In the play “Taming of the Shrew”, both Petruchio and Katharina are less “shrewish” than they would have the audience believe. This is presented by Petruchio trying to be masculine, Katharina rebelling against society’s unjust values, and how her character is assigned a stereotype by a male dominant society. These contentions will be explored in this essay.
In the play, there are several times when Petruchio is trying to present himself as an aggressive, domineering male. To try to prove his masculinity to Katherina, he berates and abuses his servants as to make him look manly. He wants to bend Katharina to his will and is willing to be cruel to her, to prove he is able to tame his wife and be virile. This, in turn, causes Curtis to state “By this reckoning he is more shrew than she” (act four, scene one), but Curtis has known Petruchio before this event and has not seen this shrewish side to him before. This suggests Petruchio is only putting on an act and is only presenting himself like that to Katherina, and his true nature is not so shrewish. Petruchio is also described as a shrew on his wedding
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Before Katherine even has any lines to speak, the audience is put under the impression she is a wild mean spirited woman, as her reputation for one is constantly voiced. The audience is viewing Katherine from a male perspective during the time of the Elizabethan period, and she is assigned the stereotype of a shrew before we ever see her character on stage. During this time period, most men would think of any strong minded, loud woman as undesirable, and because of this perspective, the audience today can also get influenced by thinking she is a shrew. Her stereotype is also assigned to her without anyone explaining why she really is a shrew. Baptista thinks his daughter was just born mean, but as explained in the previous case, this may not be
In Taming of the Shrew, Kathrina's behavior is subdued when Perturchio mirrors her attitude to his servants and to Kathrina herself. " First, Petruchio acts like a "shrew" on his wedding day and throughout the honeymoon so that Kate can see what her bad behavior looks like in another person. This involves a lot of yelling, swearing, the abuse of hapless servants, and erratic and cruel behavior toward Kate." During the span of time that Pertruchio acts in the same manner as Kathrina he portrays a lot of fury and "colorful" language. " 'Tis burnt; and so is all the meat.
Lincoln Ealefoh, Mrs White, English, 5/30/2018. The conflicts in the taming of the shrew Dear Journal, There has been a lot of disagreements going on among me and others for different reasons, also something new about me is that I have finally gotten married to petruchio though I am still not interested in him, to make it worse he lives in a dusty old big house with many servants he matreats. Immediately after my marriage I supposed my sister we be getting married and they would expect me to come with Petruchio and see how we are coping and with no surprises we won’t not in this kind of house, I know nothing good is going to make out of this. (Man vs man)
From Sexism to Social Reformation Many actions and ideologies of the characters in The Taming of the Shrew create an overarching conflict between comedy and sexism for most readers. Specifically, the relationships between the men and women introduce controversial topics such as obedience and love which must be questioned thoroughly. The conditions of Petruchio and Katherine’s marriage was more “traditional” in the sense that it was primarily patriarchal, and that Kate was expected to be subservient and obedient. While this is sexist, on the surface, this was not the intended meaning behind the works.
Here, Curtis learns of Petruchio 's behavior and calls him a bigger shrew than Katherina. We know that this is Petruchio 's plan. But, Curtis 's choice of words raises the question of whether or not Petruchio 's masculinity is compromised in any way when he rails like a woman, so to speak. Grumio "A title for a maid of all titles the worst” (1.2.130-131). Grumio 's insistence that being labeled a shrew is the worst fate a woman can suffer is odd; we 're used to hearing that being labeled a whore is the worst reputation for a woman in
He begins the play as a money-hungry man looking to marry wealthy, but as the play continues, his character is revealed to care more about Kate and taming her than he cares to admit. This shows how he changed drastically in the play, therefore being a dynamic character. Even though the profile of Petruchio begins as something unfavorable, the plot of the play brings out the real character under the greedy façade. Taming of the Shrew is a large mixing pot of different characters, some static, some more interesting than others, but Petruchio is one that is very clearly a dynamic
Act III of The Taming of the Shrew had a recurring theme of “Marriage”. In scene 2 of this act, Katherina gets married off to Petruchio. Marriage of the time was a very formal, “The Bridegroom wore his best clothes which consisted of a doublet, breeches, hose, box pleated neck ruff and a codpiece. A cloak might also be worn and a pair of boots.” (william-shakespeare.info) Petruchio’s outfit was unheard of, it showed incredible disrespect to Baptista and Katherina.
The Taming of the Shrew conveys a specific theme of how economic considerations determine who marries whom which is apparent in the relationship between Katherina and Petruchio as he marries her solely for the dowry. “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua.” (1.2.75-77) The plot of The Taming of the Shrew and its film adaptation are very similar at expressing this theme as Petruchio/Patrick is too galvanised by economic considerations when Hortensio/Grumio/Joey bribes Patrick for his own advances in wooing
The metaphors are used to display the contrast and the differences between both Katherina and Petruchio. Petruchio's main goal is to tame Katherina as if she is a wild, aggressive animal, and that is why he refers to her with animal metaphors. When Katherina realizes his intentions of taming her, she reacts harshly and denotes to him by several types of animals. Katherina's shrewish attitude comes out of insecurity. Generally, she is used to be invisible to men, they never gave her attention and no one had proposed to marry her.
After watching the Philadelphia Shakespeare Company preform scenes from Taming of Shrew it caused me to think about the stress both Petruchio and Katherine were under. When I first read Taming of the Shrew I focused more on the truly horrible treatment of Katherine. What I had forgot to think about was that Petruchio was also experience the horrible treatment. Everyday that Katherine went without sleep as did Petruchio, when Katherine did not eat neither did Petruchio. This is not to say that what Petruchio had done to Katherine was in any way ok
There is always a winner in everything from something as miniscule as a bet you make with your colleagues, to the greatest thing you can win, which is life. Petruchio was the winner of life, as well as some other less drastic event, when it comes to William Shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew”. He marries Katherine, a lady who was very wealthy, even though she did not have a bubbly personality. He eventually “tames” Katherine which makes her more kind and an agreeable wife. Finally, Katherine is determined as the most obedient wife, which makes Petruchio look superior to Lucentio and Hortensio.
Petruchio and Katherine are two characters in Shakespeare ’s play “Taming of the Shrew”. Petruchio was a single man with money running out looking for a rich wife. There was a situation between Katherine and her sister Bianca. Bianca couldn’t get married until Katherine did.
Although Kate is one of Shakespeare 's most enigmatic characters, she isn 't the only complicated character in The Taming of the Shrew. Her groom, Petruchio, has about as much puzzle encompassing him as does Kate herself. However, investigating Petruchio drives us to ask questions that can wind up troublesome to a great extent because, in all honesty, we need to like him. It might be said, it 's at first difficult to investigate a side of him which may, truth be told, make him less amiable. Is it accurate to say that he is a man of respect or a soldier of fortune looking for just to wed into cash?
“One vile insult to womanhood and manhood from the first word to the last” is the Taming of the Shrew as described by George Bernard-Shaw. One of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, written in 1593 (aprox), The Taming of the Shrew is debatably his most controversial play for modern audiences to watch. Katherine, a froward, “shrewish” maiden has a mentally deranged husband thrust upon her whom, using physiological torture, trains her to be a submissive wife – it is clear see why many directors find it a challenge to stage. But those of us who are more romantically inclined can interpret the play as a tender love story.
Nonetheless, the fact that Petruchio treats her like an animal shows the most impactful part of the play in the end. When Kate gives her speech on how wives should be obedient to their husbands. In this sense Petruchio has succeed in taming his wife and shaping her to his will. For Kate states: “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, / Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee, /
Petruchio had to act like a different person and show Katherine a different side of himself. When Petruchio was first wooing Katherine, he didn’t act the way he did at their wedding or in his house. Granted, Petruchio’s wooing was out of the box but he didn’t act the same. Petruchio had to show a different more cruel side of himself. Denying Katherine her basic needs like food and sleep wasn’t something he would have done normally or with a more normal girl.