Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare - Essay Example

Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare Order no.264771 January ‘09 Taming of the shrew by Shakespeare The Taming of the Shrew, written around 1592, is one of William Shakespeares earliest plays. It is set in the town of Padua during the Italian Renaissance. This comedy is about wealth being the main motivating factor for marriage. A rich nobleman Baptista has two daughters, Katharina and Bianca. Katharina, the eldest daughter is ill tempered and without any suitors, while the younger Bianca appears to be charming and has many suitors. Their father is insistent that Katharina must marry first. Petruccio, a brash young man is in search of a rich wife and hastily agrees to marry Kate even though he has not met her. Petruchio does not mind marrying a woman “as foul as was Florentius’ love,/ As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd/ As Socrates’ Xanthippe, or a worse”, as long as she is wealthy. The play focuses on Petruchios attempts at "taming" Katherine. In the end Petruccio and Kate become true lovers when they discover that they have similar and strong characters. On the other hand Bianca marries Lucentio, and after her marriage, reveals her spoiled character. The Taming of the Shrew is very different from some of his other romantic plays like Romeo and Juliet in that it focuses more on the social aspects of marriage than on emotions that are involved in a marriage. Economic considerations are considered extremely important when contemplating marriage. Lucentio is allowed to marry Bianca only after he promises that his father can provide a larger dowry than Hortensio. His ‘father’ has to promise that the money will be paid. Petruccio is ready to marry any woman with a large dowry. By intertwining the two plots, that of Katherina and Bianca, Shakespeare emphasizes the economic aspects of marriage. There is no emotional desire to marry. Emotions here play a secondary role instead. Those days it was mainly economic considerations that determined who married whom and marriages involved transactions and transfers of money. The Taming of the Shrew examines love and marriage but does not end with the wedding. It shows us glimpse of the lives of married couples and explores the social dimension of love. Again here it does not explore the passions and emotions of lovers but explores relationships from a social perspective.  The play focuses on how courtship and marriage affects not just the lovers but also their parents, their friends and their servants. In a marriage negotiations take place between the future husband and the father of the future. Marriage is more of a transaction that involves transfer of money. For instance in the play, Lucentio wins Bianca’s heart, but he can marry her only after he can convince Baptista, her father, that he is enormously rich. If Hortensio, another suitor had offered more money to Baptista, he would have been allowed to marry Bianca, regardless of whether she loved Lucentio or Hortensio. Love and money are intertwined throughout The Taming of the Shrew. These words of Tranio and Gremio, Bianca’s suitors when they put forth their offers to Baptista in lieu of Bianca’s hand amply prove that marriage proposals are accepted by weighing of material wealth. "First, as you know, my house within the city/Is richly furnished with plate and gold,/Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands," says Gremio. "Two thousand ducats by the year, [...] three great argosies, besides two galliases/And twelve tight galleys," says Tranio. Similarly Petruchio too demands that Katharina come with sufficient wealth: He asks Baptista, "if I get your daughters love,/What dowry shall I have with her to wife?". Money becomes an important factor in securing marriage so much so that the characters in the play are driven to desperate and sometimes even ludicrous measures to prove that they are wealthy. In one instance Tranio is shown grabbing a man from the street to play the role of the wealthy Vincentio. Lucentios decision to marry is nearly as quick as Petruchios. He makes his decision after seeing Biancas face and before he learns about her fortune. However even in Lucentios case financial considerations are still there. Lucentio has to convince Baptista that he is wealthier than the other suitors before he can marry Bianca. Although it is not Lucentio who desires the money he is not allowed to marry Bianca without proving that he is the heir to his fathers fortune. Shakespeare in the play wants to show that all the characters are interested in money because those days money played a very important role in making a marriage socially acceptable . Most of the characters in the play cannot think of marrying outside their own class. For instance, Hortensio is unhappy when he realizes that Bianca loves Lucentio but he is equally unhappy and surprised that a noblewoman should be interested in a mere Latin teacher. The characters marry within their own class so as to get the blessings of their parents, which was a social necessity in Elizabethan society. Baptista makes it clear to Tranio that money is required if he wants to marry his daughter. He tells Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, "I must confess your offer is the best; / And, let your father make her the assurance, / She is your own". Children who decided to ignore their families and get married faced ostracism. This to some extent justifies the decisions the characters take in Taming the shrew. Even though Shakespeare lays emphasis on money being a prerequisite for a successful marriage, he also highlights the need for practical love. In the end he shows that Lucentio and Biancas courtship fails at the practical level whereas Katharina and Petruchio love each other and are happy to be married. Though Bianca and Lucentio end up marrying, theyre not happy and it is apparent that their relationship will not improve. Whereas Petrucio and Katharena begin to understand each other and during the "taming" process they get to look at the worst side of the others personality and see each other’s fault. This makes them understand each other better. Petruchio and Katherinas relationship on the surface looks like it is purely about Petruchios desire for wealth while Lucentio and Biancas love seems to be pure and true. However when one takes a closer look at the two relationships one finds that there is more likelihood of Petruchio and Katherinas marriage bringing happiness than Lucentio and Biancas. For Katherina what in the beginning was a battle turns into pleasure. Her words: To bandy word for word and frown for frown; / But now I see our lances are but straws” prove this point. Petruchio begins to respect Katharina. “In her final speech, her allusions to the husband’s care for his wife are evocative of the deprivations inflicted during the taming process, deprivations which have inculcated a formative bodily dependence and gratitude” ( Paul Yachtin, 1996)). Lucentio and Bianca’s relationship which is based more on instinct and shallow attraction is weak. And is more of a power struggle. Here Shakespeare advocates the traditional idea that marriage can be harmonious if one partner is dominant. Petruchio and Katherine’s relationship initially is troublesome but Petruchio’s strategy turns Katherine into an obedient companion proving the point that a dominant and subservient role is more functional.  Whereas Lucentio and Bianca’s relationship is peaceful in the beginning and ends in conflict, Petruchio and Katherine’s relationship begins with conflict and ends in peace. Shakespeares Taming of the Shrew makes a social statement of the period of the 1600s. It takes satirical digs at social climbing and class stratification that was prevalent then. Women then lived in a patriarchal society and could not choose a husband. It was that was the task of their father to choose their husband. In this play it is Baptista, the father, who decides. According to Peter Saccio (1984) “Male supremacy was a matter of fathers as well as of husbands”. In that era men wielded strong control over their women and if the women resisted men labeled them as shrews and physically tried to subdue them. Shakespeare did not support this violent treatment of women. By using comedy and showing the ludicrous nature of Katharina and Petrochio’s relationship he demonstrates the positive qualities of a relationship that has either a shrewish wife or an abusive husband. During the Elizabethan era feminine qualities such as obedience, chastity, and submissiveness were encouraged. In The Taming of the Shrew Bianca is the silent and obedient daughter and Kate, the shrew. It is Kates temper that chases away many of her suitors. This shows that a headstrong woman was not well thought of in that period. During Shakespeare’s time men considered marriage as a way to get rich; Love was not a part of it. In Taming of the Shrew Padua is a rich place and many suitors came there with the hope of becoming wealthy. “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua,” says Petruchio. He asks outright, “Then tell me – if I get your daughter’s love, what dowry shall I have with her to wife?” The husbands those days were given a dowry by the father of the daughter at the time of marriage. If a woman was not married she was looked down upon. Also the eldest daughter had to be married off first and in this play too Baptista insists that Katharina gets married first. “Her father keeps from all access of suitors and will not promise her to any man until her elder sister first be wed.” Wives in that era were considered as possessions of the husband and Shakespeare too has shown this. “She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my household-stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything” is how Petruchio describes Katherina. Shakespeare’s men in the play are dominant and do not care about their wives. In the Elizabethan era too women never had any power and were dominated by their husbands. Katherina’s speech in the end to other women when she says “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee” proves that Shakespeare too portrayed women in similar light. In conclusion it can be said that the play focuses heavily on the social aspects of marriage rather than on the feelings or emotions of the characters and that economic benefits are the main perquisites of a marriage. By portraying this trend Shakespeare was only portraying the trend of his era. References 1. Saccio, Peter, (1984), Kate Plays the Game, http://www.amrep.org/past/shrew/shrew1.html 2. Shakespeare, William, The Norton Shakespeare, 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 3. Yachtin, Paul, (1996), “Personations: The Taming of the Shrew and the Limits of Theoretical Criticism”. Early Modern Literary Studies, http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/02-1/yachshak.html Read More

Love and money are intertwined throughout The Taming of the Shrew. These words of Tranio and Gremio, Bianca’s suitors when they put forth their offers to Baptista in lieu of Bianca’s hand amply prove that marriage proposals are accepted by weighing of material wealth. "First, as you know, my house within the city/Is richly furnished with plate and gold,/Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands," says Gremio. "Two thousand ducats by the year, [.] three great argosies, besides two galliases/And twelve tight galleys," says Tranio.

Similarly Petruchio too demands that Katharina come with sufficient wealth: He asks Baptista, "if I get your daughters love,/What dowry shall I have with her to wife?". Money becomes an important factor in securing marriage so much so that the characters in the play are driven to desperate and sometimes even ludicrous measures to prove that they are wealthy. In one instance Tranio is shown grabbing a man from the street to play the role of the wealthy Vincentio. Lucentios decision to marry is nearly as quick as Petruchios.

He makes his decision after seeing Biancas face and before he learns about her fortune. However even in Lucentios case financial considerations are still there. Lucentio has to convince Baptista that he is wealthier than the other suitors before he can marry Bianca. Although it is not Lucentio who desires the money he is not allowed to marry Bianca without proving that he is the heir to his fathers fortune. Shakespeare in the play wants to show that all the characters are interested in money because those days money played a very important role in making a marriage socially acceptable .

Most of the characters in the play cannot think of marrying outside their own class. For instance, Hortensio is unhappy when he realizes that Bianca loves Lucentio but he is equally unhappy and surprised that a noblewoman should be interested in a mere Latin teacher. The characters marry within their own class so as to get the blessings of their parents, which was a social necessity in Elizabethan society. Baptista makes it clear to Tranio that money is required if he wants to marry his daughter.

He tells Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, "I must confess your offer is the best; / And, let your father make her the assurance, / She is your own". Children who decided to ignore their families and get married faced ostracism. This to some extent justifies the decisions the characters take in Taming the shrew. Even though Shakespeare lays emphasis on money being a prerequisite for a successful marriage, he also highlights the need for practical love. In the end he shows that Lucentio and Biancas courtship fails at the practical level whereas Katharina and Petruchio love each other and are happy to be married.

Though Bianca and Lucentio end up marrying, theyre not happy and it is apparent that their relationship will not improve. Whereas Petrucio and Katharena begin to understand each other and during the "taming" process they get to look at the worst side of the others personality and see each other’s fault. This makes them understand each other better. Petruchio and Katherinas relationship on the surface looks like it is purely about Petruchios desire for wealth while Lucentio and Biancas love seems to be pure and true.

However when one takes a closer look at the two relationships one finds that there is more likelihood of Petruchio and Katherinas marriage bringing happiness than Lucentio and Biancas. For Katherina what in the beginning was a battle turns into pleasure. Her words: To bandy word for word and frown for frown; / But now I see our lances are but straws” prove this point. Petruchio begins to respect Katharina. “In her final speech, her allusions to the husband’s care for his wife are evocative of the deprivations inflicted during the taming process, deprivations which have inculcated a formative bodily dependence and gratitude” ( Paul Yachtin, 1996)).

Lucentio and Bianca’s relationship which is based more on instinct and shallow attraction is weak.

Read More