The Taming of the Shrew Essay: Katherina's Development
Katherina's development in the play, The Taming of the Shrew, is a complicated dilemma for the reader to figure out. Is she really tamed by Petruchio? Or does she figure out his game and decide she's better off playing along? Or does she recognize her own excessive behavior in his and decide to change of her own free will? Or does she really fall in love with Petruchio and wish to please her lord? I think her evolution is a combination of all of the above. But do we, as readers, want her to be tamed or was her initial independence a virtue?
It's obvious that Katherina's father, Baptista Minola, hasn't treated her as well as he treats Bianca, her younger sister. On the other hand, is her "shrewishness" a cause or a result of this favoritism? Katherina is obviously a highly intelligent woman whose gifts have no outlet in the domestic company of the household. For example, in their first meeting, Katherina keeps up with Petruchio pun for pun and insult for insult. Perhaps her fury is simply the result of having no outlet for her feisty wit. And when Petruchio comes along and treats her as an equal (the opposite of taming), I think she is taken aback and that is how he is able to swoop in and win her. In this first encounter, Katherina is, for the first time in her life, spoken kindly to by a man. She seems moved by Petruchio's praise. Also, when it appears she has been left at the altar, she weeps and wishes she had never met him. I think her grief is a sign of her genuine affection and perhaps even love for Petruchio.
By the end of the play and in her final speech, Katherina may seem genuinely tamed, depending on your interpretation of the soliloquy -- is it genuine or tongue-in-cheek? Is she really her lord's noble servant or is she pandering to him and what he wants to hear? I think she wants to give her husband happiness, but knows that her husband will do the same for her. I think Petruchio and Katherina would actually have a very balanced marriage of mutual respect, because they each know what the other is capable of.
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Comparing the Beginning of the Novel and the Film Of Mice and Men Like any writer or director, John Steinbeck and Gary Sinise set out to. grab the audience's attention. Although the novel and the film are Based on the same story, John Steinbeck and Gary Sinise immediately involve the audience in different ways. When writing "Of Mice and Men" John Steinbeck draws the reader in by. mainly describe the setting.
the end of the Second World War. The play is set in 1912, just before
satisfied. He talks a lot and likes the sound of his own voice. He's a
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In Taming of the Shrew, the first introduction to Katharina, by Gremio and Hortensio, tells that she is a shrew, (1.I .54-60) and that she will never find a groom. When she first speaks we see her responding to these insults, but she was provoked so her words seem appropriate. Yet as the play continues we see Katharina tying up Bianca, (2.I.29) and hitting her. This can be rejected as sibling rivalry, but later Katharina slaps Petruchio when he is trying to woo her (2.I.214). Katharina seems to have a physically violent side that isn't present in Beatrice. She also does not seem to have as strong as a character as Beatrice, especially when one considers that Petruchio was able to tame her in a very short time.
Petruchio deprives Kate of all her fundamental needs and essentials to prove he is going to be a master tamer to her. As soon as they get to Petruchio’s house and sit down for dinner, Petruchio refuses to eat the meal because he verbally expresses it is burnt and forbids Kate to eat the meal as well saying they will fast. Exhibiting his authority as a master tamer, Petruchio stops Kate from eating the meal to weaken her so she cannot resist him. Deprived of sleep, Kate angrily states, “But I, who have never known how to beg and never had to beg, am starved for food, dizzy with lack of sleep, kept awake with curses and fed with brawlings”(4.3.6). Petruchio believes that depriving Kate of her sleep along with food will make her unable to go against what he asks for and says. Getting ready for Bianca’s wedding, Petruchio takes on his role as a master tamer and shows Kate a new dress and hat he has had made for her but he changes his mind. He argues with Kate stating that if she were an elegant and graceful woman she could have the dress and hat, however she is not, therefore she does not deserve them. Depriving Kate of all her necessities, Petruchio believes he is acting as the best master tamer possible.
find a wife. "I come to wives it wealthy in Padua; If wealthy, then happily in
I have decided to stage a section of the play from where Eric says "He
Katherina is not the only one in the play to undergo a transformation. Petruchio, in the beginning went to woo Katherina only for money. He was offered a dowry by Seignior Baptista to “get rid of” Kate so he could wed his younger daughter Bianca to one of her many suitors. By the end of the play, it is made clear that Petruchio too changed and had fallen in love with Kate. The relationship that they have at the end of the play is truly love. They both are willing to change to make each other happy and they both try in every way possible to make peace in their family. The ironic part of the play is that they both think that they have control over the other one.
Katherina rebuts this whining after their father enters, and ends the scene with her own speech in which she argues that
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
Petruchio tames Katharina on several occasions. The first taming scene is during Petruchio and Katharina's wedding. Petruchio shows up in "a new hat and an old jerkin; a pair of old breeche...
A long time ago, a drunken man fell asleep outside an alehouse. This man, Christopher Sly, was discovered by a mischievous lord who took him into his home. The witty lord then convinced Sly that he was a lord, as well. The lord then put on a play for him. The play, The Taming of the Shrew, was about the two young daughters of Baptista. The youngest daughter, Bianca, wished to wed but her father, Baptista, would not allow this until his eldest daughter, Katherina, was married. Under normal circumstances, it would be easy to find a husband for Katherina with all her beauty, but all her beauty was covered by her shrewd personality. By this time Bianca's suitors were growing very impatient, so they decide to team up and find a husband for Katherina. In jest they mentioned their plan to a friend, Petruchio, who surprisingly agreed to marry Katherina. All her beauty and wealth were enough for him. Katherina reluctantly was wed to Petruchio and she was taken to his home to be tamed. With Katherina out of the way, Bianca was now allowed to marry Lucentio, who offered her father the highest dowry for her. In the final scenes of the play, Katherina proves that she is tamed by winning an obedience contest at a dinner party. Katherina is now even more in accordance with her wifely duties than Bianca. A fare is a type of comedy based on a ridiculous situation. The Taming of the Shrew, an eminent example of a farce, is the first of three farces written by Shakespeare.
Katherine reveals this attitude in Act 2 Scene 1, lines 31-35, "nay, now I see she is your treasure, she must have a husband; I must dance barefoot on my wedding day, and for your love for her, lead the apes to hell." Talk not to me, I will sit and weep!.. " This anger is not concealed, it serves to provide motivation as to why a rational person would rebuke Petrucchio so rudely upon first encountering him. Katherine surely realizes that Petruchio is interested in her for ulterior motives other than love. Be it purse that the dowry will bring or the actions of an insincere lunatic who, "woo's a thousand.