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Taming Of The Shrew Feminist Analysis

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In “The Taming of the Shrew”, taming is the most significant word. Taming has the most powerful meaning. To Tame. To tame someone or something. When an individual chooses to tame someone or something, they are implying that this “thing” is less than them and will never be their equal. They are implying that this person isn’t acting in such a way society has deemed fit for their: ethnicity, gender, social/economic status, etc., and since this person isn’t acting the way they should they believe that they should be tamed. From the very beginning of, The Taming of the Shrew”, Shakespeare reveals to his audience those who are not acting fit for society. We have Christopher Sly, who is “tamed” as a joke, and in the play within …show more content…

He doesn’t see her as his equal and he will never see her as his equal. Kate being the outspoken and “shrewd” woman must be tamed like an animal in order to fit her “husbands” definition of a woman. I believe that Petruchio and men that excuse his behavior are the problem, not the women in the play. These individuals believe that shrewd women are the problem and the only solution to this problem would be taming. If you are in a relationship (being platonically, and/or romanti-cally) the other person needs to be viewed as your equal. The key to every relationship is equality. It is plain and simple, one cannot have a healthy relationship with believing that the other party is inferior to them. I think the real question is can you really “tame” or control someone? Essentially, I don’t think it is really possible to tame people unless they actually want to be “tamed”. For example, if we look at history, all oppressed people have eventually fought back and created a revolution. (The Haitian Revolution, the French Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, etc.) In history there is a domino effect on the oppressed, you see the oppressed eventually grow tired of being con-trolled so they fight back (with violence or non-violence). They fight back to show that they no longer want to be controlled and something needs to …show more content…

Due to the Willie Lynch theory, Some African Americans have been tamed into thinking that light skin is superior to darker skin. Referring to hair, anything closer to straight hair is the best. However, due to the current “trend” of natural hair having curly hair is better than having an afro and so forth. The colorism issue as well as the hair type issue in the Black community are extreme problems that need to be addressed. These issues have been going on for so long that it is going to take a long time fixing the issues at hand. The examples that I referred to above are simply stating that when an oppressed person lacks self-love (ex: A person not loving themselves because of their complexion) then the oppressor has won. The oppressor has won yet again in taming the minds of many and further corrupting their mindset into thinking what they have and what they are is considered bad. The oppressed from the example is lacking self-love and is further mentally enslaving themselves into a system of op-pression (the Willie lynch theory). This all began with taking away the power, and knowledge of where the slaves were originally

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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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793 Words | 4 Pages

Katherine the main character, is labeled as a shrew by the whole town for the fact that she would rather speak her mind then be put down by others. Grade A comedy. If the roles were to be reversed and Katherine was the one to tame Petruchio this would no longer be a comedy of this era but a controversial portrayal of women being superior to men in a way. * Gasps*

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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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534 Words | 3 Pages

Petruchio later on says that he is the master of Kate and has full control over her. This meaning her clothing, what she eats, her actions, everything. This is just one example of how Petruchio is very immature and impolite acting as if Kate is a slave to

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809 Words | 4 Pages

She was described as a “shrew”, bring us back to the title “Taming of the Shrew”. Petruchio knew that Katherine was tamed when she finally complied with him. On the road to Padua, Petruchio "breaks" Kate. He pretends that the sun is the moon and demands that Kate go along with what he says. Then, when they encounter an old man, Petruchio pretends that the old man is young girl, which Kate also goes along

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While Patrick is paid by Joey to take out Kat on a date so his is able to take out Bianca. The transformation of the characters is another similaty between Shakespeare’s play and the movie. In The Taming of the Shrew, Kate transforms from someone who rebels against all acts of conforming into an obedient and polite wife who respects her husband. In the movie Kat has a massive transformation in her views and behavior because of her experiences throughout the

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1004 Words | 5 Pages

An example of this are the many religious extremists oppressing minorities because it was how they were raised. If a person was told repeatedly that woman, certain races, etc. they are likely to develop a long lasting hate. A very commonly looked at example of this is the way women are severely oppressed by many people today and especially in the past. In the US it wasn’t until 1918 that woman could vote, and African Americans couldn't vote until 1965.

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Throughout history, women have always been considered inferior to men. Women are typically supposed to stay home and care for the children, quieter than men, do not need an education, and are supposed to listen and do what they are told. The men are the ones in charge. They are “always at the top”, expected to work to provide for their family, and tell their wives what to do. When reading “Taming of the Shrew” by Shakespeare and watching “10 Things I hate About You” directed by Gil Junger, the stereotypes and gender role of Katherine (Kat) and the sisterly relationship between Katherine (Kat) and Bianca come across.

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Scene ii. page 46). On the other hand, Kate who used to rebel against male supremacy, starts acting as a woman after being tamed by Petruchio. “Unknit that threat'ning unkind brow and dart not scornful glances from those eyes to wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.” (Act V. scene ii page 85).

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Although, lying is a huge crack in the trust of those people in the relationship; relationship that contains violence is even more critical on if the relationship will still stay strong (Boyes). An emotionally and psychologically abusive relationship is one of the critical taming that destroys other person’s self-worth, leads to depression and anxiety, and makes the person feel helpless. Understanding that violence is a habit that weakens and destructs the bond between two partners; Shakespeare takes the idea of violence and turns it upside-down by stating that violence is important technique with a rich outcomes. In the comedy, The Taming of The Shrew, Shakespeare introduces the idea of taming as a progressive disclosure that at the end would

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1215 Words | 5 Pages

Taming of the Shrew is a dramatic comedy in which several suitors try to captivate and marry a beautiful woman named Bianca. However, the suitors stumble upon an issue; Bianca’s older sister, Kate, is not married. Bianca is only eligible for marriage if Kate is married, so the suitors set out to find Kate a man. During Taming of the Shrew, the suitors of both Kate and Bianca are dishonest and deceive the sisters using disguises and mind games which results in a breakdown of all the characters.

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Kate is sworn off by her community while Petruchio gets to share a laugh with the other men, despite having arguably acted worse than her. Shakespeare intended for the viewers of the play to leave feeling guilty about the harshness Kate met; an inequality that is only apparent when done so excessively, especially considering the patriarchal forces in society at that time. Unlike Katherine, many women of that time would not have been given the opportunity to speak and act so boldly without severe punishment. Because of this, Shakespeare used her character as a medium through which to make society question its practices behind the thin veil of

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683 Words | 3 Pages

Petruchio wants to marry Katherine for her dowry, but he also wants to be loved for who he is. In order to have both of those, he needs to be able to “tame” Katherine. If he is able to have Katherine not be so opinionated and defiant, she will finally be respected and loved because of her feminine nature and he will get Katherine’s dowry and her love. After Katherine is “tamed”, she gets the feminism she wants and a way to manipulate Petruchio with her feminism. For example, “Katherine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women what duty they do owe their lords and husbands,” Katherine is given permission and told to lecture and chastise Bianca and the widow about what they owe their husbands, which is one of the things that she enjoys to do most.

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1049 Words | 5 Pages

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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