Petruchio's Use Of Abuse In The Taming Of The Shrew

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In William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is manipulative and vulnerable to the opinions of those important to him about him as a person but he does not care about the opinions of others regardless of social class about superficial topics due to his belief that it is who a person is that is important as opposed to their belongings or other things he deems insignificant. To begin, Petruchio’s manipulativeness mainly takes the form of abuse in the play and he manipulates Kate to serve his own purposes of gaining money and recognition. When she and Petruchio are travelling to her father’s home, he forces her to call the sun the moon, allowing him to be able to manipulate her into saying that whatever Petruchio says will be true for her as well and furthermore, he deprives Katherina not only of her freedom to say what she wishes but also basic necessities, …show more content…

Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not. . . . Ay, and amid this hurly I intend That all is done in reverend care of her. . . . This is a way to kill a wife with kindness, And thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humor. He that knows better how to tame a shrew, Now let him speak” (INFO). This illustrates how Petruchio is manipulating Katherina and controlling her behaviour through concealing his true intentions of taming her with a disguise of love in addition to not giving her any other options, and also shows that he has no remorse about causing harm to her by depriving her of sustenance and sleep. Despite it being evident throughout the play that Petruchio is confident in his ability to manipulate among many other things, he is insecure and vulnerable to comments related to who he is as a person made by those whom Petruchio considers to be important to him. More specifically, when he first meets Katherina, he pays no attention to her many insults but after the majority of Petruchio’s manipulation of

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