The Taming of the Shrew is a Shakespearean comedy written around 1590-94. This play features many relationships, some of which are romantic and others which are plutonic. Throughout the play, Shakespeare engages the audience through different literary techniques and connecting them to certain relationships. Most of the comedic elements in The Taming of the Shrew derive from the witty banter, which at times can include clever imagery, another major element to the play. As the entire play revolves around and contains relationships, a vital part of the play is the understanding of the relationships.
Many of the characters in the play commonly converse in with witty banter which emphasises the comedy of the play that entices the audience. This
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The main relationship throughout the play is between Katherina and Petruchio, one of which is romantic. Throughout the entire play it is shown that Petruchio tries to tame Katherina and although making it seem as though he hates her, he truly loves her and does it to help the woman he loves. This has a positive effect on both Katherina and Petruchio as she learns how to be the nice person she truly is and the both gain respect for each other. “Katherina: Nay, I will give thee a kiss. \ Now pray thee, love, stay.\ Petruchio: Is not this well? Come, my sweet Kate\ Better once than never, for never too late” (Shakespeare, 2001, 5:1, 127-130). This shows how the couple has finally put aside their past problems and are happily married. At the ending of the play, all married couples are gathered and a test as to the love and obedience of the wives to their husbands are proved to be not is initially expected. The perfect love at first sight couple that is Bianca and Lucentio, turn out to be a treacherous couple and the true colours of Bianca are shown (Shakespeare, 2001, 5:2, 35-135). All relationships throughout the play are never straight forward, hence creating emotion that the audience themselves are felt, but also the comedic relief to finish the