Aaron Wein Kristie Dowling Ma. English 9 Spring 2024 Shakespearean Sexism The Taming of the Shrew is a play that was written by Shakespeare in the 1500s, about how to tame a woman. The evidence presented in The Taming of the Shrew shows that Shakespeare is sexist. However, two examples in the play show it particularly well when Kate is distracted by clothes and her speech that ends the play. In contrast, Taming of the Shrew movie is much more feminist than the play. In a particular scene just after Kate and Petruchio have arrived home Shakespeare accentuates his sexist tendencies: "PETRUCHIOaside to Hortensio/ Eat it up all, Hortensio, if thou lovest me.— /Much good do it unto thy gentle heart. Kate, eat apace./Katherine and Hortensio prepare to eat. …show more content…
The sexism in this scene of the play is so obvious and blatant. Kate at this point hasn't eaten in days and can be distracted by clothes and new hats. This is a legitimate distraction because Hortensio was able to eat up all the meat that was meant for Katherine. One could argue that the things that Petruchio and Hortensio are doing would be non-examples of Shakespeare and therefore he would be being feminist. Hortensio and Petruchio, as well as all of the other men in the play, are sexist. However, this scene in particular shows Shakespeare's sexism by allowing Katherine to be distracted by clothes after she hasn't eaten or slept for days. Any person who hasn't eaten in several days will immediately gobble up any food they see, not to get distracted by things such as new clothes. Shakespear allows her to get distracted by the new clothes because it allows him to achieve a sexist picture of a
The Role of Women in Challenging the Status Quo in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew
so that you can guess that it is a boy dressed as a girl from the
Consequently, in the play The taming of the Shrew and the sources of author Elizabeth Hutcheon, Marion Perrett and Dale Priest they have ideas amongst those sources and my three other sources have the common theme of women being objectifified and therefore the idea between those sources is that women’s roles become reversed when they let themselves be shrewed like the character Katherine did when it came to Petruchio. Amongst the first source the moral of it is one that Linda Boose argues that “Shrew and similar terms were transposed from their origin as contemptuous expressions for lower-class males into terms that gendered such hostility, displacing it away from the threat of male class revolt which remained real throughout the era and redirecting
In Shakespeare's time, the ideal wife was subservient to her husband, and it was the husband's inherent duty to take care of his wife's money, property, and person, including both physical and moral welfare. If a man's spouse proved rebellious, he had the right to physically brutalize her into submission. This social phenomenon of domesticating an unruly woman as one might an animal was the inspiration for The Taming of the Shrew. Kate fits the stereotype of the shrewish woman at the play's outset and the Renaissance ideal of the subservient, adoring wife by the play's close, but her last speech as the final monologue of the play-rightly interpreted-undercuts her stereotype.
In most societies, women are seen as subordinates to men. During the Elizabethan period of England, men were superior to women, because women were looked upon as less valuable during this period of time. Occasionally, women gained recognition from men. However, men took responsibilities, and were seen as more important. In the Shakespearean comedy, Taming of the Shrew, author William Shakespeare displays disrespect towards women by including sexist remarks. He also portrays women as being obedient to men, who are more significant in that time. Shakespeare portrays women being obedient to their husbands and the men being more appreciated and significant in his play Taming of the Shrew.
By exaggerating characters to the point where they represent a group of people but do not resemble them closely, Shakespeare was able to portray characters negatively without losing an audience. Many of the characters in The Taming of the Shrew are extreme. Katherine is the most heinous person in the city, Bianca is the fairest, and Petruchio is perhaps one of the crudest of the upper class. For example, Petruchio says that “women are made to bear” (II. i). This could be seen as offensive as it is saying that women’s sole purpose is to bear children. However, by placing the quote in the midst of banter between two clashing extremes, Shakespeare is able to acknowledge a point of view without offending people. His use of humor lightens the mood so that Shakespeare can touch on real issues without drawing reactions. Shakespeare uses humor again in the play when Petruchio says “rescue thy mistress, if thou be a man” (III. ii). Petruchio is implying women’s dependence on men but when he says this he is drawing a broken sword and waving it around like a madman at the guests of his wedding. Shakespeare again manipulates gend...
Sexism in The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare is an introduction in the everpresent battle of women to be loving and caring wives, while at the same time holding on to our independence. Its plot is derived from the popular 'war of the sexes' theme in which males and females are pitted against one another for dominance in marriage. The play begins with an induction in which a drunkard, Christopher Sly, is fooled into believing he is a king and has a play performed for him. The play he watches is what constitutes the main body of The Taming OfThe Shrew.
William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, takes an interesting approach to the role of women through his character Katherine. She is a wild and rebellious woman for her time, the complete opposite of the prefect elizabethan housewife. To most men she is undesirable while her sister, the perfect representation of a woman, was wanted by more men than she could ever indulge. Katherine is not the typical elizabethan woman, instead, she is the woman that the other married women in the play strive to be. Shakespeare uses interactions between Katherine and Bianca, as well as conversations between Petruchio and Katherine to express her character.
The Taming of a Shrew displays the significant dilemma of whether or not a female should be seen as her husband’s property or whether she can be perceived as an important social figure without the aid of one’s partner. In this play, the audience is able to depict the obvious frustrations of power struggle between Petruchio and his newly wedded, Kate. Kate is a very dominant figure in ways females aren’t usually perceived in this time period. She is in a constant battle with Petruchio to see who will quiver first in their never-ending game.
Taming of the Shrew: Male Domination. 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 tribulations which present themselves in their everyday lives.
My focus of inquiry is gender roles. I chose gender roles as my focus of inquiry because there are multiple differences and similarities in the expectations of women and men then and now. The comparisons between the roles of each gender was enlightening. It made me want to know more, like how, when ,and why they changed if they did, or if they stayed the same what was there significance. This topic seemed to be interesting because these roles are something men and women everywhere experience in everyday life, but in each place around the world they could be different.
Gender inequality has been a disadvantage for women in society for many centuries. Women have always had a disadvantage in society, even though there's been many years of time for improvement. Women in the time of Shakespeare, were treated like possessions and how a man treated a women and how he controlled his women, was how masculine he was. Women in some work places get paid less than men do. In 2011, for every $1.00 a male worker earned, a women worker earns 74 cents. In today's society, people who are called Feminists, stand up for the rights of women and the issue of women being treated as equals compared to men. This topic of gender inequality, is very prominent in the play Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare. Even in the title
A Shakespearean scholar expanded on this, “The play enacts the defeat of the threat of a woman’s revolt; it does so in a comic form – thus so offers the audience the chance to revel in and reinforce their misogyny while at the same time feeling good” (Gay). The Taming of the Shrew at many points is just praising the men in the novel despite their behavior and putting down the women for being anything but perfect. The novel makes the actions happening comedic and the reader does not get upset at the things happening, but in reading further into it and comparing in to modern day, it is not hard to see the plain and simple abuse. Although gender roles are still prominent into today’s society they are toned back. In contemporary version of The
The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is a play that is ahead of its time in its views toward gender roles within society. Katherine is a woman who is intelligent, and is not afraid to assert her views on any given situation. She is paired with another obstinate character in Pertuchio. The Marriage formed between the two is a match made in heaven for two reasons. First Because Katherine is strong enough to assert her views, and more importantly, she realizes when she should assert them. The second reason the bond survives is that Petruchio is strong enough to accept the fact that Katherine has a mind and, more importantly he loves her for that reason. Petruchio cleverly weaves the relationship into the framework of society without compromising the integrity of the relationship. Petruchio does this by comparing Katherine’s at attitude to repulsive clothing. Carefully and calculatingly, Petruchio forges a relationship that is envied by all who witness it.
The Taming of the Shrew is one of the earliest comedies written by William Shakespeare. The Taming of the Shrew focuses a great deal on courtship and marriage. Especially the life after marriage, which was generally not focused on in other comedies. Notably, the play focuses on the social roles that each character plays, and how each character faces the major struggles of their social roles. Which plays into one of the most prevalent themes of The Taming of the Shrew. The theme of how social roles play into a person’s individual happiness. This is displayed through the characters in the play that desperately try to break out of the social roles that are forced upon them. This exemplified through the character, Katherine, an upper-class young maiden-in-waiting, who wishes to have nothing to do with her role.