The soliloquy in The Taming of the Shrew is a monologue spoken by Katherine to herself after being woken up by her sister, Bianca. The language of this soliloquy can be connected back to a few things: The Taming of the Shrew itself, William Shakespeare’s life, and The Sonnets. The language of The Taming of the Shrew is very similar to the one in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. According to The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Poetry, Katherine’s soliloquy in The Taming of the Shrew “demonstrates her adjustment to society” (119).
This can be connected back to William Shakespeare’s life because he had a family, and his time at The King’s New School exposed him to many people living around London. He became exposed to other cultures which could have influenced his writing style. The connection between The Taming of the Shrew and The Sonnets are that they both mention Elizabeth I.
Themes in Kate’s Soliloy:
– The Taming of The Shrew
– The Sonnets
– William Shakespeare’s life
– Elizabeth I
Katherine is woken up by Bianca, her sister. Bianca reminds her that tomorrow is their wedding day and they should be getting married at the same time so she leaves to get ready for bed. Katherine decides to stay awake because she is upset about everything changing on her marriage day. The person she least expected to change was Lucentio (Bianca’s husband). The reason why Katherine is upset about this man changing is because he had been trying to court her for a while now, but things were going well with another suitor named Petruchio.
She then goes into a monologue where she criticizes all the men in The Taming of The Shrew for being unintelligent, ungrateful, and rude. The reason behind this is because even though Katherine is upset about Petruchio changing his mind on marrying her today, she also likes him more than Lucentio. The language used in Kate’s Soliloquy ties back to The Taming of The Shrew itself due to the fact that it has references to some lines said by other characters.
One of these instances is when Katherine talks about “marrying young” referring back to what Sly says in Act 1, scene 2. Another instance is when Katherine calls out “Holla! You clown!” which was originally spoken by Tranio Act 3, scene 2. The sonnet references in this soliloquy connect back to the history of The Sonnets and William Shakespeare’s life because The Taming of The Shrew is a play based on The Two Gentlemen of Verona so it makes sense that their would be references to The Sonnets throughout the play.
The one thing The Taming of The Shrew’s Katherina Minola (called Kate) desires most is to be left alone, but her father Baptista has other plans. Baptista believes that his daughter’s lack of social grace is the result of an overabundance of learning and criticism. The plan he comes up with in order to fix this problem is simple: marry her off as quickly as possible. The only problem is that there are no men who are willing to take on Katerina because she has a sharp tongue and displays stubborn behavior which are often misconstrued as being shrewish .
Even worse, it turns out that many potential suitors have heard rumors about Katerina’s problematic behavior to the point where they are discouraged from pursuing her, so Baptista decides to have his two other lovely daughters Bianca and Lucentio’s beloved Hortensio marry first so that these suitors will be willing to consider Katerina as a possibility for marriage. The only problem with this plan is that there is another man who desires Bianca; Lucentio, a young man who has entered Padua disguised as a tutor and he and Bianca fall in love at first sight—although they must keep it secret because no one would approve of such an unequal match.
In order to trick the suitor into thinking that Bianca has already been married off, Baptista summons Vincentio (Lucentio’s devious father) back from Pisa only to tell him that Bianca has already been married off to Gremio. The suitor leaves in anger forcing Baptista to pull out an even bigger con; he tells Lucentio (still disguised as Cambio the tutor) that his sister is no longer available for marriage because she is now married to Lucentio’s friend Hortensio.
The only problem with this plan is that there are no documents produced, so the suitor decides to sue Katerina because without evidence it must be her fault somehow. The suitors think they have won the battle until Lucentio/Cambio enters with a forged letter of consent suggesting otherwise. The men are then amazed by how much they actually dislike Kate and decide instead of pursuing her, they would rather pursue Bianca. The plan works at first until the suitor decides to sue for his dowry because he claims that Katerina has not yet been married off.
Both Baptista and Lucentio are forced into a room with the suitor in order to prove otherwise even though they have no idea how it will be possible considering the fact that there are no records of Katerina’s marriage anywhere. The men are surprised when they see Cambio enter followed by Kate wearing an incredibly beautiful dress which is paid for by Cambio who is now paid handsomely for his role in this play. The men are so entranced with Katerina’s beauty that they decide not to keep pursuing her but instead give up their pursuit of Bianca and instead ask Katerina to marry them.
The play ends with Baptista accepting their offers of marriage, Lucentio marrying Bianca, Hortensio marrying a widow, and Kate holding a grudge against all men. In The Taming of The Shrew, William Shakespeare allows Katherina Minola (Kate) a chance for soliloquy in order to voice her feelings which are often left up for interpretation by the audiences because she is labeled as being “waspish” or curt at times throughout the play—although it must be noted that some scholars believe that this might not have been Shakespeare’s original intention considering he used two different words to describe Katerina: “shrew” and “termagant.
The term “termagant” is an archaic word for a fighting ranting woman who does not hesitate to violently abuse her husband when he displeases her, which in today’s language would be labeled as being domestically abusive or violent. The word shrew means “a spiteful, ill-tempered woman” but it also has historical links to pagan goddesses of old—so when Kate is described as being a shrew, she is often seen in the light of being more powerful than she actually appears to be on the surface.