Katherina is concerned that she will be publicly humiliated if her sister marries before her, these lines are referring to the idea that unmarried women were said to lead apes into hell because they had no children.
Baptista’s next line implies that he is feeling sorry for himself:
‘Was ever a gentleman thus grieved as I?’
This shows that he wishes Katherina were normal; her behaviour brings him ridicule.
Bianca’s suitors arrive, accompanied by Petruchio, who immediately asks permission to court his ‘fair and virtuous’ daughter Katherina. Baptista’s replies:
‘I have a daughter, sir, called Katherina’
This implies that in Baptista’s eyes, Katherina is not as Petruchio describes her, this could be seen as cruel. It is unusual that he describes her in this way instead of agreeing as he is trying to marry her off.
The arrival of Petruchio reveals a lot about his character. His opening speech gives us a clue about his intentions in ‘taming the shrew’ that he will treat her the opposite of how she acts, we know this because Katherina’s reputation is quite the contrary of how he first suggests. We see that he is determined to succeed as he carries on despite Baptista’s negative comment about his daughter. Shakespeare gives Petruchio a comic role here, he continues in his methods, creating humour for the audience as his wit and charm fools Baptista into believing that he really does wish to woo Katherina. At this point, the audience may also be picking up on Petruchio’s cunning and good use of words as he combines the two into a speech that impresses Baptista. Their next conversation concerns money. We have seen from previous scenes that Petruchio is greedy and is only in on the scheme for the money. The whole thing seems like a business transaction as Baptista is ‘giving away’ his daughter when he is sure she will be safe under Petruchio and well endowed if he should die. There is no hint of romance until Baptista reminds Petruchio that he must ‘win his daughters love’, the audience is left unconvinced that his brief, late concern for his daughter’s feelings is genuine. Despite this, Petruchio says there will be no problem wooing her and she will yield to him. He uses a metaphor for their relationship, comparing them both to raging fires implying they have alike characters, the rest of his speech shows that he believes they will go well together. His last sentence in this speech is supposed to mean that he will not feel threatened by her violent nature; the stage is set for a battle of the sexes.
Petruchio’s growing confidence along with Baptista’s final words of warning to watch out for some ‘unhappy words’ builds up tension in the audience in their anticipation of the first meeting between Petruchio and Katherina. This anticipation is exaggerated further when Horsentio enters ‘with his head broke’ this releases some tension in the audience with a bit of humour, but also reminds us of Katherina’s violent nature as she has hit him over the head with his lute. Another tongue-in-cheek joke is flung at the audience as Horsentio comments that she would make a good soldier.
We hear what happened from Horsentio and learn that Katherina has a short temper on top of everything else. Again the audience waits with baited breath for the meeting of Petruchio and the shrew as another addition to her ill-tempered character has been put forward. Despite all warnings, we learn that Petruchio is still determined to tame Katherina as he continues in his regime of a game of opposites, after all, that is all he sees this situation as; a game.
Petruchio’s soliloquy is an important part in this scene. It is the first time that he confirms our expectations that he is using the ‘opposite technique’ to tame Kate:
‘If she do bid me pack, I’ll give her thanks
As though she bid me stay by her a week.’
The audience are the only ones apart from himself who know his plan and now we can look at the character from two points of view; the charming side to him, and the cunning side. We can certainly see from his speech that he is confident that he can tame Katherina:
‘And woo her with some spirit when she comes!’
His words can be interpreted as genuine eagerness to meet Katherina, or Shakespeare could just be aiming for laughs by adding a sense of humour to Petruchio’s words. Petruchio knows that a tussle will emerge between them and knows he will win. The soliloquy adds to the anticipation that the audience will be feeling about seeing the first meeting of the two main characters.
Katherina arrives and Petruchio begins his wooing, Katherina starts the conversation in a far from friendly manner stating her full name, implying that she is not going to tolerate any nonsense from Petruchio. Petruchio picks up on this and sees it as a chance to torment her and so continues to repeat Kate to stamp down his authority, saying that he is not going to get pushed around, and has the power to call her whatever he wishes. He claims ownership of calling her ‘my super-dainty Kate’. The use of dainty could mean either of two things, most probably both; she is charming and elegant, but is also a delicacy or titbit that can be eaten for his enjoyment. The wooing part of the scene is meant to be comical; the witty repetition of Kate conveys this at the same time as telling us about Petruchio’s character and his intentions of taming Katherina. In the early stages of their meeting the audience may think that Katherina is too intolerant to put up with Petruchio’s comments and will leave him, but she stays for the battle, showing a likeness again in their characters that they are determined to succeed always.
Other likenesses are shown in their frequent use of violence and of good word power; their constant use of alliteration displays their ability to make their words sound rhythmic:
‘No cock of mine; you crow too like a craven’
We have established from earlier scenes that Katherina speaks with spirit and contempt, she lives up to this in the wooing scene; she is quick-witted, like Petruchio. They both like to be in control, as a result of this they try to overpower each other with every sentence creating a game of wits and puns. Petruchio has different sides to his character; he can be charming and polite as demonstrated when talking to Baptista, but there is a hard side to him displayed in the wooing scene, he can be rude and violent:
‘Women are made to bear and so are you’
He means that women’s purpose is to have children again indicating strongly the role of women of that time. Once more, an audience in Elizabethan times would identify with Petruchio’s comment, but a modern audience may disagree. He also threatens to ‘cuff her’ if she strikes him again, his threat of physical violence shocks the audience, this is no gentlemanly way to act. When he actually does use his strength to hold her back, the audience, and Katherina herself are shocked furthermore. This is a visual statement that Petruchio is not going to be overpowered by a woman. Katherina too is different here to other times in the play, she has not encountered anyone with a similar personality to her, although some things she does do conform to what we expect such as striking Petruchio, later in their conversation she is interested about where he ‘learnt this goodly speech’ showing that she is surprised that a man is similar to her. Maybe she has begun to realise here that not all men are ignorant as she previously thought. Katherina could be flirting with Petruchio in the same way that he is attempting to woo her in this scene, why has she made an effort to outwit him when any other man by now would be beaten up?
Petruchio’s techniques for wooing are shown clearly in this part of the scene, his speech from line 232 show his plan in action complimenting all the things contrary to what he perceives her to be:
‘I find you passing gentle’
He torments her because of her reputation at the same time as complimenting, her, again showing his cunning. He could also be provoking her by saying that she is ‘slow in speech’. He knows that her wordplay means a lot to her and if he says this, she will become angry, which is what he wants to continue in his regime. Petruchio shows his determination to have things his own way in the lines:
‘And will you nill you I will marry you…….I am he born to tame you’
Petruchio has turned from playful to stern, he has had enough of wooing and use of sexual innuendoes and gets straight down to business. This very final, definite comment has a strong reference to the position of women in society of Elizabethan times; she had no choice in the matter of marriage, her father has chosen and she must do as he says.
Modern audiences again would disagree with the ideas shown here where as audiences at the time would identify with the situation.
When Baptista returns, Petruchio uses his initiative saying that he and Katherina had come to an agreement that she would act as she normally does in front of everyone else, but when they are alone she is ‘not froward, but modest as a dove’. Baptista is so delighted that he has found a husband for his daughter that he does not recognise Petruchio’s lies or realise that Petruchio is playing a trick on him. This is comical as we know what actually happened and despite Katherina’s outrage at Petruchio’s presumption that she loves him, Baptista is oblivious to the fact that she is genuinely not pleased with the arrangement. Why does Baptista trust this man that he barely knows over his own daughter? I think that again he is too delighted that he can finally marry her off that all common sense has disappeared. Petruchio’s persuasive personality has a lot to do with Baptista believing him also. Although comical, the audience can’t help but sympathise for the passive victim of Petruchio’s plan. Katherina is helpless now as no matter what she does, her father will think she is just acting; this certainly was a cunning plan hatched by Petruchio. Baptista does not even ask her about their meeting, once again hinting at the role of women in those times to play a background character in such affairs as marriage. The two ‘lovers’ exit the stage at different exits, another visual indication that they are not a couple.
In Elizabethan times, Daughters were literally given away as if in a business deal. This play expresses this issue often and especially in this scene. They often had little say in the matter whether they liked their future husband or not. Fathers showed little regard for the feelings of their daughter, the only thing that mattered was wealth and prosperity. We can see from this scene the relationship between Petruchio and Katherina is not romantic, but he can use his cunning to work around that in order to reach his goal, not the bride, but the money. Although it seems at this stage in the play that they dislike each other, they have so much in common that it would be hard not to predict their attitudes towards each other changing.