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Category Archives: The Taming of the Shrew
The Winter’s Tale – Act IV and Disguise
Act IV reminds me of previous plays we’ve read as it brings the heavy use of disguise and unknown identity. We see Perdita, whom nobody knows is actually a princess; Florizel, who hides the fact that he’s a prince and is going by “Doricles”; Autolycus in multiple disguises; and Polixenes, in disguise so no one see’s he’s the king.
Florizel as Doricles reminds me of The Taming of The Shrew, where Lucentio disguises himself as Cambio to gain access to Bianca. Also, Polixenes in disguise reminds me of Henry V, where Henry disguises himself in order to find out what people really think of him.
The use of disguise doesn’t seem to bring about much disaster here; it is the “Spring” (read: happier) part of the play after all. However, I wonder about whether it’s right for Florizel and Polixenes to be in disguises. There seems to be a recurring theme in Shakespeare of kings and noblemen disguising themselves as “lesser” men – and like we brought up in Henry V, is that really moral? And how do we judge its morality – if disguise is a means to a good end (as is what happens to Florizel), is it still moral, or is the very act of disguise – of leaders taking a peek on society without its knowing – immoral?
Posted in Henry V, The Taming of the Shrew, The Winter's Tale
Tagged autolycus, cambio, disguise, doricles, florizel, Henry V, Lucentio, morality, perdita, polixenes, The Taming of the Shrew
2 Comments
Hearing between the lines
In the final act of Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare’s contrast of two sets of lovers comes to a head. “Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably,” Benedick says to Beatrice. Contrary to Benedick’s claim. the road to Beatrice and Benedick’s union, when compared to Hero and Claudio’s, is decidedly smooth. What are a few sharp words compared to public humiliation, feigned death, and resignation of suicide? This is one of the wonderfully universal and timeless elements of Shakespeare’s writing. Shakespeare has his characters say one thing and display another. We are told that Claudio is honorable and yet he behaves in an unprincipled manner. We are told that Benedick is unquestionably a bachelor and then he changes his tune so dramatically that he agrees to duel his best friend at his lover’s behest. We are told that Margaret is “just and virtuous” and then, two short scenes later, we see her trading phallic jokes with Beatrice’s lover (5.1.305). Again and again we hear Shakespeare’s characters deceive themselves and others with that commodity that Shakespeare himself trades in. While the most immediate effect is comedic, the lasting message of contrasting words and evidence speaks to a larger message about patterns of human behavior. Again we see the relevance of the reception of a Shakespearian play. That the audience is expected to hear the play, asks that they listen and piece together verbal clues. In offering this exchange with his audience, careful listening for comedy and romance, Shakespeare also trained his audience to pull apart the speech of everyday life. The Elizabethan version of “leap frog,” Shakespeare provided educational entertainment, teaching his audience to hear between his lines.
Posted in Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew
Tagged Beatrice, Benadick, Claudio, deception, hear a play, Hero, Margaret
2 Comments
I apologize for posting this late however, my assignment was to analyze Act 5 of Taming of The Shrew and I believe in “better late than never!” I would like to particularly discuss Act 5, Scene 2, lines 179-188; These are the last several lines of Katherine’s speech to the wives.
But first, I can’t say that I’m particularly surprised by Katherine’s extreme role reversal, after all love makes us do crazy things. We never really discussed the idea of love being a factor towards Katherine’s transformation and I do believe that it was love that changed her. My argument isn’t necessarily that it was healthy love or even true love, but I find it to be the best explanation. I believe she had found a companion within Petruchio, initiated by their witty conversations, someone she felt a sense of loyalty to and a sense of security with. We all can easily say that you should never change who you are for someone else, they should like you for you, blah blah blah but sometimes your heart gets in the way of your mind. I think Katherine sacrificed apart of herself in order to feel loved.
“My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown.
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands below your husband’s foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready, may it do him ease.”
Katherine loses her sense of self clearly and rejects the strength she once had for the sake of her husband. As a romantic, this is the saddest token of affection. It’s admirable her reverence for her husband but at the price she pays, I’m torn. I can’t imagine trading my beliefs for love, at best, I hope I wouldn’t. Is this perhaps an ideal of their time? As a woman of the Elizabethan Era is there much more to look forward to than succumbing to a man? If love makes you weak, love broke Katherine.
Just for fun:
10 Things I Hate About You was an adorable 90’s film based on Taming of the Shrew. Often as I was reading the play, I pictured Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles in Elizabethan costumes.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/AWmjzCZr0Jw" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Posted in The Taming of the Shrew, Uncategorized
Comments Off on Just for fun:
Role/Significance of Induction
I was absent from class on Wednesday, so I’m not sure if this was touched upon during the discussion, but I was very intrigued by the induction; though I’m curious as to the reasoning behind the whole “play within a play” premise. When I began reading the play, I found the plot of the induction to be very humorous and captivating at the same time – I wanted to know how long the Lord would maintain the ruse and if Sly would ever discover the truth, however the actual play starts so abruptly that it is impossible to discover definitive answers to my curiosities. I am making the argument that maybe the induction serves as a parallel to the story of Petruchio and Kate. Like the Lord, Petruchio must change his natural appearance/actions for his own personal gain. Instead of seeking humorous relief from drastic role changes, Petruchio changes his attitude and overall demanor in order to marry “weathily in Padua” (27). Petruchio deprives Kate of food, becomes increasingly nasty and to his servants, and intentionally utters outlandish contradictions in order to achieve his personal gain. Grumio confirms Petruchio’s true desire for riches from Kate: “Why, give him gold enough and marry him to a puppet…or an old trot with ne’er a tooth in her head” (27). All of this being said, I was very surprised when The Taming of the Shrew ended without returning to the original plot of the induction. Perhaps there is a purpose for this as well…?
Early instances of “taming”
Hi everyone! After hearing what everyone had to say in class, here is my response post:
The title The Taming of the Shrew is meant to refer to Katherina, but there are subtle instances of taming even before we meet her. In the induction, when the Lord is talking about his multiple dogs, we inherently know that these animals have been trained to do his bidding. He even seems to prefer one dog over the others, most likely because this dog is the tamest of the bunch, and responds most obediently to the Lord’s orders.
It’s also interesting to see the Lord’s behavior towards Sly. He has just been talking about taming his dogs, and now will go on to tame this drunken bum. Sly falls for his game almost immediately, subtly putting himself on the same level as the dogs – obedient, but not very smart, and certainly not as sophisticated as the Lord.
Even when we meet Lucentio and Tranio, there are notes of taming going on. Lucentio is a teenager, being subtly pushed and influenced by not only his father, but his servant, who is supposed to be his inferior. Even though Tranio tells him to study what makes him happy, this is a slight push in one direction.
Posted in The Taming of the Shrew
Tagged dogs, induction, Lord, Lucentio, response, Sly, taming, Tranio
6 Comments
The irony of it all
The addition of the induction introduces us to a frame story with no narrator, where the story within the story is the main attraction hence the intentional title The Taming of the Shrew. As with his other comedies, Shakespeare uses the same comedic formula: a ruse, role changes in status and possibly gender, and a dupe. These characteristics would not be complete without the mess of a twist we all call irony which keeps the audience amused, and ties the comedic attributes together. Furthermore, the awareness of a trickery only strengthens the point of the irony as Grumio says, “to beguile the old folks, how the young folks lay their heads together!” Young or old, the characters are being made a fool by someone who is being fooled by someone else. It appears that by the end of this charade the characters will be none the wiser. The irony of it all keeps the story moving forward.
Disguised by perception
Hello everyone!
As I was reading the play, deception and disguise are clearly prevalent – it almost becomes difficult to keep track of who is acting as who! However, something interesting I noticed was that the characters of this play not only seem to disguise themselves, but also they put their own “disguises” onto other characters through their prejudices of them. The one example that stuck out to me was Katherina’s reputation of being a “curst and shrewish” woman. In fact, so much so that Hortensio says she is “renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue,” and further along mentions that he wouldn’t “wed her for a mine of gold.” At that point of the play, Kate only appears for a brief scene, and she speaks barely enough for her to prove that she is in fact a repulsive character. In addition, we don’t get any further insight on Kate since none of the characters thus far seem to know her well at all. These prejudiced views seem to disguise Kate. This perhaps puts, not just deception, but prejudice as one of the main themes to this play.
Cruel Intentions…
While reading The Taming of the Shrew, the Induction is interesting. The lord notices that Christopher Sly is extremely drunk, to say the least, and attempts to make a mockery of the beggar. He orders his servants to take him inside and treat him as a lord by putting him in a bed, putting rings on his fingers, and even setting a banquet for him. The lord even has his pageboy, Bartholomew, dress up to play the part as Sly’s wife.
Once Sly arises from his deep slumber, he is confused. After the men convince him of his hierarchy, he is focused on spending a night with his wife. The lord’s cruelty and deception for pure entertainment is astonishing.
Posted in Gender matters, The Taming of the Shrew
4 Comments
“A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma…”
Hi everyone. My name is Andy. Looking forward to a fun semester with all of you.
After reading the Induction and first two Acts of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, it feels like NOTHING is what it seems. Almost everyone is lying in one way or another such as Lucentio dressing as a poor Latin tutor and Horensio covering himself with a cloak to portray a musician. Like the characters within, even the entire play itself is sort of in a costume, disguised as a play within a play.
With this motif of disguise prominently displayed throughout the beginning of the story, I think Shakespeare is building all these lies to a ridiculous point just so the revelation will be that much more dramatic. Although I don’t know what will happen later on in the play, I would assume that Tranio disguised as Lucentio will eventually be exposed as well as Petruchio’s insincere marriage proposal.
Keeping all of this in mind, I want to focus on Lucentio and the manipulation of his identity. Why does he pretend to be Cambio the Latin tutor? Do you think it was necessary for him to act as someone else to try and win Bianca’s love? You can argue that disguising as a tutor allowed him to get closer access to Bianca but at the same time, didn’t it make the pursuit even more challenging? Wouldn’t courting Bianca as a wealthy, clean-cut young man be more attractive than as an ordinary poor tutor? Above all else, how do you think Bianca would feel if Lucentio wins her love and then tells her that he was deceiving her the entire time about who he really was?
Feel free to share your thoughts or add onto anything I mentioned!
