My field, my barn,
My horse, my ox, my anything,
And here she stands, touch her whoever dare.”
Petruchio issues a challenge to anyone who assists Kate in her disobedience. He clearly shows that Katherina is his property and she will do what he tells her to do. By the end of the play she is obedient and submissive to Petruchio, leading up to her greatest speech in the play.
“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee
And for thy maintenance; commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou li’st warm at home, secure and safe,
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks and true obedience-
Too little payment for so great a debt.”
Looking at her speech you can see that Petruchio has totally tamed her. Her character shows that it is her duty to respect her husband and to be submissive. Her speech leads us to, that the duty of the wife is a repayment to her husband for all of the hard work he does and the amount of support he gives her.
“When they are bound to serve, love and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth?”
She is also saying that she totally belongs to her husband and she is saying that their bodies are soft, weak and smooth just for their husbands.
Reasons for why Katherina might not be tamed are that all of this takes place in a couple of days. You might ask if it is possible to cause a big change in someone’s behaviour in such a short time. It is very unlikely that this is possible since Katherina, by the opening of the play, is at least 20 years of age and is very much set in her own standards. It would take longer to cure Katherina’s attitude problem. However with this in mind, it is very likely she was liberated by Petruchio to control her temper or she might of acted that she was tamed.
Katherina: The Liberated Shrew
Since that Petruchio could not have tamed her in a short period of time, it might be possible that she was liberated by Petruchio. At the end of the play, a widow and Bianca were called by their suitors but they refused. Petruchio then calls for Katherina, everyone did not expect her to come out but she did and with the other two.
If she was tamed she would have come with the other women in her grips. It is more likely she would have come out alone, saying “Yes, my darling Petruchio, what can I do for thee?” Instead, she forces the other two women to come out and to be obedient to their husbands, still showing that aggression from the beginning of the play.
This is evidence that Petruchio has liberated Katherina in the way that she no longer needs to be brash and aggressive, but she can use her assertiveness for her husband’s advantage but more importantly for her own advantage. Really, both of them are great together with Petruchio’s great ability to use his mind at the drop of the hat and Katherina’s strong will and stubbornness.
Katherina: The Acting Shrew
There is a scene where Katherina and Petruchio are returning to Padua for Bianca’s wedding. They were arguing about if the globe in the sky was the sun or the moon. Petruchio was trying to free her mind because he was trying to get full domination over her. Katherina was agreeing with what he was saying. What Petruchio doesn’t see is when Katherina turns away facing the audience and rolls her eyes at Petruchio which means she is not just going along with his plan but still has her own personality.
Another suggestion that aids this point is when after Katherina gives her speech, Petruchio held her in his arms and brought her to the church, everyone was applauding. At this point Katherina looked at the audience and winked at the audience as if she was playing a trick on him instead of the other way round.
I think this is good evidence because it is difficult to see Katherina give in to Petruchio and even with him. If Katherina was pretending to be tamed, then she will still have her shrewish behaviour. Petruchio is going to be in a big disappointment when she goes back into her original behaviour.
Final Arguments
I have talked about three different interpretations about Katherina’s taming. Mostly all of them are quite true but her being the acting shrew and the liberated shrew is the two that she really is and that is what I think.
Throughout the play, I have analysed that the text and come to a conclusion that Katherina was not really tamed but instead she realised that Petruchio just did not like her shrewish behaviour. She realized that to make this taming plan work, she had to accept his offerings, but on his terms. She also realised that being obedient to Petruchio, lead to her equal to Petruchio. She also realised that she had to compromise with the environment to stay with this man. This leads her to being liberated.
I think she is liberated because she still shows some of her shrewish attitudes during the feast of Lucentio’s and Bianca’s wedding, when she dragged out the two other women when they had refused to come out when their husbands called for them. If Katherina was tamed, she would not have been aggressive to the two ladies and would have come out by herself leaving the other two behind. If she was acting, it would have been very risky for her because she could have been discovered by her aggressision to the other two ladies. If she was liberated, and to be equal with Pertruchio, she would of acted the way she did, aggressive to the people who don’t respect their husbands authority.
I think what Katherina was trying to show was that if you respect your husbands you will be treated equal to your husband. When Katherina gave some of her attitude to Petruchio he gave some back to her showing equality and respect. She knows that she does not compromise in what she believes in but just what she does and what she says.
In conclusion, I think Katherina was not just the only one who got liberated during the play, but Petruchio as well. Both of them change dramatically through the play. There characteristics expand throughout the play and at the end they become better people. Katherina released from her shrewish behaviour and Petruchio released from his bossy, dominating masculine persona.
