Baptista does dote shamelessly on Kate’s younger sister Bianca. This is no doubt a contributor to Kate’s petulance. Kate is always aware that Baptista is making a mockery of her:-
‘ I pray you, sir, is it your will
To make a stale of me amongst these mates?’
Here Kate is having to endure rude remarks from Gremio and Hortensio about her harsh, shrewish behaviour as Baptista does nothing to support her.
However, I think Bianca appears a lot sweeter and milder than she really is. In this way she is more intelligent as she plays it better then Kate as she can then get her own way with her father.
Kate is transparently jealous of the sweet, feminine, and shallow Bianca, whose beauty attracts several persistent suitors. Bianca and her suitors are a constant reminder to Kate of her unsuitability and lack of admirers. The decree that Bianca can marry only when Kate does makes Kate an obstacle to Bianca’s happiness. Kate is not totally wicked; she feels naturally guilty and feels sympathy for Bianca which she expresses to others through anger,
‘She is (Baptista’s) treasure, she must have a husband ...’
This displays Kate’s angry, exasperation of the situation her father has put her into.
Baptsita as a father does not really understands either of his daughters, Kate, or Bianca. This is common in other Shakespeare plays such as with Egeus in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, Capulet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and Brabantio in ‘Othello’. These fathers misjudge and misunderstand their daughter’s feelings. Another common Shakespeare theme is that these fathers are often from single parent families. Kate and Bianca are therefore deprived of maternal love. Also because there is no older female in the house for Kate to look up to it could be said that she has absorbed the more violent, aggressive, masculine influences from her father having missed out on mildness and kindness from a mother.
After Kate’s first meeting with Petruchio is clearly evident that she does not want to marry him.
‘Call you me ‘daughter’ Now I promise you
You have shown a tenderly fatherly regard,
To wish me wed to one half-lunatic,
A madcap ruffin and a swearing Jack,
That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.’
‘I’ll see thee hanged on Friday first.’
This obviously makes Kate’s feelings about her proposed marriage to Petruchio quite unmistakable to her father. However he is so desperate to get her off his hands he ignores her wishes and proceeds with the arrangements anyway.
Even before Kate’s wedding when Petruchio is nowhere to be seen, as Baptista tries to comfort Kate he still refers to her as a shrew.
‘Go, girl, I cannot blame thee now to weep,
For such an injury would vex a very saint,
Much more a shrew of thy impatient humour.’
Kate is trapped in a vicious circle. Kate is obviously jealous of Bianca’s suitors, not that she wants Hortensio or Gremio for herself but for the fear being unwanted and becoming an old spinster. Still there are no suitors, no one wants to court Kate which makes her even more frustrated, angry and violent so she develops a renowned shrewish reputation in Padua. When referring to Kate to Petruchio for the first time Hortensio introduces Kate in this way;
‘Her name is Katherina Minola,
renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue.’
He continues to say that he would not wed her even with her riches. This reputation that drives the men away from her makes her even more frustrated and aggressive. Petruchio is the one to break the circle for Kate. He is a strong character who does not indulge in such gossip. Also himself being a strong, eccentric character he is not interested in weak, mild moulds such as Bianca but more fiery independent characters like Kate who he views as a challenge and a more passionate match.
Although many critics argue that the methods Petruchio uses to tame Kate are too harsh I would argue that the methods he uses are justified in the end.
When Petruchio first presents himself as a suitor to Kate it is the first time in the play that anyone is paying some attention to Kate and not Bianca. When referring to Kate, Petruchio seeks to find Kate’s good side, ignoring her obvious flaws that everyone else is so quick to pick up on, and ostentatiously ignoring her bad reputation.
When Gremio inquires if Hortensio has warned Petruchio of Kate’s renowned qualities before their first meeting Petruchio replies calmly without agitation,
‘ I know she is an irksome brawling scold.
If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.’
When the other men continue to heap indignity on Kate and persecute Petruchio for his interest in Kate he replies indignantly with a long speech detailing his past experiences;
‘Why came I hither but to that intent?
Think you a little din can daunt my ears?
...
And do you tell me of a woman’s tongue,
That gives not half so great a blow to hear
As will a chestnut in a farmer’s fire?
Tush, tush, fear boys with bugs!’
In this speech Petruchio is showing the other men how undaunted by Kate’s fearful reputation he is. He puts things into perspective, detailing his past hardships and experiences and asserting that compared to that mentioned, Kate’s bold nature and scolding tongue arenothing to him, and he will succeed in taming her.
By this speech we begin to understand Petruchio’s bold and flamboyant nature, his independent thought and that he is not one to believe idle gossip or to judge on first impressions. What also becomes apparent is the speed at which events move. Even when Hortensio has only just told him of Kate when he first arrives in Padua he wants to meet her:-
‘ I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her,
And therefore let me be thus bold with you,
To give you over at this first encounter,
Unless you will accompany me thither.’
Petruchio is prepared to act very fast. He in this way disorientates Kate by working in such a rapid hurry that she does not have time to plot, back out or put him off. Kate is wooed and betrothed in one scene and married no less than one week later. When Petruchio first meets Baptista the dowry and marriage are agreed at great speed, Petruchio proposes this, ‘Signor Baptista, my business asketh haste ...’ and Baptista being all too ready to get Kate off his hands is only to happy to obilge with the pace set by Petuchio.
However, despite Petruchio’s sense of urgency and his fast pace even at this early stage of wooing where he has not even met Kate yet he is considering her welfare. No matter how badly he treats her, his long term aim is concern for her.
‘And for that dowry I’ll assure her of
Her widowhood, be it that she survive me,
In all my lands and leases whatsoever.
Let specialities be therefore drawn between us,
That covenants may be kept on either hand.’
Before Petruchio even meets Kate and begins wooing he declares how he is going to win Kate over; ‘woo her with some spirit’. Petruchio plans to turn everything that Kate says and does upside down, an attitude very difficult for even a shrew to fight with. He is going to pick a fight; having refused to judge Kate he wants to really find out about her character. Petruchio is himself considerably outrageous in his society and therefore not put off by her appearance or her curst tongue.
In the ‘Great Wooing Scene’ Petruchio proves that whatever Kate does to be unpleasant he can do it twice as well, he will ‘out-Kate’ Kate. If she is curst and rude, he will be ruder still. If she is shocking, he will shock her more. In every sense Petruchio is more than prepared to be more obscene and more outrageous than Kate.
In this behaviour Petruchio proves he is a more than a worthy opponent for Kate. He is very strong-willed and strong-minded and can keep up with her witticisms and repartee. When considered those who are not able to keep up with Kate criticise, such as Hortensio and Gremio. Petruchio has a wicked sense of wit and humour the same as Kate, a sweet and obliging wife such as Bianca would not challenge or satisfy Petruchio. Petruchio is also convinced from the beginning that once wooed Kate’s rage will subside and as it clears her better side will shine through. As Petruchio says to Baptista,
‘And when two raging fires meet together
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.’
During the wooing Petruchio also asserts his authority over Kate; he is happy to play along with her little game to a certain extent though not where physical violence is concerned. When she strikes him he makes it clear he will not tolerate any kind of physical violence:-
‘ I swear I’ll cuff you if you strike again.’
Petruchio is saying, ‘you hit me again and I’ll hit you back’. In this way he proves that he is not afraid of her and that he will only use physical violence if provoked.
The wedding scene is also used by Petruchio to further the taming. He turns up late to weaken and disorientate Kate putting himself in a position of power. Petruchio also shows complete contempt for social expectations by arriving in inappropriate clothes as Baptista expresses:-
‘Now sadder that you come so unprovided.
Fie, doff this habit, shame to you estate,
An eyesore to our solemn festival!’
He is an eccentric, a show-off and an extrovert. He goes over the top to declare that whatever she will do he will do it worse. He is insulting the etiquette of the wedding tradition. Baptista and Tranio are especially disgusted by his appearance; they feel that he is insulting the decorum of the wedding ceremony and is making a mockery of the occasion.
An interesting point in Shakespeare’s portrayal of the wedding is that it is not shown on stage. This is because in Elizabethan times it could not be shown on stage to make a complete mockery of the sincerity and religious nature of the wedding ceremony. The scene would have also been very long. Instead, we learn of the events at second hand from Gremio.
Gremio tells us of Petruchio’s completely outrageous behaviour. Petruchio has turned up appallingly late, in ridiculous dress, cuffed the priest, sworn in church, given Kate a huge smacking kiss and thrown the cup of wine in the sexton’s face with the frandulant justification that his beard needed feeding. Petruchio behaves in this unpredictable, scandalous way to pre-empt Kate and forestall her objections by being ruder then she can possibly be and not giving her the chance to object. Some may criticise that his behaviour is excessive however if Kate had refused to accept the vows it would have been very awkward even for Petruchio’s bold character to work around.
In this way Kate leaves the ceremony in a state of shock and disbelief that she has been married and in Elizabethan terms now ‘belongs’ to Petruchio, whom not suprisingly she conceives as a complete and utter lunatic. Kate is then to be thrown off course again by Petruchio taking her away from the wedding feast and insisting that they take their leave now as a married couple and advance to Petruchio’s own house. When Kate stands up and objects Petruchio makes it quite clear that he is not going to listen to her protests and she is going to do what she is told. He also reminds her of her legal status and that she indeed is legally his property and he can do what he likes with her:-
‘She is my goods, my chattels, she is my house,
My household stuff, my field, my barn,
My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing,
And here she stands, touch my whoever dares!’
The journey to Petruchio’s house from Padua is filled with horrors to unnerve even the most curst shrew. Kate’s old, weak horse falls in the mud; ruining her fine bridal attire and covering her in mud, Petruchio then blames Grumio and begins to beat him fiercely. Subconsciously Petruchio is displaying to Kate a taste of her own curst behaviour without her knowing it. Then just as Petruchio has intended Kate shows a little human concern that he himself knows she has as she wades through the mud to pull him off Gremio.
At their arrival Petruchio brings Kate closer to her breaking point by depriving her of food and sleep. After making a scene ‘Kate-style’ finding fault with his servants and throwing the ‘un-eatable’ food in their faces Kate gives up the fight and retires to her chamber. In is when Kate is off stage and the servants not around that Petruchio offers his speech describing his method for taming Kate’s shrewdness. He describes the method an Elizabethan audience would know that is the recognised method of taming and training a hawk. He ends his speech by challenging the audience to speak up if they of any better method to tame a shrew than Petruchio’s own approach.
‘This is a way to kill a wife with kindness,
And thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak; ‘this charity to show.’
Those critical of Petruchio might argue that depriving Kate of food, sleep, leaving her in her dirty bridal clothes and so forth gets very close to the physical and really makes her suffer. By doing this Petruchio could also be said to be exploiting his power as her husband over her. As Elizabethan etiquette and indeed law confirms she is now his property and he can do whatever he pleases with her, Kate has no rights of her own and no grounds on which to resist his will.
From the twenty-first century point of view then what Petruchio does to Kate is just not acceptable. Also in view of the harsh methods he uses it is not even guaranteed that the taming will work. Petruchio might have Kate through all that strife and hardship achieving nothing. In the twenty-first century it does not show decorum to marry somebody with the intention to change them. However the Elizabethan perspective was to marry your wife and if you do not like her; tame her.
Some may also argue in is unforgivably cruel and inhumane that Petruchio blatantly ignores Kate’s signified protests. With him starving her, depriving her of sleep and having her in filthy, dirty clothes Kate gets very close to cracking. At first Kate’s instincts tell her to fight back and resist her brutal behaviour to every available extent. However it becomes obvious that she is genuinely puzzled by her treatment and what he is trying to achieve through it; ‘The more my wrong, the more his spite appears. What did he marry me to famish me?’. The speed and haste at which Petruchio has wooed and married her is also still puzzling her. From the very beginning the affection from his part is there in the great wooing scene and even in the face of her curst behaviour and obvious shrewdness he still sticks around much to her perplexity.
The first point at which Kate gives up fighting Petruchio and decides to capitulate is the trivial point of the sun/moon on the journey back to her father’s house. Petruchio declares that;
‘It shall be moon, or star, or what I list,
Or e’er I journey to your father’s house.’
Kate than gives in and surrenders to his will;
‘Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please;
And if you please to call it a rush candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.’
This is the scene where peace is finally established. Kate gives in and accepts that Petruchio is boss. Once he has obtained his authority he does not use it to boss her around, therefore abusing his power and her trust. On account of his previous generosity in the dowry we do expect him to use his power fairly and not to mis-treat or abuse Kate. Petruchio instead lets Kate on in the joke, thus sharing their humour, proving they can laugh at each other and themselves. The crucial point is now he has got Kate he is not going to imprison her but to liberate her.
In favour of Petruchio’s methods it is crucial to remember that while Petruchio is putting Kate through all his strife and hardship he is also sharing all her physical discomforts. He manages to pretend that everything is done out of love and ‘in reverent care of you’ and that he wants the best for her whilst disguising that he is suffering and struggling as she also is.
Petruchio senses right from the beginning that Kate is unhappy with her life, family situation and knows that a real shock is needed to change her attitude and way of life. When the tailor comes to Petruchio’s house and Kate is being offered fine clothes in favour of her dirty bridal attire and just as swiftly withdraws them, his justification is harder for her to see.
‘Well, come my Kate, we will unto your father’s
Even in these honest mean habiliments.
Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor,
For tis the mind that makes the body rich.’
Here Petruchio is teaching Kate not to judge on appearances; he can see through Kate’s unpleasantness that she is really nice. He is saying to Kate that appearances go beyond fine clothes and is trying to show her what a real moral personality is after being spoilt by fine clothes and wealth all her life.
In final support of Petruchio his open love and affection for Kate are made clear several times in the final part of the play remarking,
‘kiss me Kate,’
‘why there’s a wench,’
Petruchio is clearly relishing the fact that he has succeeded in his intentions and made Kate a happier person, all for her own good as well as his.
The obvious pride and faith in his wife are apparent when Petruchio challenges Hortensio to the wager and puts a large amount of money on her.
‘Twenty crowns?
I’ll venture so much of my hawk or hound,
But twenty times so much upon my wife.’
In Kate’s final speech bringing the play to a climax, she is articulating many Elizabethan commonplaces about marriage, yet appearing to spring directly from her own experience and feeling. She comes to the conclusion that husbands really ask very little of their wives and in order to look after them the husbands have to work hard so that the women are comfortable and warm at home. Kate admits that she used to want to have her own will, now she is saying that she is happier being obedient and faithful to her husband and that it is indeed her duty owed to him for taking care of her. Kate feels satisfied by her transition and Petruchio has triumphed over the other men.
