Thursday, November 14, 2019
Essay on Taming of the Shrew: Deciphering Kate’s Shrewish Character
The Taming of the Shrew: Deciphering Kate’s Shrewish Character               The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays. It is both a witty and complex play with characters that are appealing and believable drawn from life and based on a keen understanding of human nature. One can see this in the main character of the play, the shrew Katherine. The reasons for Kate's shrewd behavior as well as her tameness have puzzled Critics and Shakespearean scholars for ages. This essay will attempt to decipher Kate's shrewish character from the beginning with her father and sister, through the middle with her first meeting of Petruchio, to the finale where she is finally tamed.            There is a strong underlying notion that Kate's shrewish behavior is a by-product of the mistreatment of her sister and father. Firstly, Kate's father continually humiliates her in public. For example, when Baptista, Kate's father, informed Bianca's suitors, Tranio and Lucentio, in public that he will not allow either of them to marry his younger daughter until a husband is found for Katherine, he is in effect announcing he first wants to have Katherine off his hands. He then offers her to either of Bianca's suitors. Katherine's humiliation at this point is complete. Not only is she discussed on a public street like a piece of scandalous gossip; but she is also offered to her sister's suitors by her own father and profusely turned away as one turns away from a piece of rotten meat. Kate then tries to reveal her mortification to her father, "I pray you, sir, is it your will/To make a stale of me amongst these mates?"(57-58). Upon hearing this, Hortensio scolds Kate for her infamous temper to which she replies that i... .... There is now obvious affection between the two, and Petruchio says of their new harmony, "Is not this well?" (154). He calls her his sweet Kate, and she recognizes the sincerity of the epithet. Therefore, with careful love and affection stemming from Petruchio's sincerity towards Katherine, her shrewd behavior turns into sweet honey.            In conclusion, due to her father and sister's lack of affection and humiliation, Kate develops a nasty shrewish character. She then recognizes her equal when she meets Petruchio, yet she has no choice but to keep acting as a shrew. It is not until Petruchio wins Kate's affection through his kindness and love that she finally lets go of her shrewish cover and becomes the envied wife of every husband Works Consulted: Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. Milton Glaser. New York: Signet, 1971.
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