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Katherine's Final Speech In The Taming Of The Shrew

963 Words4 Pages

Reneea’-Patrine Davidson
Katherine’s Final Speech: A defense of Marriage or A capitulation to Patriarchy?

Shared Power in The Taming of the Shrew
Throughout the play, The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare and Amy Smith’s “Performing Marriage with a difference: Wooing, Wedding, and Bedding in The Taming of the Shrew,” Smith dually notes that marriage is the prime factor of what Shakespeare is portraying. Marriage is a joining of one mind and body that pulls the heart. The Taming of the Shrew addresses the aspect of one mind and body with use of characterization, Petruchio, and Katherine. In Katherine’s final speech she embodies what it means to be one mind and body with your spouse. Smith writes, “Katherine is not determined by her …show more content…

In this scene Petruchio is telling Katherine there is a moon Katherine then states, “The moon? The sun! It is not moonlight light now” (Shakespeare 185). Petruchio quarrels and states, “it is what I say is it.” Now, Katherine is tired and have no more strength to argue so she agrees and said, “it is whatever you say it is moon or sun.” In the end, even Petruchio tactics were extreme it worked and show that equal power can be established if both parties agree to disagree. Katherine states, “Place your hands below your husband’s foot;/ In token of which duty if he please, / My hand is ready, may it do him ease” (Shakespeare 177-79). Smith states that the performance of Katherine’s submission is somewhat of a romantic gesture, “this scene idealizes and romanticizes that model embracing it with nostalgic value of a vision of social order passing away.” This when Katherine feels that she is no longer on this journey alone, but she has a partner that understands her both strengths and

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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).

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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)

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Katherine's devotedness towards Petruchio at the end of the play is Shakespeare's way of commentating on the gender roles enforced upon society at that time. It is mocking

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Modern day communication and relationships were vastly different but, the movie really portrayed the “lovey-dovey” aspect of The Taming of the Shrew. The movies atmosphere and era helped with that portrayal. Seeing as women were not just property but more leaning towards as actual human beings and “almost” equal in standards to men. Leading into my final subject the role of women in these

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And thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humor.” He believes that in starving his wife and keeping her awake, she will do anything he wishes to acquire these basic human necessities. Shuqair states it perfectly, “In Act IV, Petruchio's power is further established through Katherine's loss of identity and her subjective vision of the world. Starving her into submission and denying her sleep, Petruchio effects complete mastery over her. All of this violence is done, as Petruchio himself says, ‘in reverend care of her’(IV.i.204), and, as Katherine recognizes, ‘under

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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.

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Petruchio and Katherine are two characters in Shakespeare ’s play “Taming of the Shrew”. Petruchio was a single man with money running out looking for a rich wife. There was a situation between Katherine and her sister Bianca. Bianca couldn’t get married until Katherine did.

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She is very self aware and knows he is trying to make a “fool” out of her even on her big day. When Katherine was doing the smallest act to disrespect a man, she got harrassed, but when Petruchio shows up and disrespects his soon to be wife, she's still the one who gets looked down upon. CONCLUDING In “We Should All Be Feminists” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, she expresses how even from a young age women are being treated unfairly and that it is becoming such a normal thing to do. In this book, Adichie had talked to one of her friends about her workplace and her experiences there. It was uncomfortable because, ”She didn't want to speak up because she didn't want to be aggressive(23).”

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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?

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Taming of the Shrew provides an in-depth look at the social and political lifestyle in the early 1600’s. Many of the messages gathered from this play is a shocking surprise at the gender roles and the change that has taken place over a few hundred years. Men made sure they remained complete seniority over the household. They were perceived as only good for household chores, making food, and their families property. Marital arrangements in the 17th century were not about love, happiness, and comfort, but rather social reputation, money, and property.

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Shakespeare’s play “Taming of the Shrew” has quite a controversial plot, theme, and dialogue. Many accuse Shakespeare of being sexist, and having a hatred towards women. People tend to compare this old play to modern times, and compare Petruchio 's actions to what is socially acceptable in our generation. We can’t help but compare. Growing up in a culture where women are treated generally well (for the most part,) makes this play seem disturbing, alarming, and difficult to comprehend.

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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.

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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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Ever wonder about gender roles in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew? In Taming of the Shrew, the gender roles affect the characters in a rather negative way, and when they surface in the play, it’s rather shocking. This essay will discuss how gender roles affect the characters in what I believe is a negative way, and how they surface in the play. In this play, the men appear to have a particular idea on how all women should behave.

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It is a story of how Petruchio, the money-grubbing wife hunter, transforms the aggressive and bad-tempered Katherine Minola into an obedient, honey-tounge trophy wife. Written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1594, it's one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies. It is also one of his most controversial works as well. The Taming of the Shrew has been criticized for its representation of abusive behavior and misogynistic attitudes toward women, and the play has pretty much been dogged since it was first performed. There is a lot of evidence that Shrew made, even Shakespeare's contemporary audiences more than a little squeamish.

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