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| The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare (1590-1592) |
Taming of the Shrew is a Shakespeare comedy, thought to be written between 1590 and 1592. The play depicts the courtship of Petruchio and the 'shrew', Katherina. Katherina is initially an unwilling participant in the relationship, but Petruchio 'tames' her with various psychological torments until she becomes a compliant bride.
The range of interpretations that can be made of this play are evident in the many adaptations there have been. One reading is that through immense cruelty, Petruchio scares Katherina into becoming a submissive wife who will call the sun the moon "if [he] please to call it". Alternatively, it has also been read as Katherina's deception - or even mockery - of Petruchio for the sake of a peaceful life for herself. Katherina is portrayed as intelligent; even able to outwit Petruchio in Act II Scene I, when he can only respond to her final slight with "Nay, come, Kate, come". Therefore, it would not be unreasonable to conclude that in light of her physical weakness relative to Petruchio (which she references in her final monologue) she is willing to obey her husbands "honest will" to prevent him from terrorising her further. In this case the excessive dutifulness of Katherina's finale can be perceived as a sarcastic satire of the male compulsion to control women; having learned how to manipulate a harmonious coexistence she can remain, internally, a shrew till her death.
Themes and Relevant Quotes
Attitudes to Love
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Attitudes to Marriage
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Women's Role
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"'Tis deeds must win the prize, and he
of both that can assure my daughter greatest dower shall have my Bianca's
love" - Baptista
"... is it possible that love
should of a sudden take such hold?" - Tranio
"I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
if I achieve not this young modest girl." - Lucentio
"... it is time to stir him from
his trance." - Tranio
"Why that is nothing." - Petruchio
(on love)
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"My husband and my lord, my lord
and husband, I am your wife in all obedience." - Page
"Think'st thou, Hortensio, though
her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to
hell?" - Gremio
"... to wive and thrive as best I
may." - Petruchio
"And, will you, nill you, I will
marry you." - Petruchio
"Marry, peace it bodes, and love,
and quiet life, an awful rule and right supremacy." - Petruchio
"Thy husband is thy lord, thy
life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign." - Katherina
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"Sacred and sweet was all I saw in
her." - Lucentio
"Her elder sister is so curst and
shrewd" - Tranio
"Women are made to bear, and so are
you." - Petruchio
"My tongue will tell the anger of
my heart, or else my heart, concealing it, will break;" - Katherina
"Belike you mean to make a puppet
of me." - Katherina
"Say as he says, or we shall never
go." - Hortensio
"To offer war where they should
kneel for peace," - Katherina
"... they are bound to serve,
love, and obey." - Katherina
"Tis a wonder, by your leave, she
will be tamed so." - Lucentio
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Critical Responses
- "Shakespeare's sympathy with and almost uncanny understanding of women characters is one of the distinguishing features of his comedy..." - The Riverside Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew (Anne Barton)
- "No man with any decency of feeling can sit it out in the company of a woman without being extremely ashamed of the lord-of-creation moral implied in the wager and the speech put into the woman's own mouth." - Shaw on Shakespeare (George Bernard Shaw)
- "... satirizes... the male urge to control women" - Man's Estate: Masculine Identity in Shakespeare (Coppelia Kahn)
- "Kate... has the uncommon good fortune to find Petruchio[,] who is man enough to know what he wants and how to get it." - The Female Eunuch (Germaine Greer)
