The story The Taming of the Shrew written by William Shakespeare is a tale of how a nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself. Christopher being of nobility watches a play about a marriage of Petruchio and a stubborn shrew Katherina (Kate). Throughout this play there are numerous examples of how Petruchio is abusive towards Kate as he attempts to tame her. Petruchio starves Kate along with being extremely careless when dealing with Kate’s feelings. He is very impolite, immature, and knows the best way to tame Kate. First of all, Petruchio starves Kate. Petruchio tells Kate that the food is inadequate for them because it is burnt. When Kate answers saying that the food is fine and asks to eat Petruchio then quickly responds saying,” Pluck thy spirits. Look cheerfully upon me. Here, love, thou seest how delight I am, To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee.” (Shakespeare 4.3.39-43). In this quote, Petruchio blatantly …show more content…
Kate and Petruchio are going to Kates sisters, Bianca, wedding and Petruchio has a tailor design a cap and gown for Kate. When the tailor shows Kate the cap and gown he has designed she instantly falls in love. On the other hand Petruchio does not like neither the cap nor gown, so he rips the cap and gown into shreds. Petruchio then says,” why this was molded on a porringer! A velvet dish! Fie, fie ‘tis lewd and filthy. Why, ‘tis a cockle or a walnut shell, A knock, a toy, a trick, a baby’s cap. Away with it! “ ( Shakespeare 4.3.68-72). In this quote, Petruchio is very immature in insisting that the gown does not work, because it has been molded on a model and look like a baby's hat. 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
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Show MoreThis is why I do not agree for Petruchio to remain standing. Kate does not deserve to live because of her ill-mannered being. Firstly, her mistreatment towards others is the reason why people loathe her. She retaliates by striking men who perceive her as a vicious woman. Although we both have shared the life without our mother, there is no reason for her to become so heartless.
It also signifies her resentment towards being of her family and bearing the Capulet name. Another example of the theme of maturity is when Shakespeare writes "What's here? A cup, closed in my true love's hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. O churl!
Petruchio compares Kate to a fire because she is strong-willed and determined. He says with light wind, she will build up and grow strong and wild, but extreme wind will blow her fire out.
Another reason why this scene is significant is that it speaks to the education of the two characters. Although never stated Katherine being from that time period would not have been formally educated, like a man would be. The fight in puns demonstrates that “both Petruchio and Kate grew into characters that were in fact equal in their vigor, their intelligence, and their mutual love.” (Stribrny). Shakespeare is pointing out the equal intellectual playing field that Katherine and Petruchio exist on.
William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" is a play that depicts the story of Petruchio attempt to tame Katherine, the stubborn and feisty daughter of a wealthy lord. In the play, Petruchio uses three different methods to tame Katherine: starvation, sleep deprivation, and testing her. These methods he used to break Katherine's will and bend her to Petruchio's wishes. Through these methods, Petruchio transforms Katherine from a shrewish woman to a submissive and obedient wife.
He would have been completely devoid of respect if he was a women, but it does not do too much to his reputation. Both Kate and Petruchio are shrews in their own ways, but only Kate is ridiculed by other people. The shrew inside of Petruchio is even more clearly shown during tailor scene in which he continually subverts Kate’s opinion. Petruchio and Kate are shown to be made for each other as they are both
The Taming of the Shrew has a common theme with Katherina and Petruchio in their personalities. “Good morrow, Kate for that’s your name, I hear. Well have you heard, buy something hard of hearing - They call me Katherine that do talk of me. You lie, in faith, for you are just plain kate”(II.i.178-181). Katherina is shown to contradict almost everything she hears.
Petruchio automatically has more power in the relationship because of his gender, and this prevents Kate from objecting to the marriage. She attempts to tell everyone that she hates Petruchio, however he plays this off as her pretending to hate him and no one questions him after that. (pg #?) Plenty of women ended up in these same circumstances, indicating that women really didn’t have much of any power in their marriages before the
In Taming of the Shrew, women were put down and constantly ridiculed if they spoke up, and the play’s main focus was on Petruchio’s ability to turn Baptista’s eldest daughter Katherine into a submissive wife. Petruchio plotted to treat Kate like a falcon that needed to be tamed and announced to the audience “This is a way to kill a wife with kindness, and thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humor. He that knows better how to tame a shrew, now let him speak” (TOTS 4.1.185-187). If a man did the things that Petruchio did back then today, he would never have a wife and would be constantly ridiculed for his misogynistic views, but back then, the men were applauded for putting a woman like Kate in her place. Women are so much more independent today than they were in the past and today they would never give into being “tamed” by a man in order to be made into a smaller version of
Taming of the Shrew was one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies. It was like a romantic comedy. It is centered on marriage, and how life is after marriage. Shakespeare uses many different themes in the play. He has the themes transformation, marriage, family, and education.
The only reason he married her was for her money and her fathers' money. No one could really read Petruchio so nobody knew that he was actually in this for the money. He also tricked kate when they got married, he disrespected her at there own wedding and made her leave their own reception. But that is not all when they got home they were going to eat steak, and as soon as she was going to take a bite he makes up a reason for her not to eat. He also stopped her from sleeping by making up some excuse like the bed is too squishy, or the bed is too hard for her to sleep
The Taming of the Shrew is a romantic comedy. If comedic devices were not there The Taming of the Shrew would be just a normal romance. Comedic devices do work to develop the plot in The Taming of the Shrew. The are several comedic devices in this story: unexpected plot twists, witty language, disguises or costumes, young love with a struggle, and unity and harmony. These all contribute different comedic aspects to the plot and push the plot forward.
So Petruchio makes fun of her to cure her bad temper. They have many funny quarrels and Petruchio succeeds in making her a very good wife, whom he loves a lot. The Merry of
Thus, begins the torment of the innumerable suitors, and ambitious aspirants for the submissive Bianca, while the courted, Katherina lives up to her combatant fame. The plot revolves around the shenanigans of these desperate suitors baited by Petruchio, a gentleman? A cavalier man of Verona, seeking to marry a woman for her dowry, and has landed a pragmatic acquisition. The carefree man and his willingness to woo the harsh Katherine provides Blanca's suitors with a hope for which they join their efforts to those of the now almost desperate Bautista. Petruchio, at the cost of much cunning, manages to accomplish the feat, and marries a doubtful Katherine.
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.