shrew Hortensio mentions that Katerina is a shrew, but Petruchio does not care because she is wealthy. Petruchio could have easily found another woman, but with money involved, Petruchio does what he can to “win” her love by attempting to talk with Katerina and eventually takes his time to try and tame Katerina. “When Petruchio first meets Baptista, Petruchio inquires about the dowry, once Baptista replies, Petruchio immediately demands to sign the contract.