Relationship Between Katherine And Petruchio In The Taming Of The Shrew

In the play The Taming of the Shrew, there are different and unique relationships between two characters throughout the play.These relationships are usually easily distinguishable, as readers can analyze the type of relationship the two characters have since the play is a comedy, so at times these relationships are exaggerated. An intriguing relationship would have to be the one between Katherine and Petruchio, since the circumstances as to how they even got married was rather strange. Katherine displays a rowdy behavior and it is so extreme that men refuse to court her. Their eccentric relationship present in The Taming of the Shrew reflects Shakespeare’s opinion of a normal relationship between a wife and a husband at his time. Katherine

Petruchio is “equally exuberant and willful” as Katherine is, leading to an intriguing relationship between the two lovers (LaBlanc). Petruchio must be a strong character in order to maintain a wife like Katherine, and his manner allows him to do so. Petruchio goes into Padua for one reason that he makes very clear, he goes “to wive it wealthily in Padua” (I.ii.72). This quote not only gives the readers his motive, but it also gives them one of his strongest characteristics, his blunt honesty. Petruchio is not one to beat around the bush, as he would rather say what is on his mind without having to think twice. This strong attitude also ties into the fact that he does not want to be the compliant spouse in the marriage between him and Katherine. He “vows to tame her of her shrewishness” to which most other characters, as well as the readers find the act unlikely to do so (Lee). Petruchio does not seem to want to back down to anything or anyone, and he decides to have the same thinking when it comes to his future fiance Katherine. Petruchio can even be considered more hard-headed than his spouse Katherine as he does not seem to be the one to let up at all, saying that all he needs is “her father’s name and ‘tis enough; for I will board her” (I.ii.94-95). He says this to display his confidence in doing what no man thinks could ever be accomplished. Since

Their similar characteristics eventually leads them to of course butt heads with one another in a comedic way. Petruchio vows that that his “remedy is then to pluck it out,” and by “it” he means her rude temperament (II.i.209). This calls for an ultimate “clash of sexes” that Shakespeare seems to want to make a mock out of (LaBlanc). Shakespeare could be calling out the ridiculousness in what the men and what the women were expected to do during his time. So with this exaggeration, he achieves a disgust toward the reader, as the reader can see the maltreatment of the wife. In reality, Katherine could be symbolizing a strong independent woman at the time, one that expresses herself deeply and thus, is seen as a horrible and despicable woman by society. She would be viewed this way because women were not supposed to have such a loud voice such as Katherine’s. Petruchio’s role can be depicted as the role of a man at the time. The man was supposed to be the dominant one without a second guess, something that Petruchio does too well. Petruchio constantly expresses that he is “master of what is mine own” and she shall listen to what he tells her to do every time (III.ii.235). A way he shows his dominance over Katherine is by demonstrating his “control of Katherina’s access to food,” by continuously starving her wherever they would end up going (Lee). This sort of superiority is what was expected of the