A Comparison Of Petruchio In The Taming Of The Shrew

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Courtship in the context of the Shakespeare 's time is vastly different from that of todays. The action of a man pursuing a certain woman had to be first sanctioned by the father, or eldest male in the family if the father was not present. The woman had no public say in who she “dated” or eventually married. In Shakespeare 's The Taming of the Shrew an interesting comparison is draw in how both sides of the courting game where supposed to act and how sometimes they broke the “norm” much to the surprise and disdain of their peers. Petruchio, the main courting male character in the play is portrayed as a what in todays culture would be referred to as a man’s man. Petruchio forged his own path and did not pay alot of attention or care very much …show more content…

After his first encounter with Bianca he is describing how he feels to his servant Tranio how she makes him feel “Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio”(). He is very plainly exaggerating how he feels, that his very being is on fire and that he will die if cannot have Bianca. This in contrast to how Petruchio expresses his feeling of how he really feels about Katherina, the object of his courting, “Hortensio, peace. Thou know’st not gold’s effect. Tell me her fathers name, and tis enough, for I will board her, though she hide as loud as thunder, when the clouds in autumn crack.”() Petruchio has no problem showing his real intentions for marrying someone, and how he will treat said daughter no matter how unpleasant she is. Petruchio is much less worried about having to be compatible or in “love” with who he marries as much as how he will benefit from the arrangement, while Lucentio is concerned with being in “love’ and living happily ever after with …show more content…

They skeam together a plan to fix their mutual problem of there being no husband for Katherina, “Hortensio: that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress and be happy rivals in Bianca 's love, to labor and effect one thing specially. Gremio: What’s that, I pray? Hortensio: Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister.”() Gremio has a hard time believing that a husband could be found for such a woman as Katherina, but at last they both agree to scheme together and find a man that would be willing to marry her and free Bianca to be courted. Petruchio goes about courting Katherina in a very different way, after learning about the opportunity of him being able to marry into wealth and power he directly makes known his intentions to court Katherina and eventually marry, with no thought of if she would want to marry him. After settling the details of the dowery Petruchio boldly calls Baptista his father before anything is set and states, “for I tell you, father, I am as peremptory as she proud minded. And where two raging fires meet together the do come the thing that feeds their fury.”() He is outright stating that even though Katherina is hard headed and has an attitude he

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