taming of the shrew

I really enjoyed taming of the shrew for several reasons, one being I enjoyed Shakespeare’s view of men and women together, relationships, courtships. Petruccio’s courtship of Katherine is very telling of men interacting with women. I find it amazing that Shakespeare understood women so well and writes them even better. You see this in the courtship between the two. Their witty back and forth banter is very interesting to read. You can tell between the back and forth of all the sexual tension between the two. It was great to be able to read about this and I thought it was revolutionary for Shakespeare to be almost perfect at relating to women. I always thought in modern times if there was a man to be able to write about women and be dead on accuracy concerning women’s thoughts. This gentleman would have a lot of money. Turns out this guy was here but we missed him by a few hundred years. Perhaps the greatest author of all time, Shakespeare will never be forgotten.
Another interesting part of the play is Petrucchio’s domestication of Katherine. Hence in the title of the play, “taming of the shrew”. Petrucchio uses manipulation and determination to tame Katherine’s wild side. This proves to be a very daunting task, but Petrucchio’s love for his wife pushes forth his determination. This determination proves to be successful.

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One Response to taming of the shrew

  1. asmit says:

    While I do agree that Shakespeare seems to have a good understanding of women, I don’t think that it’s just as simple as a “domestication” of Katherine by Petruchio. I don’t think it’s fair to paint Katherine a wild animal that is subdued by Petruchio. It seems more complicated than that.

    I think a lot of what The Taming of the Shrew is about is how two people function in a relationship. In the beginning of the play, I don’t think either Petruchio nor Katherine fully understand the functionality. Katherine’s speech at the end of the play, though, really gives us some insight into what the characters figure out. I think it’s a great speech – and it doesn’t mean that Katherine is “domesticated.” There’s a lot to take away from it. For one, Katherine talks about a give and take, that each side owes the other something, and one responsibility must be returned with another responsibility. She’s saying that there’s no point in fighting – not meaning that women should be subdued, but in the sense that there has to be compromise. This isn’t a domestication or taming – it’s just a deeper understanding of how a relationship works.

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