The oldest male (the father) tended to be the head of the house. Male roles were expressed by employment or social position. While for women, their social roles were defined through age or spousal status. Women’s biggest roles in life were to tend to the household and link two families together through a dowry (which was giving to the husband on the wedding day). Throughout the novel, Taming of the Shrew, many social views can be related back to the time of the Renaissance through gender roles and social positions. During 1300-1600, which was the Age of the Renaissance, women were placed under the rule of men. Amber Zuber writes “men basically functioned as the ruling voice over all aspects of society” (Zuber, P 2). Men did tend to occupy most of the power during the Renaissance. In the novel, Taming of the Shrew, Baptista Minola would has the final say in who marries his daughter. This furthers to shows the power women had compared to men. The man of the house has all of the power. …show more content…
Baptista was a very wealthy man, meaning his daughter’s dowries would be worth a high amount as well. Bianca portrayed herself as elegant, soft-spoken, and well-adjusted. Where as Katherine was known for her tongue (as in her language), she was not afraid to have a voice. Bianca was not to be married off until Katherine’s hand was taken in marriage as by her father’s rule. Though as during the days of the Renaissance, women were not to speak out. This would cause very little men to be drawn to Katherine for marriage. Katharnia (Katherine) spoke out to her father, “What, will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see She is your treasure, she must have a husband; I must dance bare-foot on her wedding day and for your love to her lead apes in hell. Talk not to me: I will go sit and weep till I can find occasion of revenge”(Shakespeare, Act 2-Scene 1). Baptista was known to have loved Bianca more than
Men saw marriage as a way to get rich; love didn’t even enter the equation. Padua is a rich area and therefore many suitors fled there in the hope of becoming wealthy. “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua,” says Petruchio. He asks outright, “Then tell me – if I get your daughter’s love, what dowry shall I have with her to wife?” (Page 37, act 2 scene 1, line 119-120) The husbands were given a dowry by the father of the daughter when they became married. Women didn’t have any say in who they chose to marry; instead the decision was given to the father. If a daughter was not married then they were looked shoddily upon within the society. In this era every woman was to be married otherwise they were frowned upon within the community. Further more without Katherina getting married, Bianca would also never marry. Within a family the eldest daughter must be married off first and in this play turned out to be a bonus. “Her father keeps from all access of suitors and will not promise her to any man until her elder sister first be wed.” This is the main an...
"Women have a much better time than men in this world; there are far more things forbidden to them." -Oscar Wilde. This quote embodies the fight over gender roles and the views of women in society. Taming of the Shrew deals with Kate and Bianca, two sisters who are at the time to he married off. However, suitors who seek Bianca as a wife have to wait for her sister to be married first. Kate is seen as a shrew because she is strong willed and unlike most women of the time. In his 1603 play The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare enforces traditional gender roles and demonstrates how little say women had in society. He accomplishes this through the strong personality of Kate, Baptista 's attitude towards his daughters as transactions, and
Sexism is an ever changing concept in today’s world. Every day the concept morphs a little bit, changing the entire definition of what is sexist and what is not. In The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, the male characters lie to and abuse their women in order to have the women marry them. Lucentio come to Padua to study, but when he sees a beautiful girl, he pretends to be a teacher in order to marry Bianca. Petruchio on the other hand forces a woman to marry him and then trains her to follow his every command. Although the The Taming of the Shrew is frequently regarded as a particularly sexist play, it is not sexist and demeaning towards women.
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).
Men over power any ladies opinion if they belong to them. Petruchio finds out about the opportunity to marry Katherine and decides he will be the one to wed her since no one else will. He says to Baptista, “Am bold to show myself a forward guest. Within your house, to make mine eye the witness. Of that report which I so oft have heard” (Shakespeare II.i. 54-56). Men have so much power even over their daughters. They decide who they could marry
She is gentle, quiet and sweet. In the beginning, Baptista declares that Bianca cannot be wed until Katherina is wed too. Bianca has a few admirers, Grumio, Hortensio and Lucentio, all wanting to wed her. Grumio and Hortensio know they have no chance of marrying Bianca until Katherina is wed, so
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 is set in a time period that did not accept women as we do today. In today's society, women who are strong and independent and quick witted are praised. In Elizabethan times women were supposed to know their role in life, being good to their husbands, making children and taking care of them. There were no women in politics, there were no women in business, it was only acceptable for women to participate in domestic areas of life. Women could not live a respectable life in this time period without a male figure to take care of them, rendering them helpless without men. If there was anything that must be done involving economics or education, it was up to the men. Men were the ones who worked and brought home the money to support the family. The roles of men and women were very distinct, and it resulted in giving the men the majority of the power.
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.
...es not see her as a wife material and this explains why he shows no commitment towards her. Bianca knows she deserves much better than the way Cassio treats her and this is prove when she leaves him. Bianca is a little bit like Emilia in a sense where she stands up for something and in this case it's for herself, " I am no strumpet, but a life as honest as you thus abuse me." (scene 5, lines 142). With this character Shakespeare shows that the lower class women know they deserve better but they lack the power to be heard because they are considered as nobodies. Bianca would be Emilia's follower is Emilia made a move to fight for women's rights. However even Emilia treats Bianca poorly because she believes what men say about her.
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.
Gender Roles in the play “Taming of The Shrew” by William Shakespeare and the movie “10 Things I Hate About You” shows the presents of gender roles, in which the women get the lower hand, but shown in very different ways, that makes the female character change in the end, three examples show the gender roles. Control, Attachment and Obedience all ties together in the play and the movie and it also shoes the gender standards in today society. Katherine in the play shows an example of this more severe, then Kat does in the movie. Petruchio the male in the play, dominates control over Katherine the women, and is thought that men should be treated as equal as the king.
The comedic play, Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is one of his most controversial works in regard to gender roles. The comedic connotation of the play itself comes from Shakespeare’s exaggerations in how male and female characters behaved. As in the late 16th century, the English society was predominantly patriarchal with sexist ideals and women portrayed in a submissive role. The play narrates the story of two female protagonists, Katherine and Bianca, sisters who are the main focus of their suitors. The most evident example of the sexist feature is Kate’s characterization, the older sister, who embodies Shakespeare's way of demonstrating to his audience the improper way to conducting yourself.
: Throughout The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare manipulates mostly female gender roles of the time period. Kate is a prime example of his commentary, because she swings, through the duration of play, from one extreme of femininity to the other, from extreme outspokenness to extreme submissiveness. The ideal role of a woman is clearly laid out at the beginning of the play, when Gremio and Hortensio are pining for Bianca, yet Baptista tells them, “That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter/ Before I have a husband for the elder” (I.i.12). Shakespeare mocks, from the beginning, the societal norm that an older daughter should be married off before the younger, as it’s just so shameful for a woman to be unloved and unwed.
In Taming of the Shrew, a play by William Shakespeare, the ideas of gender roles in early modern European civilization is brought up as a headstrong girl is transformed into the ideal wife. In Shakespeare's Padua women are valued when they are quiet and submissive to their husband, this enforces the patriarchy in society as women have no major roles in the relationship. In the play Bianca and Katherine, the daughters of a wealthy man named Baptista, both express their true identities even though it goes against the social norms. Katherine does this in a "loud and proud” method as she shows off her identity to everyone, while Bianca expresses herself only in private. Due to this Katherine is seen as the fowl daughter, and Bianca hiding her true