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The taming of the shrew gender roles
The taming of the shrew gender roles
A critique of taming of the shrew
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“Was ever gentleman thus grieved as I?” This is a quote by Shakespeare, Baptista says at Katherine, has any man had to put up with what I do? The play taming of the shrew and the movie 10 things I hate about you, both show over the course of time how Katherine changes and what influenced her to change and how that change had an impact on the people around her In the beginning of Taming of the Shrew, the idea of how Katherine acts, as a shrew. When Katherine is conversing with Hortensio, Katherine verbally expresses how she prefers to act. I' faith, sir, you shall never need to fear. I wish it is not halfway to her heart. But if it were, doubt not her care should be To comb your noddle with a three-legged stool. And paint your face and use you like a fool” a quote made by Katherine in act 1 scene 1, saying that she couldn’t care less, and explaining that the only interest she could have in Hortensio would be to hit him with a stool and make a fool out of him and he responds with, “From all such devils, good Lord, deliver us!” explain to keep him away from all women like her” In the movie 10 things I hate about you, we are introduced to Kat first, when a stray …show more content…
skateboard clips her and causes her to spill her coffee, she had an interaction with the rider, She aggressively takes hold of his skateboard and uses it to shove him against a car, skateboard tip to his throat. With a final glare, she lets him go. As students step aside, having just witnessed this incident., she walks through this isle that has been made, to the front doors of the building, slams open the door, and thus entering the school. Bianca goes home with Joey and once she arrives home she finds Katherine is there, Katherine lets her father know that Bianca rode home with a boy. Bianca goes on complaining how she should be able to date, her father agreed but only when Katherine starts dating, Bianca responds. “But it's not fair -- she's a mutant, Daddy!” Bianca exclaims that her sister is a mutant, telling us furthermore that she isn’t liked. Going back to the incident introduced in this beginning of the movie, The reaction of the students at the high school from Katherine’s incident and the comment Kats sister made, gives us an idea of how horrid Katherine acts. In taming of the shrew, Katherine tells us how she prefers to act and then Hortensio made a comment that she was the devil and to keep all women like Kat away from her, like how the students wanted to get away from Kat in 10 things I hate about you. As the story goes on we start to see a change in Kat, she becomes less aggressive. We start to see this less-aggressive-Kat when she is introduced to another character, Patrick.
In the play, Taming of the Shrew, this character is known as Petruchio. In act 1 scene 2, Petruchio insists on meeting Kat no matter who tells her of his behavior, for he was only looking at one factor – that she had a rich father. Upon meeting Baptista, Petruchio insists on meeting Katherine. “Lucentio” and Petruchio battle, promising this and that to Katherine until Baptista finally chooses Petruchio. Upon meeting Katherine, she immediately is biting at his heels. With his quick wit he is responding with equal amounts of insults which frustrates Katherine. Every insult Katherine throws at Petruchio he manages to throw back a sexual innuendo. further along into the story with Kate and Petruchio. Petruchio
says; “I say it is the moon,” as Katherine replies “I know it is the moon,” though it is actually daylight and the sun is overtaking the sky. This is a clip of an argument between the two, over whether than sun is the moon or it is the sun. Katherine eventually gave in and agreed with Petruchio showing that she is also giving in to Petruchio himself. In 10 Things I Hate About You, when Kat is first introduced to Patrick, she is nipping at his heels as she is in Taming of the Shrew. Patrick is insisting on the Katherine goes on a date with him, eventually after Patrick following her and gathering all information on her, which she does not know, she agrees. These two stories both show that Katherine, with the persistence of Petruchio/Patrick, she is giving into the temptation of men, specifically Petruchio/Patrick. We really start to see Katherine change the longer she spends with Petruchio As the story progresses, Katherine continues to spend time with Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You. Going to parties and Prom, Katherine also goes paintballing with Patrick and seems to be really enjoying his company. When the story starts to wind down, in 10 Things I Hate about You, Patrick betrays Katherine and she finds that he is lying to her. She doesn’t respond well in the moment at the very end, Katherine reads her poem in front of the class, ultimately confessing her love to Patrick. The Taming of the Shrew originally gave us this piece, with Katherine confessing her love to Petruchio but also telling all of the women they should be obedient to their husbands and if they don’t they will not be loved. Emotionally, these two speeches are different. Katherine’s from ; 10 Things I Hate About You its focused on how Kat actually feels and in Taming of the Shrew, Katherine is just obedient. These two speeches are similar because they both confess their love/obedience and both are passionate in their own way, Katherine has completely given in, and we see a new change in both of these characters. In conclusion, we see Katherine’s character change greatly throughout both stories, Katherine, a shrew when first introduced to us and the gradual change to loving and not as cold as she puts off to others. As conveyed, both characters of Kat went through a major shift from being the aggressive shrew they once were to admiring and finally being “tamed” by Patrick and Petruchio, In Taming of The Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You, although this change takes place in modern day and the other takes place in between 1890 and 1892, they both give a fantastic representation of Katherine’s change as an individual, and even embracing the differences between time.
Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, ‘The Taming of the Shrew.’
Petruchio physically asks her to sit on his lap “come sit on me” in a
The Taming of the Shrew written by William Shakespeare depicts the story of Petruchio a man who takes on the challenge of taming a shrew, a woman named Katherine (or Kate). By the end of the play, it becomes our knowledge that Petruchio has succeeded in taming Kate, because of the fact that she comes to him when she is called (or demanded to), while the other wives do not. The icing on the cake is her final speech which enforces the idea that she has been tamed by Petruchio. But it can also be seen that Kate’s final speech creates the idea that she is a powerful, smart and clever woman who was never truly tamed and instead only acting like she was. In the beginning of the play, when Kate and Petruchio first meet, her answers towards him are
“Katharine the curst, a title for a maid of all titles the worst,” (I:II 130-131). In the Taming of the Shrew, many people view Katherina as an evil hellion. She is indeed stubborn, opinionated, aggressive, and violent; but I believe much of her actions stem from justified bitterness toward the world she lives in.
In the play The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Petrucio recognizes, respects and desires Katherine’s strength of character. Petrucio is a clever man who sees beyond facades because he uses them himself. (II, i 46) (II, I 283 - 89) He is stimulated by Katherine’s sharp tongue and harsh actions. He proves this many times throughout the play.
In Shakespeare's time, the ideal wife was subservient to her husband, and it was the husband's inherent duty to take care of his wife's money, property, and person, including both physical and moral welfare. If a man's spouse proved rebellious, he had the right to physically brutalize her into submission. This social phenomenon of domesticating an unruly woman as one might an animal was the inspiration for The Taming of the Shrew. Kate fits the stereotype of the shrewish woman at the play's outset and the Renaissance ideal of the subservient, adoring wife by the play's close, but her last speech as the final monologue of the play-rightly interpreted-undercuts her stereotype.
Over the past 400 or so years since Shakespeare wrote _The Taming of the Shrew_, many writers, painters, musicians and directors have adapted and reformed this play of control and subjugation into timeless pieces of art. In _10 Things I Hate About You_ and Kiss Me Kate from two very different times in the twentieth century, and paintings of Katherina and Bianca from the late nineteenth century, the creators of these adaptations have chosen to focus on the role of the two main female characters in the play. The ideas surrounding these women have changed through the years, from Katherina and Bianca simply being young women who deviated from the norm of Shakespeare’s time to women who embody feminist ideals and stereotypes of the more modern world.
The Taming of the Shrew unravels to reveal a wild beastly Katharine lacking respect for her family, herself and others around her. Kate is a very outspoken and vulgar woman without respect to authority. Katharine, although depicted as a beautiful woman quickly becomes the talk of Padua. Kate has found that if she is loud and obnoxious she can have her way. She screams and grunts and pushes those who she does not get along with. The general character of Katharine seems to be that of a small child.
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.
In her publication of A Vindication of the Rights of Women and Femininity, Mary Shelley states, “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves” (Shelley 34). She desires to let women acknowledge that they need to take control of their own lives, and to not rely on a man for their success. This widely unaccepted message is not visible in The Taming of the Shrew. In the late 1590s, around the time William Shakespeare wrote the piece, women were scrutinized as the “weaker sex”, both physically and emotionally. This factor plays a huge contribution in the evident sexism scattered throughout the play. Shakespeare shows this mainly through his main character, Katherine, and through what she endures including an unwanted marriage,
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
...se Katherine is a, in that time, controversial female character. Females were supposed to be sub missive creatures who listened to there masters, Katherine never listened to anyone which bothered people. She was also rude and violent, ladies were supposed to be polite and were told not to fight. One serious issue is that Petruchio tried such odd way to get Katherine to be have some were on the verge of torture. He did not let her eat or sleep and he forced her to agree with him or she could not do anything she wanted to.
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.
In Shakespeare's taming of the shrew there is an array of complicated themes, characters, and plots but none might be as noticeable as the arch Katharina Minola complets throughout the play. From the very beginning of the story the audience is introduced to a seemingly horrid and foul mouthed woman named Katharina who is the eldest daughter of a nobleman named baptista. From various pieces of text evidence we can see that the people around Katharina do not think very highly of her such as when Grimio states “Any man is so very a fool to be married to hell” (I, i, 126-127) when he is referring to the prospect of someone marrying Katharina. In other parts of the text it can be seen that Katharina is a very foul mouthed, hot-tempered, ill-mannered, and stubborn person, for example when she states “I'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear: I wis it is not halfway to her heart; But if it were, doubt not her care should be To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool And paint your face and use you like a fool.” (I, i, 61-65) from this straightforward insult directed at the suitors it is very clearly shown what kind of person Katharina is.
The Taming of the Shrew is one of the earliest comedies written by William Shakespeare. The Taming of the Shrew focuses a great deal on courtship and marriage. Especially the life after marriage, which was generally not focused on in other comedies. Notably, the play focuses on the social roles that each character plays, and how each character faces the major struggles of their social roles. Which plays into one of the most prevalent themes of The Taming of the Shrew. The theme of how social roles play into a person’s individual happiness. This is displayed through the characters in the play that desperately try to break out of the social roles that are forced upon them. This exemplified through the character, Katherine, an upper-class young maiden-in-waiting, who wishes to have nothing to do with her role.