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The taming of the shrew dramatis personae
The taming of the shrew dramatis personae
The taming of the shrew summary
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Betrayal of Character or Not? Throughout Shakespeare's play, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare depicts a significant amount of transformation in characters, which some involves a physical disguises while others leave the reader wondering about what is real and what isn’t. The reader can see many transformations like when Lucentio disguises himself into Cambio, so that he can become Bianca’s tutor. However, some disguises aren’t as obvious without the readers interpretation like how Katherine’s character changes after her wedding. Therefore, the reader can interpret that Katherine puts on an act towards marriage so that she can get what she wants, also Petruchio’s character puts on an act so that he can “tame” Katherine. So that means that both Katherine and Petruchio put on an act …show more content…
This characteristic can be seen with the evidence from the text, the social expectations of wives and husbands at the time and through the language usage in the play. Accordingly, the reader can interpret that Petruchio and Katherine disguise themselves through their actions towards marriage with evidence from the text. The first sign of Petruchio acting up towards his marriage occurs right before Katherine and his wedding. When he comes late to his own wedding, frightening and upsetting Katherine and making an entrance “so unprovided” and “in these unreverent robes” (III, ii, p. 96 and 97). This is where the reader will see that he comes late and dressed like a hobo to show that he is in control of what happens between him and Katherine. Even later after their wedding, Petruchio says that they will get dressed in custom made clothing. And after the tailor comes, he kicks the tailor out because the clothing aren’t apparently the way he wanted them. Nonetheless, after the tailor leaves Petruchio says to Hortensio “say thou wilt
“Then God be blessed, it is the blessed sun, But sun it is not when you say it is not, And the moon changes even as your mind. What you will have it named, even that it is,And so it shall be still for Katherine. (IV.vi.19–23) The relationship of Katherine and Petruchio has changed throughout the various adaptations of the Taming of the Shrew. Things such as the motives to the interaction, even the role of love has changed. These differences between these adaptations were not a mistake but made to appeal to a variety of audiences.
In this essay I am going to show you how they are presented to the
In William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio acts as a master tamer by depriving Katherine of her necessities, being a mirror image of her, and making her agree with him. Petruchio displays the qualities of a master tamer by making her agree with all of his opinions. Acting as a mirror image, Petruchio proves he holds the role of a master tamer and will do whatever he wants. In order to be a master tamer to Katherine, Petruchio deprives her of all her basic needs and necessities.
find a wife. "I come to wives it wealthy in Padua; If wealthy, then happily in
so that you can guess that it is a boy dressed as a girl from the
...ironic use of manipulation before and after the wedding, Petruchio is able to tame Kate. Or so he thinks. The only real change is that Kate agrees with him, but she only does this to get her way. Therefore she is manipulating him by pretending that he has been able to tame her. He has not tamed her, because she also utilizes the art of manipulation. Before, Kate’s only defense against patriarchy is to be outspoken; now, she negotiates her own sense of power within patriarchy by using manipulation. Shakespeare’s critic of the patriarchal social structure is therefore just, because not only are women denied the same legal power as men, but their manipulative power is also disregarded and considered a weakness. Therefore women are not to be blamed for utilizing this powerful form of control, because that is what the patriarchal social structure forces them into.
Throughout The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare disguised his characters. With the disguises, he showed that clothes do not really make a man. Clothes label people into certain social structures but does not make them who they truly are. He disguised his characters physically and emotionally. Lucentio and Tranio disguised as each other by changing clothes while Katherine was disguised as a social wife by submitting to her
Indeed, Hortentio’s assurance in the taming of the “curst shrow” Katerina seems a wonder to all the audience in the final scene of “The Taming of the Shrew.” After hurling furniture, pitching fits and assaulting her sister, Katerina delivers a speech that lauds obedience and censures rough behavior. Allegedly, this speech demonstrates Katerina’s obedience to her husband, Petruchio, who has forced her to realize the error of her former behavior. Genuine submission, however, is an unlikely disposition for Katerina to adopt. A complete reformation becomes more improbable after an examination of the scenes surrounding her “taming.” Several of these episodes attest to excellence of her acting ability. This evidence suggests her ability to impersonate the character of a tamed shrew. Her dialogue during these moments of obedience seems to mirror the language Petruchio uses earlier to tame her, suggesting that Katerina employs Petruchio’s own dissembling devices against him. Even the nuances of her language, filled with double meanings, belie her supposed transformation.
When someone is a female their first thought should not be weak or nurturing, just as when someone is male their first though shouldn’t always be powerful. Unfortunately it has becomes so ingrained in societies mentality that this is the way that things work. The Taming of the Shrew is a past writing piece that expands on a mentality that is modern. The male gender cannot be put into this same constraint. Petruchio is the epitome of what society would describe a male as. He thinks he is in charge and always the superior to women. He expects Katherine to always do what he tells her to do, because he believes that is her duty as his wife. Moreover he should not be expected to do that for her. Furthermore, Bianca is what many would describe as the perfect woman. She is nurturing and she does not speak out against what she is told. When she does speak she always speaks like a lady. She exists merely for decoration in the home and to serve her husband. Katherine is the inconsistency in this stereotype on femininity. Her purpose in the novel originally is to rebel against this biased thought on female gender roles. Katherine is not afraid to speak out against the things that she is told to do. If she disagrees with something she will act on it and she is just as strong as the men in the novel; which is why many of the men actually fear her. Katherine is not submissive and does not believe that the only reason that she exists is to serve a husband. Katherine does not want to be just the damsel in distress, she wants to be in charge. At the end of the novel there is a switch in the personalities of Katherine and Bianca. This alteration provides the purpose of showing that gender is not something that someone can be confined in just because they were born a female. A woman can have many different traits and still be feminine. It is impossible to put femininity in a box because there are no real qualities for what
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.
Despite the dysfunction of Katherine and Petruchio’s relationship and the loving dramatics of Bianca and Lucentio’s relationship, all parties seem to be perfectly content with one another. Petruchio is able to marry a rich woman, Katherine willingly takes on the role of the compliant and obedient housewife, Lucentio marries the woman of his dreams, and Bianca remains in control of her life. Petruchio first comes to Padua to marry a rich woman and expresses this when he says, “Antonio, my father, is deceased, And I have thrust myself into this maze, Happily to wive and thrive, as best I may” (I. ii 55-57). Petruchio is an already rich, wealthy, but greedy man whose sole objective is to marry a woman from a wealthy family and he is content with his relationship with Katherine because he is able to do so with her. Katherine proves to be content with her marriage to Petruchio as well because she learns what it means to be an obedie...
In The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, he creates a plotline where the characters are either deceptive or deceived. Through this topic of deception, Shakespeare conveys a central message of, how people often deceive others by not being who they truly are in order to get what they want. A prominent example of a character deceiving another character is Lucentio pretending to be Cambio (a music teacher) in order to spend time with Bianca, and eventually have her marry him. In Act I, Scene I, lines 196-197, Tranio tells Lucentio, “You will be schoolmaster and undertake the teaching of the maid.” He does this to deceive Baptista and Bianca in order to spend time with her, as Baptista will not allow suitors for Bianca, and the only way
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.
Throughout the Taming of the Shrew, the idea, and action of deception become prevalent within the analysis of the main characters. A maze is created through the deception of the character’s behavior and the elaborate exchange of clothing and roles. The plot of the play revolves around how the characters disguise themselves and pretend to be other people, all in order to gain the favor of a girl. Shakespeare uses deception and blindness to fuel an environment of humor and dramatic irony to create a comedic play for his audiences.
Lies and deception that consume William Shakespeare’s play are made out to be a joke in The Taming of the Shrew, yet the center of the comedy revolves around the most honest character on set. Katherine Minola, the first daughter of Baptista Minola, was only portrayed as “shrewd,” through other characters’ assuming perception of her persona (Shakespeare 1.2.91). Those characters openly criticize her throughout the play and treat her like an animal by not giving her any sort of acknowledgment. Furthermore, Katherine has no voice at the beginning because she was silenced by the stubborn patriarchal sovereignty that degrades the idea of a woman’s opinion, thus their society perceives Katherine’s outspoken nature to be shrewish. She understood that