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
“When love speaks the voice of all the gods makes heaven drowsy with the harmony,” Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, scene II.
A comedic story can be summed up as one thing; a hero who triumphs over evil and wins the day. In these tales, our main character encounters around one hardship and overcomes it with much ease. The ancient Greek playwrights had a similar view on comedic tales: in order for something to be a comedy, the main character must reach a positive outcome. So no matter what comes their way, our hero will be in a better spot than he was at the beginning. Well-known comedies include A Midsummer Night 's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and Cyrano de Bergerac. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew, the main character achieves their goal with few hardships. Yet, in Cyrano de Bergerac, our main character’s ambitions are never
The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, and has weathered well into our modern era. For all the praises it has garnered throughout the centuries, it is curious to note that many have considered it to be one of his most controversial in his treatment of women. The "taming" of Katherine has been contended as being excessively cruel by many writers and critics of the modern era. George Bernard Shaw himself pressed for its banning during the 19th century. The subservience of Katherine has been labeled as barbaric, antiquated, and generally demeaning. The play centers on her and her lack of suitors. It establishes in the first act her shrewish demeanor and its repercussions on her family. It is only with the introduction of the witty Petruchio as her suitor, that one begins to see an evolution in her character. Through an elaborate charade of humiliating behavior, Petruchio humbles her and by the end
I must and will have Katherine to my wife. (Act 2, Scene 1, Page 13)
Another important similarity of characters is the role in which the fathers play Walter Stratford (Father to Kat and Bianca) is a single dad, who also happens to be a doctor, like any other dad he is known to be very overprotective of his daughters with his conditioning and priority only being to secure the best possible living standards for his daughters. In saying that he doesn’t want neither Kat nor Bianca to engage in stereotypical teenage activities such as partying, drinking, smoking, doing drugs, joining cults or having sex, concerned for both their wellbeing and mentality he advocates a path that will enable them to stick to appropriate roots and be able to make their own decisions as they are near to becoming independent woman of society. As oppose to that father figure in Taming of the Shrew Baptista is almost holding his daughters hostage rather than enabling them to pick their own pathways, he is simply fond of the interest of trying to rid himself unruly of Katherine and will do just about whatever he can to get rid of her preferably expressing no concern of whom she ends up marrying. His only
Every pearl begins as a dangerous and harsh intrusion into life. A piece of dirt is inserted into an oyster’s environment where it doesn’t belong. The oyster can either respond by dying, or by accepting and surrounding the sand with care. With continual care, the oyster turns the small speck of dirt into a beautiful pearl. The Scarlet Letter is a story of how one woman takes a scandalous event and rather than allowing the event to define her, she, by constant kindness, turns her life and her child into something of worth. The theme I am focusing on in The Scarlet Letter is the person and the concept which embodies courage and redemption.
Lucentio's treatment of Tranio is reflected in his treatment of Bianca and their role as man and woman. Lucentio never hits Bianca or mistreats her in anyway, but spends the play wooing her and showing her his love. However, Bianca does not completely mimic Tranio's obedience in her role as wife to Lucentio. Though Bianca is not as stubborn willed and shrewish as her sister, Katherine, she does not obey her husband when he calls her to him. Biondello comes back to Lucentio to report: "Sir, my mistress sends you word that she is busy and she cannot come." [7] This action is in direct contradiction with An Homily on the State of Matrimony which states: "Let not therefore the woman be too busy to call for the duty of her husband where she should be ready to perform her own, for that is not worthy any great commendation." [8] Though Lucentio is consistent with his role as master and husband. His relationship with Tranio differs slightly from Bianca, Tranio's servant hood more apparent and selfless.
In essence, all Petruchio did was teach Kate not to be so brash and rebellious. He showed her how awful her actions looked, and on her own, she made the decision to change her demeanor. She could have remained bitter and feisty, but it would have been in vain, and I believe that she realized that her actions had been no worse than the vanity and shallowness she witnessed in the people of Padua.
Battle of the Sexes would have been another appropriate title for this play because the entire play is women verses men, men verses women. This battle of the sexes shows no boundaries between the rich and poor, young or old, man or women. The basis of all the rivalry stems from the fact that the men in this play look at the women as if they were objects, instead of human beings with feelings. This theory that women are merely objects creates an environment that the women have to adapt to and survive in and the environment of a person will depict what he or she will become, resulting in a battle between the sexes.
With regards to The Taming of the Shrew, it can be determined that the relationship between Baptista and his daughters is built on the boundaries put in place by gender roles. This becomes apparent when, at the beginning of the play, Hortensio and Gremio confront Baptista about his intentions regarding Bianca's courtship:
“When you wish upon a star, your dreams come true.” Disney uses this slogan as well as many others to surround society with a world of happiness, where dreams come true and anything is possible.
One of the most notorious topics of interest in the works of Shakespeare is the role women receive in his plays. The way Shakespeare wrote his plays, women were very submissive to men and had no will and choice of their own. Women were extremely reliant upon the men in their lives, believing that they were inferior and thus following their desire for the women’s lives. This included that marriages were usually arranged by a powerful male, instead of giving the woman the opportunity of choosing marriage for love. It is not surprising that Shakespeare portrayed women in a way that was familiar to him and the time era in which he lived. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew, both focus on the development of love and not, with
Also, another leading character in the Merchant of Venice was controlled by her father, Jessica. But she couldn't be controlled, she eventually did what she wanted and proved to be a modern woman. Similarly, in the Taming of the Shrew, Kate is expected to marry the man her father, Baptista chooses and she has no freedom and choice of her own will. However, in the Taming of the Shrew, Kate is also being called property by her husband, Petruchio. Petruchio says that, "She is my good, my chattels, she is my house, My household stuff, my field, my barn, My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything;" Not only her father but her future husband doesn't respect her and calls her everything but his wife. Almost all of the woman in Shakespeare's play were treated as property, here you can see Portia and Kate, this clearly means that Shakespeare also agrees with this type of behaviour towards woman and that is why he always shows this behaviour towards the main female protagonists of the play. This type of behaviour towards woman was very common and both these plays have similarly shown how.
In the beginning, a lot of what we learn about Kate comes from what other people say about her. In Act I, she is only seen briefly and she speaks even less, but our picture of Kate is pretty clear. Shakespeare, sets up a teaching lesson, helping us to see the mistakes of our own judgment. When Baptista announces that Kate must marry before Bianca may take suitors, Gremio describes Kate by saying "She's too rough for me" (1.1.55). Later in the scene, Gremio reiterates his
In 1973, marijuana was decriminalized in Oregon, Washington and became classified as a controlled substance for medical use. Cannabis marijuana is a drug derived from the group of planets that incorporates hemp, which can deliver a gentle feeling of euphoria. Alcohol is a flammable liquid that can be consumed in a beverage form, or could be used in industrial processes. In order to reduce crime and corruption, federal law prohibited alcohol use among people who are under 21 years old.