Can the shrew of act 1 scene 2 credibly be tamed to become the loyal wife of act 5 scene 2? How does Shakespeare make the transformation of Katherine believable? How could language and staging be used to convey this?

Marriages were organised between the husband and the brides parents. Suitable husbands would be judged on their wealth and connections. The women would have little choice and could have been totally ignored if she was not a ideal, soft-spoken women. This is definitely not what Katherine was when the play first introduces her.

When she is first met she is angry and rude. She has tied her sister up and is calling her names. Even when their father tries to stop her she still swears revenge on Bianca, her younger sister. Katherine is always bad tempered and aggressive, but at the same time she is very unhappy. When she says 'I will go sit and weep' ,she is upset about her fathers favouritism of Bianca. Katherine is publicly humiliated by her father, and other people either ignore her or make fun of her. Katherine's only defence is to act like 'Katherine the curst'.

Katherine's shrewish personality has disappeared completely by the end of the play. In act 5 scene 2 Katherine is the obedient loving wife who throws her hat away on Petruchio command, and delivers a long speech on the duty of women to their husbands. The Katherine who says 'thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper'. Is totally removed from the hating Katherine of old. Another change in Katherine is that she is now happy and content. She has settled into her role in life and is no longer so aggressive. In fact Katherine has undergone a complete character change. But is this change too much? Could a person really change so much in such a short while? IF these two scenes are the only looked at then the change seems impossible. But if we look at what happens in-between these scenes then the changes doesn't seem as unbelievable. She is convincingly tamed from a shrew into a loving wife in the space of two weeks.

There are four steps in Petruchio taming of Katherine: during their wedding, o the journey to Petruchio house, when Petruchio and Katherine re together at Petruchio home, and the journey back to Biancos house.

When the wedding occurs Katherine and Petruchio have only met once. This meeting did not go well. Petruchio and Katherine engaged in a word fight, which surprised Katherine as usually the men around her ignored her comments, while Petruchio argued back. In this meting Petruchio told Katherine plainly what he was going to do. He did not try and persuade her in any way but told her she would be tamed 'from a wild Kate to a Kate conformable to other household Kate's'. Katherine does not fight against this, showing that she does actually want to be tamed into a nicer, more happy person.

Later on, when Petruchio says 'we will be married on Sunday', she stays silent and does not disagree, showing she does want to be married, as she is scared of becoming an old spinster.

At the wedding Katherine is on time, as she is eager now to be married. Petruchio is late however and this lateness makes Katherine feel very humiliated as she has been left alone on her wedding day. This is how Petruchio shows her how bad it feel to be humiliated by someone else, something she often does to other people.

When Petruchio does show up he is wearing very strange clothes, which embarrasses Katherine, just as she has embarrassed others. Petruchio says that it is enough for him to be here, and that no-one cares about clothes that much. When he promises to explain further he means he will one day tell everyone about his taming idea and how he did it.

When the wedding ceremony is reported back we see that Petruchio is behaving more outrageously than Katherine ever has to give her a taste of her own medicine. All the nasty mean things Katherine used to do to other people is being done to her, so she can see how nasty it is and stop doing it.

Katherine is thought to be a dove compared to Petruchio, she has obviously met her match.

After the wedding Petruchio does not go to the wedding feast and will not allow Katherine to go either. This is the beginning of the starvation of Katherine, which makes her more willing to please Petruchio and become tamed. On the journey back to Petruchio home Grumio, a servant, is punished for an accident that was no fault of his own. While Petruchio is beating Grumio Katherine walks through mud to try and stop him. This is the first sign of compassion for another we see from Katherine. Katherine probably beat servants at home and treated them very badly but when she sees someone else's doing it she realises how bad it is and tries to stop it from happening.

When Petruchio and Katherine finally reach his home Katherine is tired, cold and hungry. She would not have eaten anything all day, as she was dragged away from the wedding feast before she could eat anything. When Petruchio gets home he is very rough and complaining to the servants, showing Katherine what shrews are really like. Katherine tries to clam him down when he yells and hits servants. Even though it doesn't work once again Katherine is showing compassion for others by trying to protect them from Petruchio.

When the food is set on the table Petruchio throws it away, stating that there is something wrong with it. In this way Katherine is denied food, always for the best reasons. Once again Katherine tries to calm down him down by telling him to be content. She herself is learning to be content with what she gets while he pretends to find fault with everything.

Still having not have any food all day, Petruchio take Katherine to bed, Katherine is very tired so goes to bed eagerly. But even though Katherine is exhausted Petruchio keeps lecturing her and ranting all through the night so she can't fall asleep. Petruchio is taming her like a falcon, and compares her to one 'my falcon' . He will tame her like a falcon by depriving her for food and sleep until she accepts him as her master. He will do this by treating her badly yet pretending it is for her best interest, which ultimately it is, as when she is tamed she will be much happier.

Katherine is starving and can't sleep. Though she begs Grumio for food he, acting on his masters orders, teases her and gives her none. She admits that before she has never needed to beg 'but I, who never knew how to entreat, nor never needed that I should entreat'. When meat is out on the table Petruchio tells Hortensio, the guest, to eat all of it so Katherine can't have any.

Petruchio then shows Katherine fashionable clothes, yet will not let her have them as she is not yet a lady. When she becomes ladylike she can have all the nice clothes she wants. This is like a bribe to make her do what he wants, as otherwise she won't get the clothes she so desires.

This makes Katherine angry, showing that she is still not fully tamed. Her passionate plea for fair treatment 'My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, or else my heart will break concealing it' is ignored by the men, while Petruchio pretends she said something else and continues the conversation like she has not said anything.

On the way back to her house she finally realises what she has to do to make Petruchio happy. She agrees with him that it is night-time when in fact it Is daylight. At his command she greets and old man like he is a young child. She only does and says what Petruchio wants her to do, but Shakespeare shows she is happy and content like this.

At the end of the play Katherine tells the other wives how to be a good obedient wife. Of course this is only done on Petruchio command. She tells the other woman that 'they are bound to serve, love and obey'. The independent Katherine of earlier scenes has been taken over completely by this humble wife, and Petruchio shows his pleasure by giving her a kiss.

The change was credible, especially if the taming scenes are taken into account. We know that Katherine is speaking the truth in the final speech as she has previously said that she always speaks her mind truthfully. This means that she believes in everything she says in the final speech and she has truly changed.