Why do people make others change who they are and the way that they act? Some people may do so for the benefit of themselves, which is something that occurs in Taming of the Shrew. Others may change and not even realize which is also something that commonly happens. Change in a person is only a good thing if it is not forced upon them.
Taming of the Shrew involves a lot of transformation whether it be someone's personality/attitude or someone in a disguise. Katharine’s personality is quickly portrayed in the first act of the play as a mean, disobedient person. Gremio mentions, “To cart her rather. She’s too rough for me” (I.i.55). Katharine is constantly rude and unpleasant to everyone around her. No one ever really wants to be near her. She is the complete opposite of her younger sister, Bianca, whom everyone adores because of her subservience. Even Gremio mentions Kate is too “rough” for him and that is the way Kate has
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Kate once didn’t think much of husbands or their power until Petruchio came into her life. Within a few days she now believes that no one comes above or is more powerful than a husband because he brainwashed her. Kate cannot say or do anything of her own without the fear of being starved or sleep deprived again by Petruchio. She may no longer act like a ‘shrew’ but the things Petruchio has done are not right whatsoever.
It is wrong for someone to change another person for the benefit of themselves and should never be done. Petruchio did not let Kate sleep or eat as part of his plan to change her. She has now transformed into an entirely new person. Bianca changed as well, though she was not forced to. She learned to stand up for herself and say what she’s really thinking, it’s almost as if her and Kate switched personalities. Kate’s transformation has had nothing but a negative outcome and it is clear that completely changing a person is never
In the play Taming of the Shrew, written by William Shakespeare, many characters are reshaped and given new personality traits. Petruchio is known as being a cocky man who intends to help tame a shrewish young lady named Kate. There are many critics that believe Petruchio is solely obnoxious and a bully but through out his interactions with Kate it is shown that he truly cares about the well being of others. Of course at the beginning of Petruchio’s plan to tame a young lady he is acting off of his confidence and trying to impress those around him but this soon changes once he begins to interact with Kate. Petruchio proves that his ways have changed and he is only taming Kate to make her feel better about herself, “Petruchio uses psychological methods, not aggressive or barbaric ones, to tame Kate, which alls her to still be witty and intellectual, but also happily married, at the end of the play”(Natale,98). Petruchio truly believes that by taming Kate he is preforming a good deed and helping her accept herself in this process.
The relationship between Kate and Petruchio is completely different from the love of Bianca and Lucentio. "Kate is a neglected, hurt, and humiliated daughter who disguises her grief from herself as well as others with a noisy shrewish temper" (Craig 342). She has a fiery disposition and a reputation for reacting violently to people. The challenge of capturing her is Petruchio's real attraction to her. He can be seen as a rough, unfeeling, greedy, "swash-buckler" who cares nothing for Kate's feelings (so long as she has money). "
Petruchio wears the psychological mask of a guy who only has eyes for money. He makes his mask clear to the reader when he tells Hortensio to “wife wealthily” adding “you don’t know the power of gold.” after being told about Katherina’s bad behavior, not to mention her temper. It appears that Petruchio marries Kate for her money, but immediately starts to “kill her with kindness”. He begins going so by depriving her of food and sleep because he claims that neither the food from the kitchen nor the bed is good enough for her. Petruchio puts on a show of bad temper towards his servants for every fault, showing Kate what it is like to live with a bad-tempered person. For the first time in her life, Kate finds herself trying to get someone else to control their anger. Petruchio also shows Kate that she will get the things she wants when she learns to agree with what her husband says. By treating Kate in this manner, Petruchio seems cruel, but there is a reason for it. If he were truly interested only in money, he could have left Kate at home and gone out on his own. In the end, his efforts to improve his wife have worked. He improves Kate’s life, so that she does not continue to live an unhappy life. Because of Petruchio, Katherina the shrew is happily married in the end, and comes to be a good example to
Someone once said, “You can’t change people, either accept who they are or start living life without them.” This relates to the Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, because in the book, one of the main characters, Turtle, changed throughout the story. At the beginning of the story, she was rude, but at the end she was kind and trustworthy and this showed through her choices, actions, and dialogue. What I have learned is that change is possible if you try.
Society has a tendency to believe that the way one perceives another individual is how they truly are. It is human nature to construct one’s personality based on the way one may speak or behave. However, it is also human nature to accept these roles created by others. In this modern day society, the majority believe that they are in charge of their own individuality. Yet, the way others behave towards a particular individual is what shapes one’s identity. This is well demonstrated by William Shakespeare in Taming of the Shrew. In this play, many characters easily mold into various other personas. Throughout the entire play, Shakespeare constantly emphasizes how individuals behave differently based on how others look upon them. This is shown repeatedly through the lives and experiences of Katherina, Bianca and Christopher Sly.
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
Katherina may be a shrew, but Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew does not truly show a study of how a selfish, spoilt individual is made to conform to society’s expectations, or be tamed into a ‘proper’ woman. At the end of the play, Katherina is not, necessarily, tamed - she just realizes what she must to do in order to get the things she wants. Two main examples of her submitting to Petruchio in order to achieve her desires are in Act 4, scene 5, (the sun versus moon scene) as well as Act 5, scene 2 (the kiss me kate scene and her final monologue).
Women in the era of Queen Elizabeth I were often portrayed through stereotypes such as, “The Good and the Badde” by Nicholas Breton. In this work women have desired traits such as loyalty, obedience, and innocence. Undesirable traits would be just the opposite, disobedience, raunchiness, treachery, loudness, and being outspoken. The play, “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, plays heavily to these stereotypes with the two female main characters; Bianca and Kate. Whereas Kate plays the Un-quiet one in the beginning, but transitions to more of a quiet one or the good wife while Bianca plays The Virgin.
The Katherina that gives the final speech in The Taming of the Shrew is quite a departure from the Katherina we were introduced to in Act I. This new Kate is modest, quiet and obedient. All of these qualities were not present until Act V. Such a profound personality change prompts the questions how this happened and what purpose do her changes serve?
Sharp-tongued, ill-mannered, and foul-tempered, Katherine is known throughout Padua as the shrew of the town. She is constantly demeaning and insulting the people around her. Most people believe she is inherently cold and cruel, but the reality is that her unpleasant behavior masks an inner unhappiness. She feels she is too intelligent to assume the role of the helpless maiden, and resents that society expects that from her. She does not know how to properly gain the attention she craves, so she puts on the hideous persona of the stereotypical bitch. The more people dislike her, the angrier and more violent she becomes, which only serves to make people dislike her more. Katherine longs for the attention that her younger sister Bianca receives,
Katherine and Bianca show the difference between the social role of women and the way women were treated during this period. Though there are more differences than similarities between Bianca and Katharina such as their reaction towards men and their daily rituals. The main difference between the societal norm of women, such as Bianca during the time that the play was written against the aggressive, bad-tempered women, such as Katharina, who were classed as shrews. Bianca and Katherine do have some similarities in this play such as their reasons for marrying. Katharina and Bianca in Taming of a Shrew are both are very sensitive and very high-strung at times. They both seem to hate each other but really they just see the truth behind
Also, Katherine herself apprehended the error of her ways, making the women feel sheltered and making the men feel self-assured about their dominant position in society. The audience presumably went home contented, because such a shrew was tamed, and could be tamed so well. Katherine’s soliloquy reinforced the moral values of the Elizabethan era, making the conclusion of the play more enjoyable and entertaining. The final scene of The Taming of the Shrew shows ”the triumph of the unconventional over the conventional”, it shows that Katherina and Petruchio’s marriage, which has started rather unconventionally, seems to have better chances of being a happy. Shakespeare speaks out in clearly favors of the unconventional concept of love present in the relationship between Petruchio and
Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew An exploration of the way Shakespeare presents the characters and relationships of Kate and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. The relationship between Kate and Petruchio is central to the development of The Taming of the Shrew, as both characters clearly represent and are centrally involved in the main theme of the play, the taming of the "shrew", Kate.
The elder daughter of the lordly Baptista Minola, Katherina, or Kate, is well-known throughout town for her bitter personality. Baptista is well aware that his daughter presents undesirable qualities, making her extremely difficult to court; as such, it is his way of protecting his younger daughter Bianca, as he establishes that she is not allowed to marry until Kate does. However, Kate sees this as favoritism, and perpetually takes her anger out on everyone with harsh words, sometimes threatening violence and even acting upon her threats. For example, when she is introduced to Gremio and Hortensio, she expresses her disdain for her father’s attempts to marry her away by saying, “I pray you, sir, is
In Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has a woman as one of the story's main characters. Katherine Minola (Kate) is off the wall, and kinda crazy. Because of her actions, the “male centered world” around her doesn't know what to do with her.