Almost everyone on Earth wants to marry someone else that shares similarities with him
or herself. However, one must ask themselves for what purpose. Is it for money, lust, or is it for money? Most of the time in our day and age, love is the main purpose of marriage. Usually, two people who love each other very much decide that they want to spend every single day of the rest of their lives together with one another. Nevertheless, love is not always the main purpose of marriage. In some cases, one person chooses to marry the other simply because of the economic advantages. This simply means that one of the persons is only marrying the other for money. In William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the theme of marriage as an economic institution is prevalent. Tranio, Petruchio, and Hortensio express the theme of marriage as an economic institution.
Petruchio is one of the characters that expresses this theme. In the beginning of the play, when everyone is trying to find someone to marry Katherine in order to gain Bianca’s hand in marriage, he bluntly states, “Here comes your father. Never make denial / I must and will have Katherine to my wife,” (The Taming of the Shrew, Act II, Scene 1, Lines 294 – 295). Petrucio clearly believes that he will have her. Even though he is already wealthy, he still wants to receive what her father is offering as a dowry for her. Secondly, at the end when he has finally tamed Katherine, he makes a wager with the three other men that have gotten married. He says that she is the only one that will actually listen to him.
“Nay, I will win my wager better yet, And show more sign of her obedience,
Hernandez 1
Her new-built virtue and obedience,” (The Taming of the Shrew, Act V, Scene 2,
Lines 117 ...
... middle of paper ...
...n for himself, since he says that whoever has the most stuff will have her hand in marriage. He tries to make what he is doing seem nice, but it is clear what his intentions are.
Hernandez 3
In conclusion, the characters Tranio, Petruchio, and Hortensio, express the theme of marriage as an economic institution. No matter what, marriage will almost always have something to do with money. William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is just one example in literature that contains the theme of marriage as an economic institution. Many people believe that marriage is always based on love, but this wonderful piece of literature shows otherwise. But we must realize that this is false. Money is not always the reason for two people to get married. The points expressed in this essay show how The Taming of the Shrew expresses the theme of marriage as an economic institution.
Once the father had made this choice the daughters were forced to obey. The romance was seen as a pursuit of love to win the girl. In 10 Things I Hate About You, I chose to deal with the issue in The Taming of the Shrew in a similar fashion but with one significant difference. Marriage is the focal point in the play "not to bestow my youngest daughter before I have a husband for the elder".
“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
The first of many situations was when she states that “ I see a woman may be made a fool if she had the spirit to resist” (line 225-226 The taming of the shrew), which means that as a woman she had such strong apparent beliefs of feminism to be opposed to that idea but at the end she let herself be made a fool and her spirit of resisting wasn’t apparent anymore and because of this she has gone on to “Unto the taming school” (4.2.54) to let herself become a proper wife and no longer display the traits of feminism and only be the idea that women must do what their husband says without any say about it because as Laura Hollins Hughes states that “ A play that climaxes with an apparent happy ending in which a woman is offering to make herself a doormat to her husband” is the same as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew becoming the opposite of twho she is and becoming a doormat that “Any well educated woman in the 20th or 21st century should approach with great caution because you might be in great danger of reaffirming a patriarchal society”(Hughes) which in the era where is written women were portrayed as
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
The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, deals with marriage. The ideas explored are primarily shown through the characters of Petruchio and Katharina. We are introduced to the trials and tribulation's which present themselves in their everyday lives. The characters bring up a traditional concept of male domination. Through the play we see the need for domination through Petruchio, and the methods he uses to dominate. While these ideas of male domination have remained a constant throughout the years, however recently there has been a change toward equality.
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.
In this piece, it can be translated that women would be considered a rebel if she is rude and shrewish to her husband. In all, wives are objects to their husbands, and must do all that her husband says. This limited Katherine’s identity because it took away her personality of being a shrew, and turned her into something she wasn’t; kind and
This play has many themes of patriarchy concerning the roles of males and females in a marriage, the authority of fathers over their families, husbands over wives, and men over women (Bloom 13). In the title alone, there's the indication of the husband over the wife, the "taming" of the shrew (16), and the word shrew that is chosen to describe Katherine is somewhat demeaning. In modern day society there is no such boundaries put on women. There should not be one party who overpowers the other one. It is a marriage, a bond that is shared, and each should be respected in the same way. Today, women and men are equals in a marriage, or at least in the United States. Women are no longer as oppressed as they once were. This play is rather primitive on the views of women in society.
Marriage is a powerful union between two people who vow under oath to love each other for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. This sacred bond is a complicated union; one that can culminate in absolute joy or in utter disarray. One factor that can differentiate between a journey of harmony or calamity is one’s motives. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners, where Elizabeth Bennet and her aristocratic suitor Mr. Darcy’s love unfolds as her prejudice and his pride abate. Anton Chekhov’s “Anna on the Neck” explores class distinction, as an impecunious young woman marries a wealthy man. Both Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Anton Chekhov’s “Anna on the Neck” utilize
In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare creates humour through his characters by creating false realities (as demonstrated by Petruchio’s behaviour and attire in the scene of his wedding) and by the use of subterfuge and mistaken identity (shown in the final scenes with the transformation of Kate and Bianca’s respective personas). He also uses irony quite extensively, especially towards the end of the play (as can be seen in the final ‘wager’ scene).
of the men who desired Bianca needed somebody to marry Kate, as it was customary
Katherine has to deal with being unwanted and “ostracized because she dares to speak her mind and defy male characters, while Bianca disguises her defiance.” (Shakespearean Criticism 97. 353). Bianca, who is wanted by nearly every man in the region, is actually more dangerous and defying than Katherine, but because she is less forward, she is viewed as less of a threat. Baptista, who clearly favors Bianca, “see[s] that he is going to be checkmated- that is, to yield up his youngest daughter, [uses] Katherine to reach a stalemate, a deadlock situation in which neither player can win the game.” (Shakespearean Criticism 97.312). What Baptista doesn’t know is that his daughter was betraying his will and sneaking off with Luciento, a man posing as a tutor trying to court her. Yet Baptista remains oblivious to this throughout the play, and continues to seek ways to give up his eldest daughter, fearing that she will forever be a burden on his unrelenting shoulders, and as a result he “insist[s] upon marrying Katherine first . . . by personal wish of Baptista [rather] than by any enviable social rule,” (Shakespeare Criticism. 97.312). Trying to kill two birds with one stone, Baptista’s “rule” assures that not only will his undesirable daughter be relinquished from his care, but also that the inevitable departing of his
In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1594-1599) by William Shakespeare, he uses love and marriage as a tool to show the defiance in children standing up against their parents, he does this by making the characters go against their parents wishes and show that they have rights and are not controlled by their parents and the struggle of forbidden love. During A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare proves how irrational unrequited and whimsical love can be, not only does a flower change who marries who and set things right. Love is a tricky thing to get right and many things can go wrong.