Taming Of The Shrew Patriarchy

During the Elizabethan Era, the role of females has been suppressed to submit to a patriarchal society. Men were the sole providers over the household, workplace, and most importantly, their wives. William Shakespeare incorporates this ideology with the playwright, The Taming of the Shrew. In this play, Shakespeare reflects society’s gender roles in one character; Katherine. Katherine’s initial personality challenges societal norms of a woman’s role in the community. She expresses individuality and refuses to be controlled by men; including her father. Women during this time were conditioned to be submissively obedient to their husbands and so Katherine’s character threatens this norm. To establish order in the society, Katherine is “tamed”

One character in the play who can be symbolized to the influence of a ‘patriarchal society’ is Petruchio. His cruel judgments upon Katherine’s character was the main reason for her shocking transition. Shakespeare uses his character’s dominance to display the pressure of men on a woman’s freedom of speech. Petruchio acts as the savior to the community who “tames” the shrew Katherine. Like society’s expectations, Petruchio expected Katherine to reform her stubbornness to be his ideal wife. After serious conditioning Katherine’s transformation slowly develops into the norm of being dutiful within a marriage. This is due to Petruchio’s dominance over Katherine’s free will, or basic needs to survive. He takes away Katherine’s freedom to eat, drink and sleep, which represents how society can strip a woman of her decisions to speak, have a career, and dismiss marriage and family ideals for money, because of the need to belong to society, rather than being shunned and independent. Shakespeare expresses Petruchio’s force, “Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn, Thy beauty doth make me like thee well- Thou must be married to no man but me, for I am he am born to tame you, Kate, and bring you from a wild Kate to Kate, conformable as other household Kates,” (Act 2.1 273-280) this demonstrates his intention to initially control Kate, which is also society’s intention to control a woman’s role in the household. As the play develops, Petruchio’s influence becomes more dormant. Katherine rebellious nature becomes controlled and this is heavily interpreted when Petruchio deprives her of her basic needs to survive just to archive her obedience in Act 4, lines 178-201. He