In this essay I will be focusing on Katherina, a character from 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Then I will conclude with whether I see Katherina as bad-tempered or whether I see her as being imprisoned by society.

Authors Avatar

Page 1                                                       Rachel Jones

  Interpretation of ‘The Taming of The Shrew depends on    whether you see Katherina as bad-tempered and wild, or imprisoned by society

In this essay I will be focusing on Katherina, a character from ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. Then I will conclude with whether I see Katherina as bad-tempered or whether I see her as being imprisoned by society.

Katherina is just like any normal Elizabethan woman as she feels that marriage as well as being a wife is the proper role in life as did other Elizabethan girls of her time. This has brought out a bitterness in Katherina because of the feeling that her father Baptista has failed her, as he has not yet succeeded in finding Katherina a husband, she therefore voices her anger when she says;

‘What, will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see she is your treasure, she must have a husband. I must dance bare-foot on her wedding-day, and for your love to her lead apes in hell.’(Act 2, scene 1, lines 31 to 36).

  This shows that Katherina would feel it to be a deep personal insult if Baptista were to allow Bianca her younger sister to marry before her.        

     The first thing we notice about Katherina is that she is very quick-witted as she insults Bianca’s wooers. At the start of ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ we also see that Katherina uses a very low register of language, which are almost slang words:

‘To comb your noddle with a three-legged stool,                                    And paint your face, and use you like a fool.’ (Act 1, scene 1, lines 63 to 65).

This shows that Katherina can defend herself and that she often does, which was unusual for a woman of that time because women saw men as

Page 2

potential husbands and they would not answer back. Also men expected obedience and submission of power from their inferiors, as they would perceive their wives, unlike Bianca who is the ideal Elizabethan woman as she is obedient to her father and is curious of her suitors.

Rhyme makes this speech humorous and encourages the audience to sympathise with Katherina, which brings out and shows Katherina’s skill with language. This also shows that Katherina despises Bianca’s wooers as they say:

 ‘She’s too rough for me.’ (Act 1, scene 1, line 54).

 Even the men in the town think she is too much to handle.        

          We see that Katherina is envious of her sister Bianca as she goes as far as to tie Bianca up and almost interrogates her about which suitor her love falls on the most:

Join now!

       ‘Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell whom thou lov’st best. See thou dissemble not’.  (Act 2, scene 1, lines 8 to 9).

 This suggests that Katherina is jealous of all the attention that Bianca gets from her suitors and her father Baptista, as Katherina wants this attention for herself. This shows that Katherina just wants to be loved.

 This brings out an envy in Katherina as Bianca has her choice of suitors and will most certainly be married soon or later, Katherina on the other hand, only wishes she was to be married as ...

This is a preview of the whole essay