In Katherina’s last speech, she might not have meant all the things she said. Katherina could be playing a game to benefit herself. She might be trying to make Petruchio treat her better, as straight after the speech he pronounces ‘kiss me Kate’. She could be playing a game with Petruchio. When Petruchio wins the bet because Katherina was the most obedient wife, Baptista offers Petruchio a further twenty thousand crowns. Katherina has benefited both ways by her speech and by coming when Petruchio called. She has learnt that being ‘shrewd’ and ‘devilish’ do not reap as many rewards as being obedient and loving do. She has suddenly gone from calling her husband a ‘madcap ruffian’ to calling him her ‘king’. She is not playing a game against Petruchio, she is playing a game with him. They have learned to work together which could signal the signs of a good relationship.
‘The Taming of the Shrew’ is a controversial play. Many women have been offended by the assumption that males are superior even though the play was written as a comedy. The play does not just contain bawdy and sexist jokes, it also has comic situations that do not involve women at all. For example, when Vincentio comes to see his son and he finds that Tranio is impersonating him. The play was written for all the classes to enjoy, the rich and the poor. This meant that William Shakespeare was trying to entertain people that were at different intellectual levels. The bawdy jokes and comic storylines were easy for the poorer people to understand and enjoy. Although the richer people also enjoyed the bawdy jokes, the Italian sayings also interested them. The poorer people would not understand ‘Redime te captam quam queas minimo’, whereas the richer people would. The purposes of William Shakespeare’s plays were to entertain. He wrote the play as a comedy. Comedies are light-hearted humour meant to make people laugh, yet women are still offended by the play.
If William Shakespeare wrote the play today, it would probably be rejected by society. Nowadays, men would not ba able to call a woman a ‘wild cat’ with a ‘devilish spirit’. A woman’s role in society has changed dramatically since the sixteenth century. In those days, hardly any women would have worked and would definitely not have done any important jobs. They would not have had any say in what happened in their community. Men were considered the ‘leaders’. A women’s ‘duty’ would have been to ‘serve, love and obey’. Women in those days would have been used to the sexist jokes. They had been brought up in a community that told them that the men were ‘kings’. In today’s society, women are considered equals, which is why the play would have offended so many women.
Katherina’s last speech is very interesting. It is quite astounding because people have never seen her be so polite and courteous. She has told everybody that her husband is her ‘head’, which convinces most people that she has been tamed. She has dramatically changed because now she is ‘ashamed that women are so simple’. Before she was married her personality was totally different. She would never have dreamed of marrying Petruchio, the ‘swearing jack’, and now her ‘hand is ready’ for him to stand on for he is her ‘governor’. In her last speech she mentions that being ‘froward, sullen’ and ‘sour’ ‘blots thy beauty’. Whereas she was very ‘froward, sullen’ and ‘sour’ before she was wed. Marrying Petruchio has definitely made her look at things differently.
Petruchio has not tamed Katherina, but he has definitely had a major effect on her. Katherina was not treated fairly by her father. I think that is why she acted ‘shrewdly’ and rebellious. All Katherina needed was love, and Petruchio loves his ‘bonnie Kate’. Although the play is sexist, I do not believe we, as readers, should be offended by it. Katherina has become a great deal happier by the end of the play, so in a way she has benefited. Shakespeare wrote the play as a comedy. The purpose f his plays were to entertain the masses, not to criticise women.
