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Someone once said, “To those who are accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.” Gender inequality has been a concept put into practice for hundreds of year, and the idea of equal rights for women has been continuously Women’s rights have always been a concept that has been fought for for years. Back in the Elizabethan Era, the idea of equal rights between men and women was out of the question. Women had to obey their husbands no matter what, were expected to produce children, and were considered the property of their husbands. Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew takes place in this time period, where Petruchio, a greedy, aggressive man, is set on marrying Katherine, an equally contentious, curt woman whose father is wealthy. Bound by a misogynistic society, Petruchio …show more content…
This starts off as soon as Katherine introduces herself to Petruchio. However, Petruchio, right off the bat, calls Katherine, Kate. Katherine, in response to this remark, says, “well have you heard, but something hard of hearing. They call me Katherine that do not talk of me” (43). Petruchio responds, “You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate” (43). Instead of introducing himself like a gentleman, Petruchio downright gives a nickname to Katherine without actually getting to know her more. He ignores to follow the traditional, proper etiquette just for Katherine, for he does not care about her thoughts. Throughout this conversation, the duo argue with one another in a battle of wits using sexual innuendos. During this conversation, Petruchio subtly implies that he will marry Kate, whether or not she wants to marry him. This implication within this conversation shows that Petruchio does not want to pay attention to what Kate Later on, Baptista and the other men come to check in on Petruchio and Katherine, and
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
The scene starts off Katherine terrorizing her sister, the men all introducing themselves, and Hortensio being hit by a lute. Katherine is eventually brought out to met Petruchio and they are left alone. Petruchio takes to calling Katherine by “Kate”, wriling her up. Kate begins to insult her suitor without hesitation. They then engage in an argument, which was more along the lines of clever puns and metaphors thrown to and fro. It then ends in Kate hitting Petruchio and his response being they will be married on Sunday, “will you. nill you”.
This play has many themes of patriarchy concerning the roles of males and females in a marriage, the authority of fathers over their families, husbands over wives, and men over women (Bloom 13). In the title alone, there's the indication of the husband over the wife, the "taming" of the shrew (16), and the word shrew that is chosen to describe Katherine is somewhat demeaning. In modern day society there is no such boundaries put on women. There should not be one party who overpowers the other one. It is a marriage, a bond that is shared, and each should be respected in the same way. Today, women and men are equals in a marriage, or at least in the United States. Women are no longer as oppressed as they once were. This play is rather primitive on the views of women in society.
“The Taming Of The Shrew” by William Shakespeare is a work of satire created to criticize the misogynistic outlooks of the 16th century. With this play, Shakespeare is trying to say that the idea and role of women in his society is deeply flawed and should be fixed, as well as to make other social commentaries, such as on the treatment of servants. Through exaggeration and parody, Shakespeare makes society look silly.
"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
Petruchio could possibly just be trying to get his woman the best food possible, or in the case of his wedding, the best tailored clothes for Kate. Petruchio brings in a tailor for his wedding, and when the dress doesn’t live up to his expectations, he lets the tailor know (IV.iii.113-121) “O monstrous arrogance!... that thou hast marred her gown.” Petruchio cares so much about getting everything for his wife to be perfect that he does not let one thing fall out of line for his wedding preparations. These things could be taken as sexist acts; however they were just acts... ...
By charming her with kind words, Petruchio is able to manipulate Katherine into marriage and woo her, but in an unaccustomed way, as Kate is not used to men being so nice and direct with her. Petruchio is able to achieve this end by manipulating Katherine’s words. He twists what Kate says and makes it seem as if she is coming on to him sexually, while in reality he is the one implying the sexual innuendo. This manipulation can be seen when they have an argument about whether or not the wasp carries his sting on his tail or tongue, and Petruchio says “What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, good Kate. I am a gentleman—” (II, 1; 230-231). By contorting the words he ...
in this play, women are used as a symbol of male power, or lack of it.
In this marriage Katherine has no power. She is verbally abused by Petruchio and denied what she needs. As said in the article,“ Kate is transformed after enduring the irrational world of Petruchio 's country house, where she is denied food, sleep, and fashionable accoutrements of her social class” (Karen 263). Katherine is tamed and she praises and respects him now that she is tamed. At the end of the play, when Katherine and Petruchio are at the wedding, Katherine is the only woman out of all at the wedding that actually listens to her husband when they all call their wives. Katherine ends up giving them a speech and telling them to respect their husband: “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head thy sovereign, one that cares for thee And for thy maintenance commits his body” (Shakespear V. ii . 162-164). She respects who he is and all the work that he does for her. Petruchio has the power in marriage because she respects him and his
The ideals represented in Taming of the Shrew are out dated. We, as Americans, have come towards a concept of equality in relationships. Male dominant relationships were common thought out the forties and fifties in the United States. Women were deemed as housewives, whose job was to clean and have dinner ready for their husband's return from work. Imagining women in that type of status is difficult to do in society. Families are not a place for a tyranny. Families are a source of love, not a place to dominate through order. Two people are certainly collectively smarter than one person.
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
Constructed upon the model of the ‘tale of the unjust judge’, Measure for Measure presents us with an ambiance which is scarcely typical of Shakespearean comedy. The play is soaked through and through with libidinal urge, sexual appetite, abuse of authority and real threat of dishonour and death, and the characters are not at all light-hearted about life as they usually are in Shakespearean comedy. Prison houses, brothels, judgement chambers and rather uncomfortably enclosed and dark places are the locations where much of the action takes place.
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 second reason the bond survives is that Petruchio is strong enough to accept the fact that Katherine has a mind and, more importantly, he loves her for that reason. Petruchio cleverly weaves the relationship into the framework of society without compromising the integrity of the relationship. Petruchio does this by comparing Katherine’s attitude to repulsive clothing. Carefully and calculatingly, Petruchio forges a relationship that is envied by all who witness it. Called "cursed Kate" throughout the play, Katherine is openly jealous of the attention her sister is receiving, whereas she, because she speaks her mind, is being bypassed and even avoided in the wooing process.
The universal nature of the themes in The Taming of the Shrew, beg analysis and social critique. This comedic farce, by William Shakespeare, creates an elegant depiction of a modern life and romantic love with all of its masks and pretensions. It is easy to assume the perspective of a psychotherapist while witnessing the drama of Katherine and Petruchio’s love affair unfolding. Concepts like “emotional repression” and “therapeutic catharsis” neatly fit the “taming” scenario. In fact, this play offers many new insights into what it takes to create an enduring, viable marriage—if one understands it from a very contemporary, psychotherapeutic or even spiritual point of view. If one is distracted by the recent feminist perspectives of this play, it is easy to miss the integrity and practicality expressed in Katherine’s final exhortation to women on how to love their men: