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How Is Katherine Presented In The Taming Of The Shrew

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Throughout the play, ‘The Taming of The Shrew’ Katherine has been through a series of events and multiple emotions. At the start of the play Katherine was opinionated and challenges men, because of her behaviour and act she was known around the kingdom as a shrew which is a bad tempered or aggressively assertive woman. There were many suitors for her younger sister, Bianca, but none for her as men knew who she was and was uninterested. Baptista(the father) has to marry off his oldest daughter in order for Bianca to get married and it would benefit him as well because of the dowry the men that was going to marry his daughters had to offer. In act two scene one, Petruchio and Katherine met for the first time and it started off with an argument …show more content…

He considered this manipulation as ‘kills her with kindness’ and he used excuses such as the food not being good enough for her to eat and the bed not being comfortable enough to his standards so he ‘fixes’ it by making her sleep deprived and starving. In all of act five there was a clear and vivid difference in how Katherine was behaving she was finally obeying her husband, Petruchio. From his manipulation, she finally gave in, in scene two she gave a speech to her little sister Bianca and a widow telling them that they should obey their husbands. Within this speech she has used textual integrity such as metaphorical language, a range of positive and negative emotions, repetition, and accumulative listing. In this speech Katherine has used the technique of metaphorical language to make a clear and vivid image of what being a married woman in this time was like and how they had to obey their husbands. An example from her speech are ‘A woman owes her husband the same loyalty a subject owes his king.’ Another example is ‘The disrespect for stance towards the man who is your lord, your king, your governor tarnishes your beauty the way the frosts of winter lights the land’ within this quote she has also used accumulative listing to drill the message into Bianca and the widow’s head that their husband should be treated like

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973 Words | 4 Pages

Once again, the events in Katherine's life deride her identity. She is trapped in a situation she cannot escape from that mocks her need for independence. Kates ending monologue reflects not a different side of her, but a completely different person. While the audience of the play can mourn the loss of who Katherine used to be, the play continues to clown her, even though she now behaves how women did in that time. “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee” (V..140–141).

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330 Words | 2 Pages

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

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886 Words | 4 Pages

In the context of the rigid and patriarchal society of the Elizabethan era, "The Taming of the Shrew" presents a stark depiction of power dynamics within marital relationships. In Act 5, Scene 2, Katherine states, "Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee." The use of anaphora with the repeated "thy" emphasises Petruchio's control over Katherine. This quote highlights her complete consent, illustrating the cruel power of sixteenth-century gender roles. Another quote, "He does it under the name of perfect love," employs personification to show Katherine defending Petruchio's abusive actions as acts of love.

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510 Words | 3 Pages

Besides Katherine's speech, the play has lots of misogynistic themes and moments. Petruchio's behavior toward Katherine highlights this through his harsh "taming" methods. He deprives her of food and sleep, messes with her sense of reality, and manipulates her emotions. Petruchio acts this way because he deeply believes that women should see them as lords and as someone to obey. For instance, when he proclaims on page x, line x, "I am he born to tame you."

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809 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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613 Words | 3 Pages

To save herself from more agony, torture, and pain, Katherine allowed herself to be tamed. Gleed refers to this in his article: “Kate enjoys a kind of triumph at the end, not only maintaining dignity but manipulating a bad situation into an acceptable outcome.” (Bloom 2011). This explains how Katherine surrendered her sovereignty to find happiness and harmony within her marriage. Lucentio, Katherine’s sister Bianca’s husband, mentions after Katherine’s spiel about the position a wife must take that she allowed herself to be tamed by saying “Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so.”

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707 Words | 3 Pages

However, his quote is contradicting itself because even though he truly liked Bianca, he still refers to her as if he is her owner. In this play, there are many opinions of an ideal marital

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376 Words | 2 Pages

his long speech by Katherine at the end of the play shows a shocking transformation of her opinion on marriage, men, and the role of women and it takes everyone that hears it by surprise. The once very well known shrew is now stating that Bianca and Hortensio 's widow are bad wives for looking angrily at their husbands. Katherine describes husbands as lords, kings, and governors. She also says that a woman 's husband protects and supports her. While the husband 's are living a life of danger and responsibility, the wives are warm and safe and secure in their home.

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569 Words | 3 Pages

Cynical, inconsiderate, rude, uncooperative, all words you may describe who Katherine was within the start of the play. She even said at one point, “No shame but mine: I must forsooth, be forced to give my hand, opposed against my heart” (Act III, scene II). She would have preferred to lose her limb, than to be claimed someone’s wife. She had an uncontrollable spirit, was a tad bit aggressive, no one knew what to do with her, and it got to that point where she was just know as “The Shrew”. Baptist announces that Katherine must marry before Bianca, since she was the eldest.

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760 Words | 4 Pages

It implies petruchio’s behavior is a mirror of Katherines and is horrible. Their entrance is led by Petruchio doing everything from Kate. Peter says that because he’s treating everyone the same way she treats them. While doing this Kate is slowly starting to realize how she acts and how that looks to everyone. Petruchio is killing her with her own act of everyday life and she’s what kind of imprint she leaves.

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1563 Words | 7 Pages

While countless scholars believe Katherina’s shrewdness is an aspect of her personality, it seems that Katherina’s is simply a child who is reacting to the love she does not receive from her own father. This can be seen in the way Baptista discusses Katherina and how he treats her, the way Bianca is treated more fairly by Baptista, Baptista’s reaction to a potential marriage between Katherina and Petruchio, and the fact that once Katherina does receive love from someone, she is no longer sulking in her anger. Before analyzing the relationship between Baptista and Katherina, first the reader needs to understand the concept of a shrew. Traditionally known to be “loquacious, scolding, railing, irrationally violent, tricky women”

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547 Words | 3 Pages

Katherine never wanted to get married, and no one really wanted to marry her. Then Petruchio came into town, In Act 1, Scene 2, Line 56-57 he says “I have thrust myself into this maze, happily to wive and thrive, as best I may.” By saying this he means he came into town looking for a wife and money. That is when Katherine was brought up and he became interested in her.

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856 Words | 4 Pages

Katherine was undesirable because of her attitude. In response to Katherine’s arguments, they would say “from all such devils, good Lord, deliver us” (Shr 1.1.66). Even Katherine’s own father admitted that “I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all” (Shr 5.2.65). Katherine attracted men that were strong in themself, such as Petruchio, while Bianca brought on the sentimental and softer men like Lucentio. For women such as Bianca, a personality was unrequired for love because of her beauty.

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985 Words | 4 Pages

Because Katherine did not act like a proper lady should of her social class, she was seen as the “ugly sister” between Bianca and herself. This alienation led her to be miserably unhappy. From the way that she is portrayed, some would say she deserves it. No one really knows what Katherine is honestly thinking. Those that just breeze through the book would just assume Katherine was always like that from the start, but if you read closely, you’d realize that the only person’s happiness at stake was Katherine’s.

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936 Words | 4 Pages

And, rather than it shall, I will be free Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words” (4.3.78-85). Katherine is saying that she will not be silenced and declares her freedom in saying what she wants to say, it shows that she has subjectivity in that she has control over her mouth and what she says. By the women of the play having subjectivity, it shows that The Taming of the Shrew is subversive.

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