Petruchio In Taming Of The Shrew

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This close reading essay will examine the early acts (Act 1 scenes 1 and 2) of Taming of the Shrew to figure out Katherine deserved to be tamed. It was very clear that she was a difficult individual to deal with, but was it motivated. Was she simply a nasty individual or was she holding on to some emotional baggage that resulted in shrewish behavior? The goal of this paper is to determine if Petruchio’s treatment of her later on in the play was justified based on what readers already knew about Katherine. This paper will not attempt to defend Petruchio or any of the men that arranged for him to appear in Katherine’s life. This essay only attempts to unpack motivational efforts that set the stage for Petruchio’s arrival. In Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare introduces Katherine as a cross between antagonist and protagonist. She goes by the beat or her own drum (tough, feisty, and occasionally ill mannered) and cannot be bothered by men who seek to control her (including her own father). While she was not much of a presence in acts one and two, the audience learns a …show more content…

He states “Gentlemen, importune me no farther / For how I firmly am resolved you know— / That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter / Before I have a husband for the elder. / If either of you both love Katherina, / Because I know you well and love you well / Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure” (1.1.48-54), which meant that he was willing to keep his youngest daughter on a leash until he found a proper partner for Kate. All Batista’s revelation did was open the door to numerous critiques from other male characters who apparently did not like vocal women. For example Gremio immediately followed up with zingers such as “She’s too rough for me” (33) and “fiend of hell” (90), indicating that she was not as demure as society’s standards for women

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