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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
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.
One of the most wildly debated monologues in Shakespeare’s work is Katherine’s’ ending one from The Taming of the Shrew. Many have understood the final speech to be one of genuine submission while others read it as Katherine having control over the women in the room. It’s my belief, however, that this final speech is just Katherine getting in her two-cents in a way that won’t cause her to be tortured by her husband. Katherine hasn’t been wooed or changed into submission and in my opinion isn’t trying to get the upper-hand with the women in the room. She has been broken and is tired but not changed. Thus, she masks her true intentions with wit and subtext. This theory is supposed by many direct examples from the monologue itself.
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
William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, has often been accused of being a farce and farce, for those of you who don’t know is a subgenre of comedy that chooses to entertain through the use of verbal humor both low-brow and witty, as well as improbable and exaggerated situations (“Farce.”). The male lead Petruccio openly declares to the audience; “Thus have I politically begun my reign, and ‘tis my hope to end successfully. My falcon now is sharp and passing empty, and till she stoop she must not be full-gorged, for then she never looks upon her lure...” his plan to train his wife Kate, the shrew of Padua, as if she were some sort of animal (4.1. 169-72). Petruccio’s success in wooing and taming Kate through the use of ludicrous and absurd techniques such as killing Kate’s shrewdness with kindness, word play, and public embarrassment are what lead the play to be considered a farce.
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
As it is known to the world all people are defined in society by gender roles. While reading, The Taming of the Shrew, readers get to see different views of men and women. Shakespeare uses his characters in order to define what men and women were like back in the 1500s. Shakespeare uses Petruchio, Baptista, and Katherine to develop the theme of gender roles.
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...
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.