The first signs of change in Katherina appear in Act 3, Scene 2 after their wedding, when Tranio and Gremio moth ask Petruchio to stay till after dinner. Thinking that is would make a difference; Katherina sweetly tells Petruchio “Let me entreat you”. Obviously you see that she is only playing along, trying to get her way as Bianca does with Baptista. As her refuses, it makes you realize that Petruchio is not easily manipulated and will only treat Katherina as an equal when she treats others in the same way. Later on in the same conversation, she says “I see a woman may be made a fool If she had not a spirit to resist”. This is vital, in witnessing the change from this scene, to her final speech because in the end, she indeed has no resistance and gives her total and utter submission. “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head, Thy sovereign; one that cares for thee”
We witness a big change in Act 4, Scene 5, when Katherina and Petruchio are on their journey back to Padua, and they stop for a rest. This is a a key moment in the play when the reader begins to understand how not only, has Katherina become gentle and kind, but also a slave to her husband’s will. Petruchio then tests Katherina to ensure that she has indeed changed for good.
Petruchio: I say it is the moon.
Katherina I know it is the moon.
Petruchio: Nay then you lie, it is the blessed sun
Katherina: Then God be blessed, it is the blessed sun
Why has Katherina Changed
Katherina’s opinion of men has changed from “Mate” “a jade” and “stale” to “thy lord, thy king, thy governor” by the end of the play, in the final speech. This is in no doubt, the climax of the story. It highlights the change in Katherina’s personality as it does to the content and language of the play. She talks of men as superior whilst degrading Bianca and the widow for the disrespect they have towards their men. In this speech Katherina says “A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, Muddy, Ill-seaming, thick, bereft of beauty, and while it is so, none so dry or thirsty, Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.” This quote is the perfect example of everything Katherina was at the beginning of the play. It is a physical image, putting emphasis on the point that a man won’t touch an upset woman because it is like drinking corrupt water. It is a brilliant admission of what she once was. Petruchio has tamed Katherina, into a beautiful, clear fountain. This indeed is ironic, because Bianca “the white”, is yet to be cleared. Katherina once had abused males in the ways in which she was abused by Petruchio , and by learning from her mistakes, she tried to teach the others.
In Act 2, Scene 1, when Petruchio first meets Katherina, he greets her as Kate, to which she defensively replies “well have you heard, but something hard of hearing, They call me Katherina that do talk of me”. Having led a life full of aggression and male attitude, Katherina uses a defense mechanism to defend herself with. Initially, she treats males as subordinates. I feel that in order to escape from her insecurities, she affronts others to make herself feel superior. One can empathize with Katherina because she had no female role model to venerate. Another reason I sympathize her is because for the majority of her life, she is deemed to have been treated worse than her younger sister Bianca. This is obvious in the way Baptista speaks to Bianca “For I will love thee ne’er the less,my girl”. Katherina not only uses her defense mechanisms towards Petruchio, but she sarcastically tells Baptista how good of a father he is when he tries to wed her to Petruchio. I presume that another reason behind her defensive behavior is how Baptista considers Bianca as his jewel, in contrast to the way he feels about Katherina.
Baptista: Why now, daughter Katherine, in your dumps?
Katherina: Call you me ‘daughter’? Now I promise you
You have showed a tender fatherly regard
To wish me wed (to Petruchio)
While Baptista was trying to wed Katherina to Petruchio, she seemed ungrateful and unwilling. This was another one of her defence mechanisms. By rejecting, she assumed that she could marry Petruchio under her conditions and manipulate both men into giving her what she wants. I think it’s partly because she usually does not receive the attention she wants from Baptista and partly because she did not want to marry someone who would control her. Earlier on in the play she indirectly tried to guilt Baptista into feeling that he was to blame for her attitude towards people.
“What, will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see / She is your treasure, she must have a husband”
Bianca is untouchable, except when it comes to wealth. Bianca’s love is a token to be exchanged by riches, which I perceive as demeaning. The way in which the prettier, empty-headed sister is sought after elucidates women as trophies to be won. In Act 2, Scene 1, Baptista offers Bianca in exchange for material things. “Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both That can assure my daughter greatest dower Shall have my Bianca’s love”. In this scene, Baptista is auctioning Bianca’s love, which surely is a sign that her marriage will fail as opposed to Katherina’s marriage, which has become successful. However demeaning the play could be to women, I believe that Shakespeare put emphasis on Bianca’s life being superficial, to give the audience a chance to comprehend why it is that Katherina and Petruchio’s game has a higher possibility of succeeding. Although Katherina’s marriage was only seen as a game, in the end, she is better off. There are many reasons to that namely, Katherina and Petruchio have a sexual bond that lasts throughout the entire play. Although abusive, it is exciting as Petruchio is fighting fire with fire. Their first meeting allowed them to engage into a rather challenging conversation which proved to the both of them that there is potential in them as a couple.
“Katherina: …You were a moveable
Petruchio: Why what’s a moveable?
Katherina: A joint stool
Petruchio: Thou hast hit it. Come sit on me”
Petruchio tried to help Katherina overcome her insecurities by flattering her. To begin with, he showed interest in her, unlike many other men who were only after Bianca. He is possibly the first male who’s ever teased Katherina, which I assume is why she takes on an interest in him. She find him interesting to talk to because she challenges her every word. Ironically, he made himself appear superior to her, while raising her self esteem.
Later on in the play, Petruchio strikes a servant, and only then do you perceive the softer, kinder side of Katherina. “Patience, I pray you. ‘twas a fault unwillingly”. She steps in for someone else, to protect them from harm. This was unlike the Katherina in Act one, who only used to defend herself. She then begins to realize how she and her behavior might have affected the way people thought about her. Katherina got a taste of her won medicine. Petruchio made her comprehend how marriage only works when there is stability, by turning into who she was, the independent, bossy and abusive male. She recognizes this in the final speech when she says “I am ashamed that women are so simple to offer war when they should kneel for peace”
Finally Katherina proves how she has changed into a better woman because of how badly Petruchio treated her. Regardless o his ill treatment she is still his servant, to do as he pleases. “ Place your hands below your husband’s foot In token of which duty, if he please My hand is ready, may it do him ease”
Petruchio has definitely won the battle, by taming the shrew, but the war itself has been avoided because Katherina found peace in herself to cease the fire between them and settle for a happy marriage. Hortensio tells Petruchio “…go thy ways. The field is won”. The word ‘field’ is war imagery, suggesting a battlefield. Uncertain of whether he has won yet, Petruchio takes his test a step further. He spots an old man and greets him as a ‘gentle mistress’, telling Katherina to embrace her. Katherina then mocks the old man, just as Petruchio did, to prove to him that his word is superior to hers. Then when Petruchio explains to Katherina that it is an “old, wrinkled, faded” man, she apologizes. This is unlike anything Katherina has said before in the play.
The way, in which Katherina has changed, epitomizes women as righteous and beautiful, when the audience thinks back to whom Katherina was at the beginning of the play. A smaller good was sacrificed for a greater one. This is what marriage is supposed to have, obstacles and wars to overcome. By abusing Katherina, Petruchio has given her a glimpse of how she treated others. His abuse made Katherina feel inferior, yet it doesn’t exemplify women as the inferior roles in society. In my culture, women are expected to wed and bare children in the same sense that Katherina was. Men are alleged to bring home the money, and feed their families. The reality is that the majority of the countries in this world still proceed with these impractical traditions, regardless of the feminist movements. The Taming of the Shrew should not offend people living in the western society, but instead inform them of the everyday happenings they cannot see. I think that Katherina’s submission puts the sanity in their relationship because she now realized that in order for her to have a good relationship with him, and settle down into a stable family. By the end of Scene 5, it is obvious that Katherina has changed. However, her final speech is the climax of the story, summarizing her outlook on life, which has dramatically changed from the beginning of the play to the end.