Taming Of The Shrew Gender Roles Essay

Shakespeare’s belief in the gender roles surrounding him is present in all of his work, including his “Taming of the Shrew” play in which the central plot surrounds the abuse and submission of women. His play features a man who does everything in his power to marry a woman purely because of her quiet nature, accompanied by a man whose primary goal is to gain possession of a woman and make her more submissive to men. He writes both of the women these men are after as complex, multidimensional characters, whose outgoing characteristics are portrayed as wrong, improper, or rude. While Shakespeare often writes complex women in his plays and allows them to have depth and emotion he consistently writes them in situations where their differing character

“How she was bemoiled, how he left her with the horse upon her, how he beat me because her the horse stumbled, how she waded through the dirt to pluck him off me, how he swore, how she prayed that never prayed before, how I cried” (IV, i, 60-64) Petruchio treats Kate horribly on their trip and does so to break her will and make her a more obedient wife. This sentiment alone is concerning and reveals part of Shakespeare’s beliefs. Women are treated like possessions or even hindrances for the entire duration of the book, with Kate not only abused by Petruchio but also by her father, whose primary goal is to get rid of her. These consistent aggressions toward women in Shakespeare’s plays are typically used to diminish a quality of theirs deemed as shrewd or improper.
Furthermore, Shakespeare paints all of these qualities as rude and unsuitable for proper and happy living. His work reveals a belief in femininity representing a submissive, gentle, and obedient character, and breaks in this character are treated poorly. “But if it were, doubt not her care should be
To comb your noddle with a three-legged stool,
And paint your face and use you like a

Petruchio even turns her defiant nature into a game, betting on whose wife will come back first when called, treating her like an animal, and acting as her owner. Kate was abused so much that she lost many defining characteristics that do not revolve around her husband, as they were seen as improper, further exhibiting Shakespeare’s belief in proper gender