The Taming of the Shrew Flashcards
Tone
- Comic & Light
- But because of the social issues it tackles ==> there is seriousness behind the comedy
Settings
- Unspecefic // some time during Renaissance ?
- Padua (a prominent city-state in Italy during the Renaissance)
Major Conflict
Petruchio’s attempt to tame Katherine = assert his authority in their marriage and overcome her hotheaded resistance to turn her into an obediant wife.
Rising Action
- Katherine’s “shrewish” behavior
- Disguises and subterfuges of the subplot
- Pet. and Kat.’s early verbal conflict
- Pet. and Kat.’s comical wedding
Climax
Not a consensus around this but might be Wedding Scene (Act 3), Katherine’s “acceptance to submit” to Pet. (she kisses him in the street, Act 4).
Falling Action
(Act 5, Scene 2) Banquet at Luciento’s House, Bianca’s wedding (she doesn’t show).
Effect on social roles on individual happiness
- Katherine’s unhappiness stems from the societal pressure to conform and the lack of agency she experiences.
- Even Bianca is trapped in a role that dictates her worth based on marriageability rather than personal fulfillment.
- Petruchio’s happiness is tied to successfully asserting his authority, reflecting a societal ideal rather than personal compatibility.
- To be able to get to Bianca, Luciento needs to escape his original social role.
Wedding
Viewed as an economic institution/transaction, social contract.
(economic considerations determine who marries whom)
Symbols (clothing)
- Petruchio’s wedding costume to assert dominance over both Katherine and societal norms.
- Habderdasher’s cap & the tailor’s gown = Petruchio’s rejection of everything Katherine liked [gaslighting, domination, manipulation]
This also mirrors how appearences (beauty standards and clothing) are used to control women in a society that is patriarchal.
Motifs
- Disguise
- Father-Child
- Domestication
Disguise
The fluidity of Identity and Social Roles : shows how absurd appearances, social roles and norms are as they’re performative rather than inherent.
(unquestionned Tranio’s false nobility, Sly - induction, etc.)
Domestication / Taming
Marriage becomes a power struggle
* P.’s tactics to tame K. mimic those used to break in a wild horse or dog - no use of communication (starves her, deprives her of sleep, gaslights her, shames her, etc.)
* Falcon-Taming explicit metaphor
Ex. calling the sun the moon - he momentarily convinces K. to agree—because she realizes that resistance is futile and playing along will allow her to avoid further conflict.
Father-Daughter relations
Paternal (male) control over daughter’s fate
* Imposing conditions on Bianca’s marriage
* Auctionning off Bianca
* Forces K. to marry
= daughters are viewed as property.
Induction, Joke on Christopher Sly
Foreshadows role-playing, disguise - Sly getting manipulated into thinking he’s someone else // Kat. getting manipulated into a “new” person ?
Identity is flexible and can be forced upon someone.
Unresolved Induction
// just like we never really know for certain whether K. was really tamed.
However, as alcohol’s influence is only temporary, we can guess that Sly would eventually go back to his initial status…
Historical Context
Elizabethan England
* rigid gender roles, patriarchy
Women were expected to be chaste, obedient, submissive.
* hotheaded/disruptive/”shrewish” women were a common trope (scold’s bridle)
[Summary] Induction
- Drunken tinker (Sly) thrown out of an alehouse
- Wealthy lord plays a trick on him (use of disguise)
- He is tricked into thinking he’s an amnesic nobleman
- The Taming of the Shrew is performed to Sly for interntainment
[Summary] Act I
Padua, Minolas
* B. cannot marry until K. does
* Gremio/Hortensio/Luciento = B.’s suitors
* Luciento & Hortensio ==> tutors to get to B.
* P. from Verona ==> K. for her dowry
[Summary] Act II
- P. meets K. | sharp exhanges, verbal sparring
- P. declares he will marry K. on Sunday (despite her resistance) | Baptisa agrees to the match (seems to want to get rid of K.)
- B. gets courted by Luciento (as Cambio) and Hortensio
[Summary] Act III
P. & K. - Wedding Day
* P. arrives late and dressed in bizarre/mismatched clothing
* He refuses to stay for the wedding feast
* Immediately takes K. home
[Summary] Act IV
In P.’s country house :
K.’s taming begins | sleep deprivation, starvation etc. under the guise of finding everything given to her “not good enough”
// In Padua :
* Luciento reveals his true identity to B.
* H. gives up his pursuit of B. to marry a wealthy widow (triumph of wealth/interest over love)
[Summary] Act V
P. & K. return to Padua
* Secret marriage of L. & B.
* Wager: whoever gets their wife to come first has the most obedient one
* K. is the only one to obey
==> K.’s speech, P.’s “victory”
Play within a play
Shakespeare draws attention to the nature of theater itself. The audience is reminded that they are watching a performance, encouraging them to question the reality of what unfolds. This distancing effect invites reflection on whether the events of The Taming of the Shrew should be taken at face value or viewed as exaggerated theatrical convention.
Taming methods | evolution through 4th Act
- Denying basic needs
-
Gaslighting
[a] false praise
[b] absurd argumentss - Defying her in public
Katherine’s Speech (Act IV)
Moon & Sun
Performance of Submission ?
Resistance vs. Adaptation ?
Use of hyperboles, exageration… mockery ?
Is this the moment K. has “cracked the code” ?
Katherine’s Speech (Act V)
K. publicly declares that wives should submit to their husbands - she places her hand under P.’s foot.
Her exaggerated speech raises questions of sincerity—is she truly submitting, or is she performing obedience as a strategic act?
Disguises as a Tool for Social Mobility
Deception can grant access to power and privilege (Tranio).
Bianca’s Marriage
B.’s behavior in Act V suggests she is not as obedient as Lucentio expected. She refuses to come when called, contrasting with Katherina’s exaggerated display of obedience.
An ambiguous ending…
Maybe the ending was meant to be ambiguous to avoid censorship and dissatisfaction within audiences without it taking away from the real message/purpose to later resonate with more modern audiences.
Bianca and what she reveals about femininty
She is the pure embodiement of societal ideals of femininity but complicates them by revealing that her outward obedience masks her own desires.
==> Maybe all women have that in them!
Rewarding of perpetuated gender roles
Any character who aligns with that vision of masculinity and femininity is rewarded, whereas any character who fails to perform their allotted gender role correctly is humiliated and abused. Katherine is only valued by the other men in the play once she begins to obey her husband.
