Petruchio In Taming Of The Shrew

Finding a husband, bearing children, and listening to the husband, that’s how women are expected to behave during Shakespeare’s time. As a model for how modern-day women behaved, Katherine can’t even meet one of the standards. Katherine’s verbal attacks, compromise towards Petruchio, and attitude to the widow and Bianca showed how she’s simply playing a wife’s role to get what she wants in the play, Taming of the Shrew. As furious as she was, Katherine managed to attack others verbally even after her marriage. One of the reasons that Katherine is considered to be a shrew is her constant verbal attacks. In the first few acts, Katherine constantly attacks people instead of sitting quietly like Bianca. When Katherine first encountered into

She wants to please Petruchio so that he can give her what she wants. This is an act of compromising. If Katherine refuses to compromise, then she won’t be able to see the wedding drama. She’s only kissing Petruchio for her own selfish reasons. All Katherine wants to do is to stay and watch the drama, and the only way to stay is by listening to Petruchio. It’s not her love towards Petruchio that made her kiss him; it’s her desire to stay at the wedding. Still being straight forward and sarcastic, Katherine’s attitude towards the widow and Bianca shows how she’s not tamed. Katherine, no matter where or when, is still talking with sarcasm. In the beginning of the story, Katherine says, “What is your Crest? A coxcomb?” (II.i.239). Katherine is calling Petruchio a foolish man. The word “crest” is referring to the kind of caps that noble knights wear. But a “coxcomb” is a fool’s cap. Katherine knew that Petruchio is a wealthy man, but she thinks Petruchio’s a fool. By combining the two words, Katherine is basically calling Petruchio a foolish and arrogant man. After Petruchio’s attempts on taming Katherine, she says, “to painful labor both by land/ to watch the night in storms, the day in cold/ whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe” (V.ii.165-168). What it sounds like is that Katherine gives up on fighting back and describes the role of a wife passionately. However,