The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the ShrewThe Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare is probably one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies. Its plot
is derived from the popular 'war of the sexes' theme in
which males and females are pitted against one another for
dominance in marriage. The play begins with an induction in
which a drunkard, Christopher Sly, is fooled into believing
he is a king and has a play performed for him. The play he
watches is what constitutes the main body of The Taming Of
The Shrew. In it, a wealthy land owner, Baptista Minola,
attempts to have his two daughters married. One is very
shrewish, Katherine, while the other is the beautiful and
gentle Bianca. In order to ensure Katherine is married,
Baptista disallows Bianca to be espoused until Katherine is
wed, forcing the many suitors to Bianca to find a mate for
Katherine in order for them to vie for Bianca's love. Many
critics of the play condemn it for the blatant sexist
attitude it has toward women but closer examination of the
play and the intricacies of its structure reveal that it is
not merely a story of how men should 'put women in their
place'. The play is, in fact, a comedy about an assertive
woman coping with how she is expected to act in the society
of the late sixteenth century and of how one must obey the
unwritten rules of a society to be accepted in it. Although
the play ends with her outwardly conforming to the norms of
society, this is in action only, not in mind. Although she
assumes the role of the obedient wife, inwardly she still
retains her assertiveness.
Most of the play's humour comes from the way in
which characters create false realities by disguising
themselves as other people, a device first introduced in the
induction. Initially this is accomplished by having
Christopher Sly believe he is someone he is not and then by
having the main play performed for him. By putting The
Taming Of The Shrew in a 'play within a play' structure,
Shakespeare immediately lets the audience know that the play
is not real thus making all events in the play false
realities. Almost all characters in the play take on
identities other than their own at some point of time during
the play. Sly as a king, Tranio as Lucentio, Lucentio as
Cambio, Hortensio as Litio and the pedant as Vicentio are
all examples of this. Another example of this is Katherine
as an obedient wife.
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,...
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