Patriarchy In The Taming Of The Shrew

How does Franco Zeffirelli’s The Taming of the Shrew explore the construction of masculine fantasy?
In comedies the characters tend to be static and, so to speak, socially conditioned: they represent attitudes and modes of judgement that serve for the presentation and critical inspection of the everyday world.
In Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew , the play is constructed as an entirely fantastical world that is distant from reality. The dominance and agency of the patriarchy, particularly the character of Petruchio, strongly suggests that this fantasy is specifically masculine fantasy. The play’s characters being static aid in this masculine fantasy, as Zeffirelli explores the dynamics of gender in society. However,

Katherine’s character is introduced using an extreme close-up of her eye looking through a gap in a window , signifying an element of enigma around Katherine’s character as her body remains hidden. However, this enigma may be entirely based on masculine fantasy, as her body, being ‘stylised and fragmented’, becomes the ‘direct recipient of the spectator’s look’. Here Zeffirelli firmly establishes Katherine as an object for male observation, despite not being as widely desired as Bianca in the narrative, perhaps to suggest that The Taming of the Shrew is not only a constructed masculine fantasy, but more specifically, Petruchio’s masculine fantasy. Yet Katherine’s shrewish character does not mask actress Elizabeth Taylor’s beauty; the gaze transcends mere characterisation thanks to Taylor’s glamorous appearance, therefore transforming Katherine’s character from being ‘curst and shrewd’ to an object of masculine

Petruchio, and therefore the audience, view Katherine through iron bars as she flees, symbolising an attempt to escape her voyeur. This construction of the gaze in favour of Petruchio continues, as the use of Nino Rota’s orchestral non-diegetic soundtrack, with its romantic connotations, is juxtaposed with visuals of Katherine being cornered by Petruchio and weeping. Petruchio’s masculine fantasy is carefully constructed using Rota’s soundtrack, implying that Katherine’s emotional abuse is being distorted to comply with this fantasy, as if she should welcome her own subordination. Zeffirelli’s almost psychological manipulation of editing and soundtrack may suggest that his construction of masculine fantasy is absolute, however Katherine is presented by Shakespeare to not be fully tamed, meaning there are flaws in this fantasy. When Katherine and Petruchio debate over the sun and moon in the original text, Katherine’s compliance with Petruchio’s trickery is delivered using the third person: ‘And so it shall be so, for Katherine’. This use of the third person suggests an air of detachment, as if Katherine is responding for Petruchio’s ideal depiction of Katherine instead of her own thoughts. Katherine’s detachment certainly conveys a satirical mockery of Petruchio’s masculine fantasy which is also present in Zeffirelli’s adaptation.