Women In The Taming Of The Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew Shrew was defined as being applied to women that stepped outside of prescribed social roles (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). Shrews were women who were seen as bossy, mouthy, aggressive, and disruptive (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). In The Taming of the Shrew, the shrew was a woman named Katherine who was tamed by her husband Petruchio. Petruchio went to Padua to find a wife with a large dowry (Keene, 2015). When they meet in Act 2 Scene 1, Katherine and Petruchio bantered when he addressed her as Kate, even though she corrected him (Keene, 2015). At the end of Act 2 Scene 1, Petruchio announced that they would get married on Sunday (Keene, 2015). Keene (2015) viewed this as emotional abuse as a result of the insults Katherine and Petruchio told each other. Furthermore, the National Domestic Violence Hotline would describe the relationship as unhealthy since they did not listen to each other and did not treat each other with respect (as cited in Keene, 2015, para. 3). During the same act and scene, Katherine hit Petruchio due to a vulgar comment made by Petruchio (Rivera, n.d.). Petruchio warned her that if she were to slap him again, he would hit her (Rivera, n.d.). Katherine and Petruchio got married in Act 3 Scene 2 where Petruchio arrived late (Rivera, n.d.). Once the

After rejecting her requests multiple times, Petuchio eventually accepts and forces her to walk to Padua in the hot sun (Keene, 2015). Katherine’s health was at risk as a result of being denied food and rest for days (Keene, 2015). He would make them return back to his house in the country, and restart their journey to Padua when she would disobey or disagree with him (Keene, 2017). Katherine eventually began to believe that she deserved the abuse and accused her behavior as being the problem (Keene,