Hook. Set In Padua, Italy, The Taming of the Shrew is a Shakespearean comedy depicting the courtship between Petruchio, a young man searching for a rich wife, and the shrewish Katherine, a violent and angry merchants’ daughter. Petruchio vows to tame Katherine and throughout the book he employs a variety of methods to shape her into his ideal submissive wife. The play concludes with Petruchio winning a contest in which he proves that Kate has been turned into an obedient wife who will submit to his will without argument. In her essay “The Raw and the Cooked in The Taming of the Shrew” Camille Slights argues that Petruchio aids Kate in breaking out of the social norms that confine her and teaches her how to properly function in society. In an …show more content…
She also discusses the implications of the modern term Stockholm syndrome. In her article Detmer states, “Just because Petruchio never hits Katherine, or whips her and wraps her in the salted hide of his favorite horse, does not neccesarily mean his treatment is better or less oppressive than if he had” (Detmer). Detmer points out that just because Petruchio's methods were considered civilized compared to past wife-taming stories, it does not mean that we should dismiss the harm his actions had on Katherine. Detmer proceeds to state, “Rather than beat Kate into submission, he threatens her in a manner that recalls Stockholm syndrome, coercing her into internalizing his wishes if she is to eat or sleep or escape isolation…Depriving her of both food and sleep will make her weak and materially dependent on him” (Detmer 285). Detmers analysis in this quote supports her claim that Petruchio’s coercion and actions towards Katherine, in terms of Stockholm syndrome, make him a “quintessential abuser” (Detmer 284). She argues that his isolation of Kate from any who would help her and his threats in the name of love, in the modern day, would classify Kate and Petruchio’s love as Stockholm syndrome. Dertmer continues to support her argument saying, “He repeatedly alternates