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Role of women in the evolution of english literature
Gender in literature
Women in Shakespeare
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Katherine Minola, in the play, is the ultimate female rebel of the Elizabethan era. Kate is different from any other woman of her time, working against the typical Shakespearean traits such as having a timid and quiet attitude. She played multiple roles throughout her life; one of which her father, Baptista Minola, forced upon her. Though Shakespeare never outwardly reveals Katherine’s reasoning for not want to be married, it is evident in the way she acts and speaks of marriage that she is utterly against the idea. When her father marries her off to Petruchio, her life changes completely. Living in the Minola household, Kate did not have to do any work around the house because of the multiple family servants. This type of life appears adequate, but with a sister and father breathing down her neck to get married, Kate continually lashes out at her family. …show more content…
Bianca, the younger of the two sisters, wishes to be married to Lucentio, a rich man who her father approves and loves, but there is a problem. In Elizabethan times, the older sister must be married before the younger sister can be wed. Once Kate and Petruchio are married, Bianca and Lucentio are finally able to be together, and Kate is whisked away from her family to live with her new husband. It seems as though life in this household is a culture shock to Kate; she is not accustomed to living with multiple men in what is essentially an Elizabethan era bachelor pad. As all other Shakespearean men, Petruchio wants Katherine to wait on him hand and foot, but this lifestyle is not sufficient for Kate. She wants to be her own person, free from any man who wishes to change her or hold her
Kate and The Taming of the Shrew describes the progression of the outspoken and headstrong Kate, wife of Petruchio, as she gradually transitions into an almost perfect example of an archetypal loyal wife. This classic female archetype can be expressed through blind and ignorant support of their husband without any personal opinion or any priorities and objectives other than to satisfy the needs and desires of their husbands. While Kate begins possessing traits that oppose the loyal wife archetype due to her strong willed personality, her shift to obedience. However she continues to think with cunning strategy throughout the entire play, regardless of her weakened mental state caused by Petruchio limiting her food and sleep.
However, it is the the effects of each of these situations that allow us to evaluate the two as a whole. Although Kat’s emotions go up and down about Patrick nonstop throughout the movie, in the end she is much happier than she was before she met Patrick. Similarly, Katherine ends up stating how submission has “made her heart great”, implying that she is content with the situation, but she does not appear to be truly happy with Petruchio. She is aware that she has no choice in regards to submission, and that her life will be better if she just accepts it. Thus, Katherine’s happiness is superficial as opposed to Kat’s which is real. Also feminism did not exist until the 19th century, so during the time of Shakespeare Katherine and Bianca did not even think of the idea that they could have a choice when it comes to men. Marriages were arranged, and that concept was accepted for many centuries,In fact, Katherine and Bianca are not even considered to be citizens because they
In Shakespeare's, "The Taming of the Shrew" the relationship between the sisters Katherine and Bianca appears to be strained with rampant jealousy. Both daughters fight for the attentions of their father. In twisted parallel roles, they take turns being demure and hag-like. Father of the two, Baptista Minola, fusses with potential suitors for young Bianca and will not let them come calling until his elder, ill-tempered daughter Katherine is married. The reader is to assume that meek, mild-mannered, delicate Bianca is wasting away while her much older, aging, brutish sister torments the family with her foul tongue. Katherine seems to hold resentment toward Bianca. Her father favors Bianca over Katherine and keeps them away from eachothers' torment. When gentlemen come calling, Bianca cowers behind her father and Katherine speaks up for herself. "I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?" (1.1.57-58)
"And let me be a slave, t' achieve that maid whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye, " (I.i.219-220) In The Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio has come up with a plan to woo his love Bianca. It involves his servant Tranio pretending to be him so that he can pretend to be a schoolmaster. Bianca's father, Baptista, has decreed that she stay locked up in the house until her sister, Kate, is married. The only people allowed in to see her are her tutors, one of which is Lucentio in disguise. Ironically, Lucentio came to Padua to study Philosophy and virtue. While disguised as Bianca's tutor, he woo's her and in the end he wins her heart and her hand in marriage.
For instance, Petruchio expresses to Katherine that the moon looks beautiful but she knows his mistake and goes along with what he says. Following with what Petruchio says and no longer questioning him she states, “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 is, and so it shall be for Katherine” (4.5.22-25). Katherine corrects Petruchio when he changes his mind about the moon and the sun but she listens to what he says after he tells her once. In addition, Petruchio makes a bet with Lucentio and Hortensio to see which wife will come to them first, and shockingly Katherine obeys his call to her. Surprisingly, she follows what he asks her to do without complaining or getting mad. Lastly, Katherine shares with Bianca and the widow what they need to do to become a good wife. This shows that she changes because she learns how others should treat their husbands and how she should act towards Petruchio. To conclude, Kate understands how to behave as an obedient wife and enhances her attitude with
Her personality is strong and she is independent, unlike most women. This makes her unattractive to most suitors and gains her the label of shrew. She demonstrates her personality in the beginning of the play: "I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?" (1.1 57-58). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to demonstrate the defiance against traditional gender roles and how Kate almost immediately speaks out for herself, unlike her sister Bianca. In addition, Kate describes her future husband as a "mate," unlike how most women would describe their lovers. Moreover, Kate is educated: "I 'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear: I wis it is not half way to her heart; But if it were, doubt not her care should be to comb your noodle with a three-legg 'd stool and paint your face and use you like a fool." (1.1 61-65). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to demonstrate how she defies traditional gender roles by being the only person to speak in iambic pentameter. This demonstrates her intelligence unlike many women. In addition, Kate doesn 't enjoy receiving orders from others. When her father leaves with Bianca and tells Kate she may stay, she gets angry. "Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave, ha? (1.1 103-105). Shakespeare uses the characterization of Kate to
...st play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women. Petruchio, Hortensio, and Lucentio may have bet on their wives compliance in some eyes, but after further analysis, they were actually betting on the trust between the couple. The reader must also take into account the time period the play was written in which was the 16th century, where women were usually not even allowed to go to school to be educated, and Bianca was having private tutors for her education. Kate was changed by Petruchio’s “taming” from the beginning to the end of the play, but at the end of the novel when Kate was called upon and made her speech, she was the happiest she had been in the entire story. There are however some sexist elements in the story, but just because there are certain characteristics of sexism in a play does not mean the play in itself is sexist and demeaning towards women.
She is miserable and desperate because she wants a husband but does not like the way women are treated. In pursuit to be happy in life she decides to marry Petruchio. Petruchio tames her and her shrewish ways begin to fade away. She listens to her husband, obeys his commands, she does not talk back, and she agrees with everything he says. Katherine disguises being a shrew by taking up the role of a modern wife in that time.
...etermination. The final scene of the play depicts Petruchio's final test of obedience. Confident in Katherine's level of devotion, he wagers against the two other newlywed husbands, Hortensio and Lucentio. The bet-testing the obedience of their wives-holds very high monetary stakes and important bragging rights. The clear winner turns out to be Kate. Not only is she the only wife to report when beckoned, but she also delivers a lengthy speech outlining the virtue of an obedient wife and the importance of the husband's role as lord and protector when she says:
In the beginning, a lot of what we learn about Kate comes from what other people say about her. In Act I, she is only seen briefly and she speaks even less, but our picture of Kate is pretty clear. Shakespeare, sets up a teaching lesson, helping us to see the mistakes of our own judgment. When Baptista announces that Kate must marry before Bianca may take suitors, Gremio describes Kate by saying "She's too rough for me" (1.1.55). Later in the scene, Gremio reiterates his dislike for Kate, claiming she is a "fiend of hell" (88) and offering that "though her father may be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell" (124–126). He finishes by saying that to marry Kate is worse than to "take her dowry with this condition: to be whipped at the high cross every morning" (132–134). Hortensio, too, is quick to add to the situation, calling Kate a devil (66) and claiming that she is not likely to get a husband unless she is "of gentler, milder mold" (60). Tranio, Lucentio's servant, is perhaps the only man in this scene not to talk ugly about Kate, claiming she is either "stark mad or wonderful froward" (69).
In Shakespeare's, "The Taming of the Shrew" the relationship between the sisters Katherine and Bianca appears to be strained with rampant jealousy. Both daughters fight for the attentions of their father. In twisted parallel roles, they take turns being demure and hag-like. Father of the two, Baptista Minola, fusses with potential suitors for young Bianca and will not let them come calling until his elder, ill-tempered daughter Katherine is married. The reader is to assume that meek, mild-mannered, delicate Bianca is wasting away while her much older, aging, brutish sister torments the family with her foul tongue. Katherine seems to hold resentment toward Bianca. Her father favors Bianca over Katherine and keeps them away from each others' torment. When gentlemen come calling, Bianca cowers behind her father and Katherine speaks up for herself. "I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates?" (1.1.57-58) Bianca and Katherine dislike each other feverishly. Katherine torments Bianca with words and physical harm. She binds her hands, pulls her hair then brings her forth to her father and the gentlemen callers. Bianca denies liking any of the visitors and portrays herself an innocent that merely wants to learn and obey her elders. She says, "Sister, content you in my discontent to your pleasure humbly I subscribe. My books and instruments shall be my company, on them to look and practise by myself." (1.1.80-84) Because Katherine speaks freely and asserts herself she is labeled as "shrewish." When Hortensio describes her to Petruccio, he spews out that she is "renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue." ( 1.2.96) He gilds the lily further by clearly telling of her fair fortune if suitable man comes courting and wins her hand in marriage. Petruccio sees dollar signs and rushes onwards in grand dress and fluently gestures to court the gracious "Kate." When he first begins his ritual of winning the family and Katherine to his love, he is seeking his fortune in her dowry. The mention of her being at all undesirable does not put rocks in his path.
... between Petruchio and Kate is contrasted with the superficial properness of the relationship of bianca and lucentio.
Bianca in the beginning of Shakespeare’s play when speaking to her sister kate pleads, “Unbind my hands, i'll pull them off myself, yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat, or what you will command me will i do, so well i know my duty to my elders” (Shakespears, trans. 2005, 2.1.4-7). Bianca shows respect to her sister as well as telling her that she will do as her sister commands, even when poorly treated. It is noticed that Bianca once married to her husband Lucentio, she starts to become less obedient. Her actions are different from her sister when at the same celebration as spoken of before, celebrating the newly weds, Petruchio to show how loyal, and subservient Kate is, he comes up with the idea of, “ Sending each wife out, and whose wife is most obedient to come at first when is told so, shall win the wager of twenty crowns” (Shakespeare, Trans.2005, 5.2.65-69). Everyone, knowing Bianca expected her to do just so
Moreover, Petruchio urges Katherine’s transformation as she blossoms into an honorable lady. For starters, Katherine holds the title of a wrench which causes feelings of utter discontent to be held by her suitors, Baptista, and Bianca. When Baptista requests suitors to consider a marriage with Katherine, none can tolerate
During this moment, Katherine questions Bianca about her suitors, so Bianca offers them to Katherine to get them off her hands. Instead of fighting with Katherine about having her hands bound and getting striked, Bianca suggests giving Katherine her suitors by saying, “If you affect him, sister, here I swear / I’ll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.” (Shakespeare 2.1.14-15). This portrays Bianca as unable to fight back or only willing to submit to others in tough situations, but in actuality Bianca is offering Katherine her two suitors, Hortensio and Gremio, because she doesn’t want them. Bianca isn’t interested in becoming their wife because as she stated earlier, “Believe me, sister, of all the men alive /