Taming Of The Shrew Feminist Analysis

As one of the most controversial works of all time, “Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare can be interpreted in many different ways. This play has many layers and meanings behind it as is commonly referred to as one of the first feminist pieces to be written. But with so many differing viewpoints on this play, can we be sure that feminism was the basis of this piece? Although “Taming of the Shrew” can be interpreted to have a strong feminist tone, it is very clear that the play itself is actually about the toxicity that spurs from too much power in relationships.

Throughout the play, we see multiple relationships, not all romantic, that result in unhealthy interaction between those that are involved. For example, the play starts off

In holding this power Petruchio degrades and humiliates his wife in hopes to tame his “shrew”. Petruchio must use tactics such as starving her, not allowing her to sleep and blatantly talking down to her in attempt to change her into someone he can bare to spend the rest of his life with in order to reap the benefits of having a wife with a rich family. When meeting Petruchio, we learn that from the very start of his relationship with her, he already does not show her any respect as he continues to refer to her as “plain Kate, And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst, But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom, Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate—For dainties are all Kates” (2.1.179-183) after being asked specifically to refer to her as “Katherine”. This rough start to their relationship contradicts the Elizabethan era’s ideals of courtship. In this way, their relationship is unconventional and should be looked down upon in society’s eyes” (Keene). This relationship is immensely toxic from the very beginning and only goes downhill from there. The power that Petruchio has over Katherine causes her to have to endure incredibly harsh treatment from a significant other that she wanted nothing to do with in the first place. Katherine and Petruchio are seemingly the perfect couple at the end of the play making some readers believe that their relationship is a display of how success in a relationship sparks from compromise when in reality this relationship is built off of dehumanization of a wife by her