“Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare

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Outline

The famous play “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare includes some major themes and this paper is the detailed description of the eight themes in this play.

“The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare is a comedy play in which he has included many themes. Different themes are transformation, art and culture, gender, marriage, education, society and class, family, language and communication.

Transformation

Transformation is one of the most significant and all-encompassing themes depicted in the comedy play “The Taming of the Shrew”. The transformation literally includes the changes seen physically, emotionally, behaviorally or in terms of attitude. The whole play shows that there are a number of changes happening and ending up with much difference from the initial situation and circumstances. The people using the veil of disguise are present in the play, which holds an important place resulting in the twist of the story of the play.

The induction of the play itself represents a disguise plot. The woman says that Sly was a Lord and she was his wife in the scene of induction. The suitors for Bianca disguised themselves in order to win her heart and make her fall in love with them. This disguise leads to further disguises plotted in the play throughout. The main topic of the play “The Taming of the Shrew” is the taming of the character in the play named Katherine. The behavioral and character change of Katherine is the real summary of the story with a sub plot of her sister’s marriage which was the reason for the transformation of Katherine’s life. Katherine was a notorious girl, with whom no man was ready to have a marriage relationship; but her marriage with Petruchio transforms her. The sigh produced by Katherine as she saw the sun shows how much change has come to her through the taming made by Petruchio. She says: “Come on, i’ God’s name; once more toward our father’s. Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon!” (Shakespeare, 104). She was ready to accept even wrong information from her husband without any regret.

To be clear about the play, the transformation of one or the other is schemed out throughout the comedy. Many of the alterations in the characters of the play even excited the characters themselves. The overall concept of the comedy “The Taming of the Shrew” is based on the theme of transformation occurring in many modes. Shakespeare has schemed out another play with the disguise and change as key tools for the approach towards the concluding scene of the play.

Art and Culture

The comedy “The Taming of the Shrew” is a complicated contemplation on the mechanisms of the theatres and presentation. The play deals with the backgrounds of both country and city. The setup of the play was thus arranged accordingly to meet the requirements. This necessitates a wider range of art in the play along with the variety of cultures portrayed. Shakespeare succeeded in plotting out the social and cultural aspects prevailed in all times related to the male-female positions and attitudes. “Penny Gay has argued that the taming narrative of The Shrew has extra nuances in a culture ‘tamed’ or subjugated by colonizers, where the colonized are feminized by their defeat and political impotence, and ‘the categories of women and indigenous people’ can be ‘conveniently conflated’” (Shakespeare, 45).

The culture existing at the time when the play was written and performed really influenced it to a great extent. The characters of Lords and Ladies represent that colonialism prevailed during the period. The effect of it was seen even in the relationship factors of the play throughout and of course the title has the word ‘tame’ as well.

Language and Communication

When the discussion deals with a play, the language and communication is of great importance to mention. The mode of speech will be at times in equality with the actions and deeds while at many a time they lead the activities. The communicating languages of the different characters are the defining factors of their behavior, manners and attitudes. Various emotions of the play can be made effective only with the help of a strong language and communication base. The audience is made to live with and as the characters through the successful communication of the characters with them. “Even more specifically, it would be possible to relate the many proverbial ways in which the “wor(l)d” “slides” in the Taming of the Shrew” (McDonald, 406).

The affiliation of the language and communication with the control and influence is irrefutable. The metaphorical usages increase the beauty of the play as well as convey the current mood, emotions and attitudes of the characters in the play. The success of a play lies in conveying what really the play represents and wills to convey. The author Shakespeare succeeded in that through his figurative language used in the comedy “The Taming of the Shrew”. It was established through the work that words have the highest influence in all ways than the deeds. The words of Katherine before and after marriage are having an entirely different attitude and temper. Also, the comics plotted out through the play have linguistically strong communication backgrounds.

Through the tricks of language and communication, Shakespeare succeeded in presenting the comedy “The Taming of the Shrew”. The culture and art along with the prevailing social grounds are depicted with a very strong language. On the basis of language and successful communication among the characters and the audience, the play is sturdy.

Gender

Gender is a vast theme in this play. It is an important theme because the theme gender tells about power. This play narrates the thoughts regarding gender in the 16^th century. It also explains the way in which the relationships between the two genders are shown. The play also deals with the testing and unbreakability of hierarchy in the relationships between men and women. The treatment of the roles of gender is discussed; that means the behavior of males and females that is socially established is discussed. The play tries to establish the traditional outlook that men are superior to women and the women should obey the men. The women should accept the dominance of men over them. The play tries to weaken the chauvinist assumptions of the position of women in the society.

“Until well into the nineteenth century, audiences and critics alike seem to have accepted at face value what appears to be the play’s central assumption about gender roles: that male dominance and female submission constitute the right and natural relationship between the sexes” (The Taming of the Shrew, para.1).

The treatment of Katherine by her husband Petruchio shows the dominance of men. In the 16^th century the women who were rebellious were a source of worry for men. Katherine was initially rebellious and self assertive. Her behavior was not liked by everyone. But after getting married to Petruchio her behavior got a drastic change. He never beats her to show superiority. But he uses several other methods to establish his authority. Petruchio became successful in making his wife loyal and obedient to him. But Petruchio is not considered as cruel man. His treatment of Katherine expresses the wish of men to bring women under their control. It also shows the treatment of women as objects in the 16^th century. The acts of Petruchio can be justified because all his behaviors were to change the rebellious character of Katherine and to bring back her to a normal character. Petruchio’s character was a support to Katherine for her reformation. Katherine is considered by Petruchio as his property. He marries her only for money. He was offered a large dowry and also the men who wanted to marry Bianca offered him money. Also he wished to judge her physically. All these show the treatment of Katherine as an object by Petruchio. Also Katherine is called as a commodity by Tranio who is the servant of Lucentio. The man’s awareness of women is also discussed in the play. In the play the lord’s ideas about women is told. He believes that women should be polite, modest, faithful and obedient. He also thinks that women are very emotional.

Marriage

The play explains about marriage and also makes fun of the fights occurring in the marital relations. The comic play encourages wedding and good relations between the couples in the 16^th century. It also condemns the wedding arrangements in which all the decisions are taken by men; and women do not have any contribution. “In the context of contemporary discussions of domestic relations, it supports the ideal of marriage based on mutual love within the framework of mutual authority” (Shakespeare and Heilman,175).

The play also explains how the men and women fight for their place after marriage. It tells that marriage is a financial business for men and they consider females as just an object for the transaction. This is shown in the relationship between Katherine and Petruchio. Petruchio always tries to have a superior position over his wife Katherine. Marriage is a solution to the love for a person to any other person. To fulfill their love, people do many things which they think will lead them to the marriage with the person they love. In this play the three characters Lucentio, Hortensio and Gremio wish to marry Bianca. The obstacle for them was her elder sister because Bianca can marry only after her sister’s marriage is over. So, the three appoint a person named Petruchio to marry her. The play, as usual, does not end in a marriage but it brings out the comparison between the life before and after the marriage. Shakespeare compares the lives of the two couples Katherine and Petruchio and Bianca and Lucentio.

Family

In “The Taming of the Shrew”, much importance is given to the family relationship, that is, relationship between husband and wife, relationship between father and daughters as well as father and sons. The main character Katherine is very bold, stubborn, hot-tempered girl and every one dislikes her character; so no one wishes to marry her as she never obeys others. The three guys Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio loved Katherine’s younger sister Bianca who is a very beautiful and calm girl. Three of them wished to marry Bianca but her father Baptista Minola said she will not marry till her elder sister’s marriage and Bianca also takes the same decision that she won’t marry until Katherine’s marriage.

“Until the elder sister first be wed;
The younger then is free and not before” (Shakespeare, 52).

Here they are giving more importance to the family; even the character of Katherine is very awful. Petruchio, the husband of Katherine married her as she is very rich, even she insulted him when he proposed to marry her he told that whether she concurs or not he will marry her. After their marriage, “Petruchio continues the process of “taming” Katherine by keeping her from eating or sleeping for several days—he pretends that he loves her so much he cannot allow her to eat his inferior food or to sleep in his poorly made bed” (Shakespeare, para.4).

Petruchio tamped his wife into an obedient and loyal wife as in his imagination and Katherine speaks that every wife should obey their husband; then only they can lead a happy married life. Even the character and culture of this husband and wife are totally different. Katherine compromised to live according to her husband’s wish for the welfare of her family.

Society and class

“The Taming of the Shrew” emphasizes the differences among the social classes that are the divergence between the people of upper class and lower class. And there is great discrimination between men and women in a society. There is no power or right for the women and they have to live under the control of men and they do not get the same opportunity of men in any field. This play is primarily based on the disquiet of married life. During this period the people married for money. While Petruchio tampered Katherine, he gave very cruel treatments in order to make her a wife in his likable character and she obeyed all his orders and lived according to his wish. The women who are bold and of irritating temperament are considered as shrew by the society will. Before marriage, Katherine was classified as a shrew. In this era the lords have all the authority and all others have to obey them mainly the people of lower class have to follow the orders of the lords.

Education

“The Taming of the Shrew” gives importance to education and the author says one will get more knowledge from his experience in real life than by studying from the school. In this play, as the theme is mainly about the penalty and cruelty, one can understand about the behavior of the people in a society which will be a good social lesson for them.

Works Cited

McDonald, Russ. Shakespeare: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 1945-2000. Wiley-Blackwell. 2004. 406.

Shakespeare, William and Heilman, Robert Bechtold. The Taming of the Shrew. 2^nd ed. Signet Classic. 1998. 175.

Shakespeare, William and Schafer, Elizabeth. The Taming of the Shrew. Cambridge University Press. 2002. 45.

Shakespeare, William. Taming of the Shrew: Act 4: Scene 5. Forgotten Books. 104.

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Kay Dreams. 1969. 52.

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew: Plot Overview. Spark Notes. 2009. Web.

The Taming of the Shrew: Gender Roles in Taming of the Shrew. Enotes.com. 2009. Web.

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