Marriage and Relationships in Taming Of The Shrew Essay

The Taming of the Shrew Essay

Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents issues connected with marriage and male/female relationships in The Taming of the Shrew.

The Taming of the Shrew is very involved in the unfair treatment of women in the period in time in the 16th Century. Shakespeare scrutinizes these issues a lot in his play, and challenges Elizabethan womens stereotypical submissive roles, leading to modern day beliefs that he was a feminist ahead of his time. In Elizabethan times acting conditions were also very different from today. Most of William Shakespeares plays were performed in the Globe Theatre on the banks of the River Thames, London. This theatre was very important to the structure of the plays, as the audience on the ground (nicknamed the groundlings) would really feel a sense of involvement in the play, as they were so close to the stage.

In the 16th Century, a law banned female actresses from acting on stage was in place, so males played every part. In the Taming of The Shrew, the part of Katherina is a lot more masculine than the other female parts in the play, even the tone of her voice is manly, and so the actor would have an easier time playing her character. On the other hand, Bianca is a very feminine character.

This play focuses on the concerns of married life, and this would have been very relevant to the audience in this particular period. Katherinas father, Baptista was one of the wealthiest men in Padua, and his daughters were subject to mass interest from men due to the substantial dowries he could offer. Baptista had a very prominent rule in the play, that his younger daughter Bianca was not allowed to marry until her elder sister was married to a suitor approved by her father. This was a great annoyance for Bianca, as her sister was not the most pleasant of people.

Bianca was the younger daughter of Baptista, and proved her self to be the complete opposite of her sister. She is soft-spoken, sweet, and unassuming. Her sister Katherina is the shrew in the title of the play. In contrast to Bianca, she is sharp-tongued, quick tempered, and prone to violence, especially towards anyone who tries to marry her. Her hostility towards the potential suitors particularly distresses her father, but from the play we begin to see that she is actually jealous of her sister. She does not resist her suitor, Petruccio, forever and she eventually subjugates herself to him, despite her previous dismissal of marriage.

In The Taming Of The Shrew, courtship and marriage are not so much the result of love but rather an institution of society that people are expected to take part in. As a result of the removal of romance from marriage, suitors are judged, not by their love for a woman, but by how well they can provide for her. All suitors compare the dowry each can bring to the marriage and the one with the most to offer 'wins' the woman's hand in marriage. This competition for marriage is like a game to the characters of the play.

In the game, however, women are treated like objects that can be bought and sold rather than as human beings. While discussing the courtship of Bianca with Gremio, Hortensio says "He that runs fastest gets he ring" (Act I, scene i, l. 133) likening receiving permission to wed Bianca to winning a simple race! This insignificant statements language represents how what they are talking about is not a big deal to them. This is expected since the society is a patriarchal one (governed by men). For example, Lucentio, Tranio and Petruchio are all defined with reference to their fathers and all the elderly authority figures, like Baptista and Vicentio, are men. The taming of Katherine is not a women's shrewishness being cured as much as it is a woman being taught the rules of the 'patriarchal game'. Katherine has learned how to be assertive and with this knowledge is able to control men, and a woman controlling a man is considered 'against the rules' of the game.

Just as today a woman's wedding was one of the most important days of her life. The major difference to Elizabethan wedding customs to a modern day Western marriage is that the woman had very little, if any, choice in who her husband might be. Elizabethan Women were subservient to men. They were dependent on their male relatives to support them. Elizabethan woman were raised to believe that they were inferior to men and that men knew better, a very different situation to today. Disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion. Marriages were frequently arranged so that both families involved would benefit. Marriages would be arranged to bring prestige or wealth to the family - a surprising fact is that young men were treated in a similar way as to women! Many couples would meet for the very first time on their wedding day! This particular Elizabethan custom usually applied to the nobility but the married or religious life were the only real options for the Elizabethans ( a career for a woman was absolutely unheard of.) Regardless of their social standing women and men were expected to marry. Single women were even thought to be witches by their neighbours!

Disguise plays an important part in The Taming of the Shrew. Christopher Sly dressed as a lord, Lucentio dressed as a Latin tutor, Tranio dressed as Lucentio, Hortensio dressed as a music tutor, and the pedant dressed as Vincentio. These disguises enabled the characters to cross barriers in social status and class so that they could become closer to potential wives, and, for a time, each of them were successful. This success brings the question of whether clothes make the person, and whether a person can change his or her role by putting on new clothes. The ultimate answer is no. In The Taming of the Shrew, the plot involves many potential incidents that could easily uncover the persons true motives. Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, could just bump into Vincentio, and his true identity surfaces. As Petruccio implied on his wedding day, clothes are simply clothes, and the person beneath remains the same no matter what disguise is worn.

In act two scene one, Baptista, Katherina and Petruccio are arguing in Baptistas house. "Ah!" said Petruchio, "you and all the world would talk amiss of her. You should see how kind she is to me when we are alone. In short, I will go off to Venice to buy fine things for our wedding--for--kiss me, Kate! we will be married on Sunday." After declaring this, Katherina stormed out of the room. Petruccio also left the room, but laughing. Kate was attempting to keep her usual characteristics, as she didnt want to seem softened by her new man. Whether she fell in love with Petruchio, or whether she was only glad to meet a man who was not afraid of her, or whether she was flattered that despite her rough words and violent actions, he still desired her to be his wife. Katherina did indeed marry Petruccio on Sunday, a s he had sworn she should.

The wedding day of Katherina and Petruccio was a world away from the modern perception of the most important day in a womans life (but apparantly not a mans in the play.) To irritate Katherina and to humble her defiant spirit, Petruccio was puposely late to arrive at his own wedding. Instead of wearing his best smart clothes, he wore shabby clothes that matched his servants, and this embarrased Katherina. This relates to how clothing can easily change a situation and persons social status. Petruccios reason for these backhand tactics was to show that he was wearing the trousers in their relationship, as he would have felt threatened by Katherinas controlling characteristics. He also continued to give Katherina a taste of her own medicine at his home, by not allowing her to eat or drink, saying that the food was sub standard. This was to show her how she had been acting towards every situation in their relationship, always wanting bigger and better, and never being truly happy. This reflects a lot about her personality.

The last real battle that Petruchio and Katherina has is about what is lighting the sky, the sun or the moon, in act 4 scene 5. Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun: But sun it is not, when you say it is not; And the moon changes even as your mind. What you will have it named, even that it is; And so it shall be so for Katharina. It is the middle of the day, so Katherine says it's the sun. Petruchio on the other hand tells her it is the moon. The moon tells us that Katherina is still in "the dark" or "night time" about her behaviors and duties as a wife. When she finally agrees with him, Petruchio says that it is the sun after all, symbolizing the fact that she has now realized her duties as a wife.

The Taming of The Shrew ends with Katherine proving that she is truly cured of her 'shrewishness' and is the most obedient of the three newlywed wives at the end of the play. This is demonstrated in her soliloquy (Act five, Scene Two) when she lectures the other wives on the proper way that a woman should behave. I am ashamed that women are so simple to offer war where they should kneel for peace, or seek rule, supremacy, and sway, when they are bound to serve, love, and obey. Shakespeare has purposely used language a lot softer that Katherinas usual tones to convey her transition also, rather than just showing her actions.

The Taming of the Shrew has a very controversial message, but it is hard to determine exactly what this message is. It could be that material possessions should not be a gateway to changing social status or cliques, from the disguise scenes, or the message could be that marriage should be about true love, and not money, or it could just be that men should treat women as equals. When the play was first performed in the Globe theatre, it would have been able to transfer these messages to the women in the audience; this perhaps was a planned technique on Shakespeares part. Marriage is presented as a positive occurrence overall, but this could be easily mistaken from the early scenes of Katherinas marriage to Petruccio, as he is abusive and cruel, but only to complete Katherinas taming. The two other newlyweds all appear to be happy in marriage in the final scenes of the play.

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grade A at gcse