The Taming Of The Shrew is a play written by William Shakespeare. The published version of The Taming Of The Shrew was actually written after The Taming Of The Shrew, making the original name The Taming Of A Shrew. The work faced heavy criticism for portraying women as subservient to men, but it is now considered a rom-com. The Taming Of The Shrew is a comedy about Petruchio, who marries Katherina Minola (also known as Katharina Minola and The Shrew), but then has to tame her into becoming domesticated and obedient.
The work represents the custom of men choosing their wives during this time period. The play takes place in Verona, Italy and Padua, Italy, two cities that were historically at war with each other until they made peace. The play begins with Gremio attempting to find a suitor for his daughter Bianca. However, her father does not want anyone who is unworthy of his daughter’s hand in marriage, so he advertises only those suitors whom he believes are worthy to court her. The first suitor is Hortensio, but he is too poor to become a husband for Bianca.
The second suitor Petruchio comes along and offers Gremio money as dowry for marrying Bianca. Gremio rejects the offer until Petruchio adds on an additional 100 crowns as well. A third suitor is a man named Vincentio, to whom Gremio also refuses his daughter’s hand in marriage because of a lack of finances. The fourth suitor comes along with a request from Baptista Minola, who seeks a husband for his younger daughter, Katharina Minola of The Shrew. He warns all suitors that she is not easily tamed and once she sets her mind on something, nothing will change it.
The first suitor is Hortensio, who asks for The Shrew’s hand in marriage. The second suitor is Petruchio, who Baptista rejects because of The Shrew’s insistence that she will not marry him. The third suitor is Grumio, but he too fails to win The Shrew’s hand in marriage when she states that she would rather shave her head and become a nun than marry him. Vincentio cannot make up his mind between The Widow and Gremio or Katharina, so he decides to take care of both matters at the same time.
The Taming of The Shrew is a play that reflects the power struggles between men and women during Shakespeare’s time – power struggles that continue to exist in society today. Bianca is beautiful but her father forbids any man from marrying her until Bianca’s sister Katherine has been married off, due to Katherine’s fiery unconventional nature. The only suitor that comes is Petruchio, who turns out to be a friend of Lucentio – the man who wants to marry Bianca.
The plot takes a turn when Petruchio realizes how rich Bianca will be as she gets older and weds accordingly, as well as the fact that he can ‘tame’ or break Katherine so she can be obedient and subservient to him. The play revolves around this premise; it is a very male-dominated society and the play follows suit, with Petruchio challenging Katherine’s identity as he tries to tame her so she will obey his every word. The opening monologue of The Taming of The Shrew involves a heated argument between two men about who has the most obedient wife.
The fact that the women are not present indicates that they have no say in their own lives but are merely possessions for their husbands – objects by which the men boast about to other men. Indeed, Shakespeare’s decision to create Bianca before making her sister Katherine an autonomous character suggests that he may have seen women as inferior human beings. [1] The first line of the play is a direct address to the ‘ladies’, which suggests that there may be multiple women present.
The fact that Shakespeare chooses not to write this speech as a soliloquy allows for more speculation as it does not become clear who exactly he is addressing until later on. The fact that he does not specify an individual woman means that they are all characterized by certain stereotypes – those being obedient and subservient. The difference between Bianca and Katherine shows the difference in patriarchal society at the time – one sister conforms to societal expectations whilst the other does not.
The patriarchy can also be seen following Petruchio’s arrival on stage – his dominance over others being evident from the beginning when he instructs the servants to find him a seat in The Taming of The Shrew. The male dominance continues when Petruchio begins his verbal tirade towards Katherine, before demanding that she becomes obedient to his every command. He calls her ‘shrew’ and uses derogatory language to show her lack of worth – which is not unlike how many men at the time would have treated their wives.
The language used by Petruchio is unkind, with words such as ‘curst’ being used throughout The Taming of The Shrew. The name-calling establishes an us-and-them situation between man and woman; it signifies that one cannot exist without the other but they are also antagonistic towards each other. The term ‘shrew’ is a very negative word in The Taming of The Shrew, which reflects the view that women were seen as inferior to men during Shakespeare’s time.
The use of language in The Taming of The Shrew shows the power struggle between men and women in a patriarchal society – however, with Katherine challenging these gender roles it can be said that Shakespeare intended for there to be a challenge to this prejudice. [2] The abrupt changes in tone throughout The Taming of The Shrew also show Shakespeare’s interest in showing how people interact through dialogue more than through action or description. One such example is when Petruchio begins to get frustrated by Katherine who does nothing but argue back at him; he instructs the servants to ‘throw her in a ditch and bound a stone about her neck’.
The stark difference between this quotation and those of The Taming of The Shrew show how quickly Petruchio can change from being aggressive to calm, which shows his dominance over Katherine. The sheer power that Petruchio has over others is demonstrated through The Taming of The Shrew, particularly when he says ‘I’ll be revenged on her’. The lack of fear suggests that he will get whatever he wants because people are too scared to stand up against him. The fact that only men are present throughout The Taming of The Shrew reinforces the notion that it is indeed an all-male world with values.
