Shakespeare projects Lucentio’s pre-eminence through emphasis of education, “such as the daughter of Agenor had”, by quoting classics. However, Lucentio unlike Petruchio shows respect for women as he genuinely wishes to marry Bianca as he is be smitten with her, “I found the effect of love in idleness”. Producing a stark contrast to how Kate is addressed by Gremio, Lucentio speaks of Bianca, “I burn, I pine, I perish”, demonstrating a courtly love for Bianca as he perishes and honours her. Gremio however represents the type of male that is willing to insult women, “You may go to the devils dam” and disregards women as objects in which men should bargain for competitively, “woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her”. Prepared to buy Bianca, both Gremio and Hortensio are materialistic in their approach to impress Baptista as society recognised the position of people in society due how much money and land they own, “Two thousand ducats by the year of land”.
Presenting the fact that most men in Shakespearian society sought to place themselves as high as possible in society, Shakespeare uses ‘Tranio’ as a symbol of hierarchy and yearning for prestige and magnitude. “Mi perdonato”, Tranio uses every opportunity available to express his intelligence as a well-educated servant and thus speaks in verse. Suggesting switching roles with Lucentio, this is essentially a disguise to benefit himself, “I am content to be Lucentio/Because so well I love Lucentio”, as evidently the reason he is doing so is because he will benefit from the lifestyle of power and recognition that he would never usually have. Adapting to the lifestyle he longs to live quickly, Tranio takes no time to begin ordering others around and take advantage of the fact that he is now able to impose order and control by using his persuasive tongue, “Keep house and ply in his book”.
Similarly to Petruchio, Shakespeare interprets the role of Hortensio to see the importance of marriage to be directly associated with wealth, “a man could light on them, would take her with all faults and money enough”. Insulting both Kate and Bianca, Hortensio unmistakably sees women as less significant to him and doesn’t think twice about publicly offending them. Of Kate he states, “No mates for you/ unless you were of gentler, milder mould”, suggesting that Kate is an animal and doesn’t deserve to be treated fairly by men. Protecting his ego, Hortensio resolves in being discourteous towards Bianca, “Yet if thy thoughts, Bianca, be so humble/to cast thy wandering eyes on every stale” which accuses her of being cheap, due to the fact that she rejected him. Shakespeare, in this case uses Hortensio to represent the type of men who are concerned solely with their reputation and mock women in order to appear in control. This role corresponds with the role of ‘Biondello’ who likewise takes every opportunity available to him to gain power and influence. Achieving this Biondello attempts to score points with use of clever language and poetry, “Nay, by Saint Jamy, I hold you a penny….And yet not many”. Furthermore during Act III Scene II, Biondello creates an atmosphere of suspense and trepidation by mocking the situation as Petruchio arrives at the wedding inappropriately dressed, “Why, Petruchio is coming…..an old jerkin”.
In conclusion, it is evident that Shakespeare interprets the roles of men in ‘Taming of the Shrew’, to be dominant, aggressive and significant as opposed to the way in which he interprets the roles of women: physically weak, suppressed and trivial in comparison. Palpably, in Shakespearian times marriage was viewed as a way in which men could acquire more wealth and raise their social stance at the expense of women, the only exception to this is Lucentio who desired to marry for love. Petruchio is presented to be the male extreme of dominance as his use of psychological rape, sexual innuendo and battle of wits, suggest that he has one aim in life: to raise his significance within society and obtain substantial wealth. This type of character would not be surprising to a Shakespearian audience as it is viewed in modern days as men in general were associated with command, control and superiority whilst women were expected to conform to the instructions of their husbands and remain an anonymous stance in society.
