As the speech progresses, Katherina talks about how a husband, ‘painfully labour’ at ‘sea and land’ which demonstrates the extent of their work. Katherina realises that a wife is ‘too little payment for so great a debt’ to their husband which shows that she realises she is insignificant to him. This again, portrays the fact that Katherina is inferior and obedient to him.
Obedience is the key issue in this play. Katherina describes a wife disobedient to her husband a ‘foul contending rebel’. These are powerful words in Elizabethan times. Katherina states that wives should agree with their husbands ‘honest will’, whatever it is, as demonstrated earlier on in the play when they first meet Vincentio. Katherina agrees with Petruchio that Vincentio is a ‘young, budding virgin’ when in actual fact he is a man.
Katherina is referring to women as being ‘simple’ minded. Where there is peace, they want to argue. Their destiny is ‘bound’ to serve their husband but they want to seek rule. ‘Bound’ conveys a powerful message that their duty is unlikely to change. However, in the 17th and 18th century, society adopted this idea that women were servants and treated like possessions, although their husband might have loved them. However, all this was relating to her ‘former’ self. She is speaking from experience.
Continuing describing a poorly behaved wife, Katherina supported the rules of society by insulting Bianca and the Widow with ‘unable worms’, meaning weak. Katherina educates them with; my mind ‘hath been’ like yours, full of courage and defiance. This is used so they can relate to the situation and creates a more personal feeling. However, she realises that their ‘lances are like straws’, they are so weak compared to males that their weakness is ‘past compare’. She directs unlawful wives to ‘vail’ their stomachs, lower your pride, as they cannot succeed.
Finally, the last three lines show the devotion and the commitment that wives should make to their husband. It is described as a ‘token’ of their duty, even their job in life. She ‘gives’ herself to him in front of an audience to make the speech more meaningful and shows she has been tamed. ‘And place your hands below your husband’s foot…my hand is ready; may it do him ease’; this shows that he can do what he wants with her and she shows true loyalty. She has left this to the end as it is the most emotional and basically summarise the whole speech.
After looking closely at this speech, does this mean that Katherina is truly tamed? This could be an act in order to lead a ‘normal’ life. Personally I think that Katherina has been tamed to a certain extent, this taming is demonstrated as she is clearly following what Petruchio says. For example, she argues what time they leave for Bianca’s wedding, but ends up agreeing with him when he says, ‘you are still crossing it’. Another hint that she is ‘playing’ along is the phrase, ‘not obedient to her honest will’. This could mean simply to agree with whatever he says, true or false. To agree with Petruchio would mean that there would be no more fights, arguments and humiliations, some of which demonstrated at the wedding. This would benefit both Katherina and Petruchio as they would be able to lead a happy life.
To others, Katherina’s behaviour is disrespectful as she insulted Vincentio when they met on the way to the wedding. This shows that Katherina is still able to be rude to other males, therefore showing she is not absolutely tamed. However, this could also be viewed that she is loyal to Petruchio. In the video, she ran into the crowd after the kiss. This could be because she wanted to leave before anything else unexpected happened, and she left the crowd with a good impression of her.
However, Petruchio is moved by this speech and believes that he has succeeded in taming the shrew. He says to Lucentio and Hortensio that we are all married but ‘you two are sped’ as their wives are now the ‘shrew’ we initially saw in the play. The kiss he received after the speech was done in public where everyone could see that Katherina’s attitudes towards her husband were genuine.
At the time of the play, Katherina’s attitude would have offended a lot of people, men and maybe women. The fate of an Elizabethan wife was to serve their husbands. This was stated in Katherina’s speech. This was how Elizabethan society operated. Women could not have political, equal and social rights as men. Males dominated most cultures as they believed that they were superior to women in many ways, strength being the main factor. This idea too was conveyed in the bible, that Eve was put under Adam’s authority.
By 1970, most women had gained many rights, but still, in this society, discrimination is used in the work place. Only recently the law that women could join the army was passed as strength was needed for the job. In the 20th century, women would be greatly offended by the meaning of the play. Most stereotype men would think a women’s place is in the home, this isn’t the case now as opposed to the 17th and 18th century when this image was portrayed. Women have jobs some men could only hope for, which shows that women are as able, if not more so than men.
However, throughout Europe and the near east, stone figures of women goddesses indicate that people did see women superior to men. In Egypt, Cleopatra, an Egyptian queen, showed that she
had great power yet was a woman.
So Katherina has understood the purpose of Petruchio’s effort to humiliate, challenge and treat her unfairly. She may be ‘playing’ along to lead a ‘normal life’. It is irrelevant if she is tamed or not because in Petruchios’s view, she is tamed and ends all conflicts between them. However, this experience is beneficial to Katherina as she has been ‘lightly’ tamed in that she now has some respect for husband and men. The speech does mark happiness for her as she is able to impress her husband and gain respect.