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Taming Of The Shrew Conventions

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“The Taming of the Shrew” is a comedic play composed by Shakespeare. The play is centred around the Elizabethan conventions that were relevant during Shakespeare's time. The ‘Taming of the Shrew’ is based around the story of two young damsels who are sisters, but very different from one another. Bianca is the youngest sister and is praised for being a submissive and beautiful girl, a true manifestation of the male fantasy, while Katherina, the oldest sister is notoriously known for being shrewish and rough. The conventions portrayed in the play are patriarchal dominance and female subordination between Petruchio and Katherina, courtship and dating whilst showing the power imbalance between women and men throughout the Elizabethan era, and finally …show more content…

This hierarchy is represented by the dialogue that occurs between Tranio and Lucentio. The young noble, Lucentio confides in his faithful servant Tranio about his desire to wed Baptista Minola's daughter Bianca, but having difficulties due to his fellow schoolmaster as Lucientio thinks he also wants to pursue Bianca. Shakespeare’s credible use of connotations when Tranio responds in lines 135-138, “we’ll overreach the greybeard Gremio, the narrow-prying father Minola, the quaint musician, the amorous Litio, all for my master’s sake, Lucientio,” displays his unwavering dedication to helping Lucentio, his master. Tranio is an excellent representation of the loyalty and devotion that were required of servants during that age since he shows that he is willing to outsmart and deceive other suitors competing for Bianca's hand, indicating that the servants during Elizabethan times were loyal and tried their best to keep them content as their purpose for serving them while the masters didn’t feel the need to keep the attendant pleased. This allows the audience to recognise the different treatment the servants and masters proposed to each other. We effectively acknowledged the social hierarchy through our re-enactment of, “The Taming of the Shrew,” with the positioning of the master and servant on the stage and the body language they utilised. We placed Lucientio in the middle to illustrate his importance with his confident body language and Tranio on his side, slightly behind him to convey a shadow with a more reserved body motion, ensuring his subordinate role, by utilising these theatrical techniques we allow the audience to understand the difference of power portrayed throughout the servants and masters. By using the stage positions and body language, we adeptly portray differences of

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Taming Of The Shrew Quotes

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In William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew the question of who is the real "shrew" is a subject of much debate. Throughout the play, the characters of Katherina and Bianca are portrayed as contrasting figures, with Katherina being described as the initial "shrew" and Bianca being seen as the sweet, submissive woman. As the play progresses, we see the switch between the two women as Katherina becomes more obedient and Bianca’s true colours are shown. At the beginning of the play, Katherina is depicted as a sharp-tongued, unruly woman who defies authority and engages in verbal battles with those around her. Her behaviour is exemplified when she strikes Petructchio, and he responds, "I swear I'll cuff you if you strike again" (2.1 222)

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The most apparent show of behavioral double standard is the treatment of Katherine compared to the treatment of Pertuchio. Both characters are presented as wild and free. They never hold their tongues, have violent tendencies, and are of sufficient wealth: yet, only the female character is painted as a shrew. Katherine’s behavior is the focal point of the play.

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1111 Words | 5 Pages

The movie “The Taming of the Shrew,” by Franco Zeffirelli, is based on the play by Shakespeare. At the beginning of the movie, Katherine is always jealous of her younger sister Bianca. She feels that Bianca is more loved by their father than she is. She acts horribly towards everyone so that no one will marry her, because Bianca can’t be married until Katherine is. Then Petruchio came along and agreed to marry Katherine, even though he had never met her before.

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642 Words | 3 Pages

Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew focuses mainly on gender roles through Petruchio taming Kate by forcing her to act as a submissive wife. The main theme throughout this play was the contradicted roles of genders. The acts of Petruchio throughout the play shows the basic depiction of a male from the perspective of Shakespeare. He basically acts like a man who has supreme power over his wife and can do whatever he wants. His carless behavior is highlighted when he came to the wedding “in a new hat and an old jerkin, a pair of old breeches thrice turned, a pair of boots that have been candle cases, one buckled, another laced; an old rusty sword ta'en out of the town armory, with a broken hilt and chapeless; with two broken points; his horse hipped, with an old mothy saddle and stirrups of no kindred” (Act III.

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4057 Words | 17 Pages

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‘But in the other's silence do I see, maid's mild behavior and sobriety. Peace, Tranio’ this is the very first time that Lucentio sees Bianca and tells of the reasons why men find Bianca so attractive is because of her silence and obedience for her father makes her a suitable candidate for wifehood. This goes to suggest that women are supposed to be quiet and obedient to their male counterparts and that they should be easy to control and oppress. In act 1 scene 2, page 192-203 one of Petruchio speeches gives to assert his shrew-taming skills, this passage reflects the way Petruchio and the other men measure their masculinity by assessing their hierarchical relationships with women. The implication is that if a man can't control his woman, he's effeminate rather than masculine.

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547 Words | 3 Pages

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815 Words | 4 Pages

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1251 Words | 6 Pages

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