Explore the Ways in which Shakespeare presents the theme of falconry in The Taming of the Shrew

The most significant reference to falconry in the play is in Petruchio's soliloquy in Act 4 Scene 1. He says, 'My falcon now is sharp and passing empty,' this means that his falcon, Katherina, is extremely hungry as he has been depriving her of food. He then says, 'And till stoop she must not be full-gorged,' Stoop is used to describe the lure which is what the falcon must fly back to when its keeper calls. This is a metaphor for saying that until Katherina is ready to do as he tells her to, she shall not eat. Petruchio continues to tell the audience of the ways in which he will tame Katherina, 'Another way I have to man my haggard,' A haggard is described as a wild hawk. He tells the audience that he also plans to deprive her of sleep until she will do as he tells her, 'Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not.' Deprivation is another way in which a falcon is trained. We know that Petruchio's actions are with good intent as he says, 'That all is done in reverend care of her.' We as the audience are also told that Petruchio does not expect his plan to run smoothly as he says;

'...as we watch these kites

That bate and beat and will not be obedient.'

Petruchio knows that Katherina will not be tamed without a fight but that he is prepared for all that she can throw at him. We as the audience also expect with full confidence that Katherina will not be tamed easily from what we have seen of her behavior previously in the play. For example, in act 2 Scene 1 we see Katherina striking her sister Bianca as Bianca will not tell Katherina which man she likes the most. We hear Katherina say, 'Minion, thou liest.' Minion in this context is taken to mean a lower person. This example shows us Katherina's violence and anger at the beginning of the play, before she meets Petruchio.

Before a falcon is trained, it is lacking in any kind of quality that would enable it to contribute to anything. The characters Katherina and Sly are like an untrained falcon in this way at the beginning of the play. As their wild behaviour means that they do not contribute to society. For example, in the induction scenes, we first see Sly causing trouble to a hostess who says, 'I know my remedy, I must go fetch the third borough.' By this she means that she must fetch a policeman to deal with Sly. This shows us that not only does the character Sly not contribute to society, but he is also a trouble maker. The character lacks etiquette, decency and other such qualities that a man at the time would need to embody to be considered a true gentleman. We are also shown the character Katherina causing trouble and displaying her rude nature. For example in Act 2 Scene 1, we see Katherina talking to Petruchio for the first time and she says to him, 'Moved, in good time! Let him that moved you hither remove you hence.' This shows us as the audience that Katherina, like Sly, is also lacking in decency and etiquette as well as politeness and silence that was seen to be attractive in a woman at the time that the play was written. We know that these were the desired features in a woman as it is these features exactly that first attracts Lucentio to Bianca, 'But in the other's silence do I see maid's mild behaviour and sobriety.' This is said in Act 1 Scene 1 by Lucentio when he first sees Bianca.

The image of a falcon is not only used as a metaphor for Katherina but also as a metaphor for her sister Bianca who in Act 4 Scene 2 is described by Hortensio as a 'proud disdainful haggard,' when he discovers that she is in love with Lucentio. Shakespeare uses this description of Bianca to show the transition of the character from obedient to wild. For example, in the beginning of the play, Bianca is portrayed as being silent and beautiful. We can see her obedience in Act 1 Scene 1, when her father, Baptista Minola, says, 'Go in, Bianca' when the two men Hortensio and Gremio are fighting over her and as soon as she has received the instruction from her father, she exits the scene. However we can see towards the end of the play, in Act 5 Scene 2, that Bianca's character has transformed and is no longer obedient. We can see this when Bianca's husband Lucentio, calls her to come to him and she does not, instead she sends Biondello back to Lucentio to say, 'That she is busy and she cannot come.' This shows that Bianca's character has no respect for her husband and will not obey what he tells her to do. This provides a perfect contrast with the relationship between Petruchio and Katherina.

We can see that Petruchio's techniques of taming Katherina have been successful through the transition of Katherina's character going from wild to obedient, exactly the opposite to her sister. Katherina towards the end of the play, after she has been tamed, will agree with anything that Petruchio says, even if it makes her sound ridiculous. For example, at the entrance of Vincentio, Petruchio succeeds in getting Katherina to agree with him when he says that Vincentio is a, 'Fair lovely maid'. We as the audience can also see that Katherina has been successfully trained from the event that occurs in Act 5 Scene 2, when the three gentlemen Petruchio, Lucentio and Hortensio, make a wager that their own wife will return to him when he calls her. This relates to falconry as it is exactly what happens in the sport. The keeper will call his falcon and if the bird is well trained then it will return to its keeper. This event supports the fact that Katherina has been successfully trained as she does in fact return to Petruchio when he sends for her. Shakespeare turns this into a comic moment by showing the other two women, Bianca and Widow as being untamed as they do not return to their husbands when they are called.

When Katherina does return to Petruchio after being called, he gets Katherina to explain to Bianca and the Widow, how they should treat their husbands. This speech is one of the key moments in the play as it shows us for certain that Katherina has been tamed. During this speech, Katherina proclaims, 'Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,' Keeper is the term used to describe the man who tames the falcon. This quotation is almost like a conclusion in the play to the theme of falconry as it shows us that Katherina knows that she has been tamed, she has accepted Petruchio as her keeper and she is willing to proclaim this to others.

I believe that Shakespeare uses the image of falconry in the play as the end result of falconry is much like the idealistic view of a relationship between a man and wife in the time that the play was written, the man in control and caring for his wife while the woman takes instructions but all the while each respecting the other and cooperating well together. Also, at the time that the play was written, when the monarchy was more in power, falconry would have been a popular sport that the majority of people would understand making it easier for people of the time to understand the play and what Petruchio was doing and why.

Shakespeare presents the image of falconry as a metaphor for all relationships between any two types of people. For example, parents and children, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters or even just friends. I think that Shakespeare is trying to say that no relationship can be completely mutual, that there is always one person in a relationship that holds more power and control than the other. The image of falconry shows this well as it is a clear representation of one half of a relationship being completely in control of the other.

Word Count :2055

Bibliography

* Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare

* http://www.arab.net/falconry/

Rachel Scott