Even the strongest and largest stones can be weathered away into just sediments given enough pressure and time. In The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, the formidable and feared Katherine Minola meets her match in the vivacious and obstinate Petruchio. With wealth and fame in mind, Petruchio forces Katherine to marry him and attempts to conquer her throughout the story. Initially, Katherine maintains her stubborn behaviour and, at times, even resists Petruchio. However, as the story goes on, she gradually becomes more relenting to Petruchio’s demands. Though some attribute Katherine’s eventual obedience and amiability to her love for Petruchio, her newfound pleasantness is actually a result of his antics to guilt her and wear …show more content…
After their marriage, Katherine continues to reject and oppose Petruchio’s will. To combat and suppress Katherine’s resistance, Petruchio uses threats to trap Katherine in situations that would humiliate her if she defies him. For example, in Act 4 Scene 5, after Katherine denies Petruchio’s ridiculous claim that the moon, not the sun, is up, Petruchio says “Now by my mother’s son, and that’s myself, It shall be moon, or star, or what I lost, Or e’er I journey to your father’s house. Go on, and fetch our horses back again. -Evermore crossed and crossed, nothing but crossed” (4.5.117-120). Essentially, Petruchio is not allowing Katherine to leave until she admits that he is right. Petruchio begins his trap for Katherine by first targeting the most apparent facts, then claiming otherwise to provoke her into denying him. In this instance, he claims that the moon is up when it is obvious that it is the sun in the sky. Petruchio recognizes that he has much less to lose than Katherine for not showing up to the wedding, and he uses it as leverage against her. With the leverage, he is able to force her to agree with him even on the most foolish fallacies. By repeatedly snaring Katherine in battles that she cannot resist or win, he is able to wear her down. After Petruchio threatens to turn back in Act 4 Scene 5, Katherine yields and says, “Forward, I pray, since …show more content…
They claim that Katherine develops affections of appreciation and respect for Petruchio as the play goes on. Moreover, they associate Katherine’s newfound amiability and endearment to her recognition of Petruchio 's hardwork in providing for her and improving her personality. In fact, throughout the play, Katherine subtly conveys her love through slight gestures of devotion, finally manifesting all of her care for Petruchio in her final speech. After Bianca and the Widow refuse to return to their husbands in Act 5 Scene 2, Katherine’s begins her monologue, saying, “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 to pain labor both by sea and land…Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe” (Shakespeare 5.2.163-167). Katherine essentially explains that, in their time, their husbands are vital, strenuously working to provide while the women merely reap the benefits. Those who believe that Katherine actually loves Petruchio contrast her initial disparagement toward him to her open praise for him in her end speech. Katherine’s devotion and love for Petruchio is also shown because of her capacity to praise Petruchio in front of everyone. It is important to realize that Katherine is referring to Petruchio when she mentions “thy
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreOn the other side Patrick/ Petruchio who is being pressured to date Katherine in a sense until he finds out there is money involved. Patrick/ Petruchio is only in it for the money, but what does he use the money for. Both of these two main characters go through a crucible that changes them into better and happier people. I am about to take you on a journey through both of these characters points of view, and what they had to do to become better people. Katherine is one heck of a shrew in both the play Taming of
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)
Singing over the intercom gets him in trouble and the security guards try and chase him as Patrick (Petruchio) prances and dances around trying to show Katherine that he cares about her. In the play, Petruchio (Patrick in the movie) starts off by practically going clinically insane and is not trying to sway Katherine what so ever and is in fact trying to act more crazy than her so Katherine can, in a sense, get a taste of her own medicine. Lastly,
Petruchio later on says that he is the master of Kate and has full control over her. This meaning her clothing, what she eats, her actions, everything. This is just one example of how Petruchio is very immature and impolite acting as if Kate is a slave to
Through his incentive, he is very determined to marry Kate even though she comes with money, marriage, and a malicious attitude. In addition, Petruchio does not care if his wife is a shrew or foul, he just asks "...if thou know one rich enough to be Petruchio's wife" (1.2.68). Not to mention, after Hortensio tells him of Kate, Petruchio only says to "...tell [him] her father's name, and tis enough" (1.2.95). Petruchio understands that Kate has a "...scolding tongue" (1.2.101) even though Hortensio warms him. Due to his incentive to cure Kate of her shrew-ish ways and to get Baptista's money.
And her being deprived of dinner one night only happened once also and Petruchio also didn’t eat also. In conclusion Katherine was not abused nor anyone was abused throughout the play . Abundances of people in the 21st century think that the mood of the play was abused but they
Imagery One Petruchio knows right off the bat that Katherine is very feisty, strong-willed, and determined. He knows that no other man will marry her, simply because of her personality. Petruchio compares the two using nature imagery. He convinces Baptista he will do good for her, saying: “And where two raging fires meet together/ They do consume the things that feeds their fury:/Though little fire grows great with little wind,/Yet extreme gusts will blow our fire and all:/So I to her and so she yields to me;/For I am rough and woo not like a babe” (II.i.32).
This language later adapts into seeming obedience to Petruchio as a way to socially “fit in” and halt the abuse Katherine was receiving from Petruchio. Though Katherine’s language changes in tone and message throughout the play, her acquisition of language evolves from the necessity to conform herself to society’s wants for her
Katherine must construct a front of ideal womanhood, obedient and passive, to avoid persecution and further accusations of being a shrew. Only through this is she able to exist in this society that punishes women for protecting and speaking for themselves. Using this front she is able to suggest deeper meaning within her newly filtered speech. Even in the face of true shrews such as Petruchio, she is able to fly under the patriarchal radar and maintain her personhood by using her
In the process of taming Kate, Petruchio starves her, and trains her, as he uses metaphors to liken Kate to a “falcon”, suggesting that Kate is a trainable pet which he can groom into the perfect women. Shakespeare living in a patriarchal society uses Petruchio to tame Kate, however, Jung composed the movie after the second wave of feminism, uses Kat to tame herself. Kat’s self-examination is started as she conforms to the society and goes to the party hosted by “Bogey”. Pat then helps her throughout the process by helping her after she is drunk at the party. Therefore resulting in the usual grunge motif going away and Kat’s music becoming soft and peaceful showing her being happy and fitting into the society.
After Petruchio suggests a competition to see whose wife is the least "shrew," Baptista states that he is on Lucentio's side, meaning that he believes Bianca, not Katherine, will come. His stating that Bianca will come proves that he favors her over Katherine. Baptista's lack of faith in his eldest daughter emphasizes his unwillingness to change his opinion of her, even after Petruchio claims he tamed Katherine. Baptista may be an expert at arranging his daughters' marriages, but he is oblivious to what happens behind his back. Baptista's opinion of Katherine throughout almost the entire play is that she is a bad-tempered, unladylike shrew.
Katherine/Kat fall in love with Petruchio/Patrick but fight against these feelings as they see it as going against their own beliefs. They are almost willing to live without the happiness of the relationship just to stick to their own rigid beliefs. Neither woman sees a way to follow her heart and her ideals at the same time. IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE TEXT THAT WOULD SHOW THIS?
This was all just an act that Petruchio was playing to “tame” Katherine. He wanted her to start acting the way she was supposed to, more like her sister Bianca who was the favored sister. He also had a goal of gaining some money because katherine was a part of a rich family. Katherine was very different than all the rest of the women when it came to gender ideals. She needed to be “tamed” and start acting like all the rest of the women.
He pushes the Priest and drinks the communion wine, afterwards he brings her to his home where his servants try and feed her but he insists that its no good for her, neither the dress she wore and she doesn 't need rest. He’s using the tactic of over loving to beat her into the ground, to wear her to the bone and in a sense it’s getting Kate to respect him and come to terms she is not longer the alpha in the equation. Some may argue that in fact she’s just pretending do please him and shes secretly rebelling in her inner sense, but a person that can barely keep their eyes open has no fight left in them, she wanted to marry Petruchio (cite 2) “... She says she will see Petruchio hanged before she will marry him, but these remarks constitute the extent of her argument. She has the opportunity to say more, but she does not because in fact she wants to be married for she has met her match” Consequently, Kate doesn’t hate or despise Petruchio anymore, she may still have trouble coming to terms with her treatment, its new to her to be put in her place.
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.