These harsh tactics are continually used by Petruchio and become largely evident during the wedding scene. He turns up late to the wedding, and when he does come he is wearing ridiculous clothes, mocking the wedding ceremony. The breakdown of Kate starts becoming more apparent as she is upset by the circumstances, “Would Katherine had never seen him though! [exits weeping]”. Though later she tries to assert herself, “not till I please myself”, Petruchio is clearly in control.
Petruchio continues to treat her badly, by not giving her food, clothes and begins forcing her to agree with him, whatever ridiculous things he may be saying. This is particularly apparent in Act IV scene V, where Petruchio forces Kate to say the moon is the sun and vice versa. Shakespeare particularly displays his idea that woman should be obedient to their husbands in this scene by using a famous analogy. The moon and the sun was a common analogy used to describe the ideal relationship between a husband and his wife. This is because the moon was seen to follow the sun in behavior, and was compared to a wife being expected to follow the husband’s behavior. Since Petruchio forces Katharina to agree with him, she starts to “follow his behavior” and is starting to behave as expected.
In Act V, scene II, the men all place a wager on which of their wives are the most obedient, and Kate proves herself by coming when Petruchio summons her. She then makes a speech about how wives should obey there husbands. She particularly uses war imagery such as “wound” to show that she has lost the battle, she was tamed by Petruchio. In this speech, Kate also mimics Petruchio’s way of speaking, “thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign”. By copying Petruchio’s way of speak, it shows how she has been made submissive, and starts taking on her husbands voice. In this respect, Shakespeare conveys Kate’s submission as true, whilst her spirit brutally broken by Petruchio to make her entirely obedient.
Following on with the idea that Kate’s submission being true after her will callously broken by Petruchio, Bianca’s behavior can be analyzed to truly see the role of woman in Shakespeare’s play, “the Taming of the Shrew”. From Act II scene I, Bianca is seen as being correct in her manner and behavior, as she says, “I know my duty to my elders”. However, Bianca willingly plays along with the social convention of the time as to appear quiet and inarticulate, knowing her duty to her elders. However, when she wishes to assert her authority she does, showing she in fact also has shrewish behavior which is more secretive, but still evident. This is seen from her seduction scene, where she turns the learning into a scene of wooing. Bianca asserts her authority by stating “but learn my lessons as I please myself”, suggesting that she does as she pleases. At the end of the play, Bianca acts in a shrewish manner by not coming when she is called by her husband, whilst Kate comes immediately. This is in direct comparison with Kate, as here; Bianca is the one being shrewish. Shakespeare shows how Bianca was in fact the shrew, who acted in a clever manner to be shrewish when she pleased, in order to obtain what she wants. Kate on the other hand constantly acted in a shrewish manner which eventually led her to loose the battle between her and Petruchio.
In this respect, Shakespeare presents Kate’s submission as being true and honest after her spirit broken by Petruchio. Since Kate acted in such a shrewish way the entire time, Petruchio was able to tame her. Bianca on the other hand acted in a sly and clever manner, getting what she wanted but also doing what she wanted and asserting herself. In this respect, Bianca was portrayed as a Shrew by Shakespeare. This is one opinion that Shakespeare made evident in his depiction of the role of woman is the play, “the Taming of the Shrew”.
Shakespeare also portrays Kate’s submission as being false and ironic. This is seen during her final speech, as she ridicules the expectation of woman by using sarcasm, “I am ashamed that woman are so simple”. She is sarcastically making fun of the depiction of woman in her time, by saying that woman are so “simple”. Later in the speech, Kate says, “And place your hand below your husband’s foot”. She over extravagantly emphasizes the husbands authority to mock the expectation of the role of woman, and what Petruchio wanted her to become. Kate’s final speech is also ironic. This is because Kate was supposed to be inarticulate (after being tamed) as this is what woman the expectation was of woman. However, in Kate’s long speech she deliberately mimics her husband’s way of speaking, “thy lord, thy life, thy keeper”. She is mimicking Petruchio, who in Act III, scene II states to Kate, “she is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my household stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything”. By copying her husband’s way of speaking, she shows she also can be articulate and does not have to be the “simple” woman she is expected to be. Kate is knowingly mocking the expectation of woman at the time.
Petruchio always appears to tame Kate and force her to say what he makes her say. However, an ironic tone can be found when Kate agrees to Petruchio’s demands in Act IV scene V. As a gentleman walks past Petruchio and Kate, Petruchio demands that Kate refers to the gentleman as a “gentleman” who is voluptuous and beautiful. Kate does what he asks, “Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet”, but uses odd wording such as “virgin” to show she is playing along with what he is saying, but in an ironic and false way. She mocks what Petruchio is telling her to do by using odd wording and over indulges the “beauty” of the gentleman.
In this sense, Shakespeare creates her to comment on the role of woman at the time – that woman were unjustly and incorrectly expected to be passive and inarticulate.
Shakespeare deliberately creates two simultaneous presentations of the roles of woman in his play, “the Taming of the Shrew”. The first being the most apparent, where Kate’s submission is true and she is brutally broken down by the extent of Petruchio’s ruthless measures. Audiences who would agree with the required role of woman in Shakespeare’s time would have consented with this idea. However, those challenging the submissive role of woman would see Kate’s taming as sarcastic, particularly in her speech at the end of the play. By incorporating both ideas at the same time into his play, Shakespeare cleverly involves the whole audience by creating simultaneous scenarios. Shakespeare presents the role of woman in his play in two different scenarios to appeal to a wide audience range in his play, “The taming of the shrew”.
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