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Summary Of The Taming Of The Shrew By Baptista Minola

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Baptista Minola, the heavy-handed father in The Taming of the Shrew, can be characterized as having difficulty expressing his love effectively to his daughters Bianca and Katherine. While Bianca is charming, tranquil, and stunning, Katherine, being the shrew of the play, is hostile, peevish, and quick witted. After raising both daughters until the day of their marriage, Baptista has been caught in the middle of their opposing characteristics. Understandingly, his actions to deal with this discrepancy can be viewed as cruel and tyrannical; however, he is a loving father that cares deeply for his daughters and their well-being. Many readers only consider Baptista’s concern for the marriage of his daughters as cruel and the amount of wealth they may inherit as greedy when describing his manner and personality, but he acts with logic in each situation and values the happiness of his daughters. The characterization of Baptista being a cruel father is especially inaccurate when describing him. At the beginning of Act 1, scene 1 when Katherine tied up Bianca and Baptista barges into the predicament, the reader views the only scene where Baptista acts with rage against his daughters: “For shame, thou holding of a devilish spirit! Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee?” (Shakespeare 75). However, these words of rage against Katherine are justified since she has just struck his fairest daughter Bianca. Even with such justification, Baptista doesn’t strike Katherine and

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