The Taming Of The Shrew Kate Character Analysis

Improved Essays
Consequently, for the duration of the play The Taming of The Shrew Katherine’s behavior attributes the struggles of being a victim of problems, in addition Petruchio’s, Bianca’s manipulation remain occurring. Furthermore they are not merely victims of their individual tribulations however their struggles are ones that Katherine is additionally facing which vicissitudes her mannerisms of a feminist. The approach Katherine takes is allowing herself to remain easily influenced by her father, plus manipulated by Petruchio. The possibility of a mental illness hinders her towards being obedient when women shouldn’t be compliant to their husbands, at the same time the struggle of bipolar disorder limits her state of mind, furthermore altogether her mannerisms of a feminist aren’t significant any longer due to the modifications of her conduct and the manipulation Katherine receives. Katherine from the play The Taming of The Shrew is exemplifying altogether the mannerisms of a feminist nevertheless as a result, in the play the mannerisms of being a feminist aren’t significant any longer owed toward the changes of conduct happening from having to be wedded off to becoming acquiescent. The speech at the end is the illustration of a mentally ill woman, consequently influenced by the principles of submission and domesticity. In the play she is a free spirited woman in a male dominated world obliged by principles that a “Feminine principle has long been given low status in the patriarchal system of values. Hence, feeling has been so long falsely opposed to thinking, as intuition has to reason—the former supposedly subjective and so unreliable, the latter objective—that their potential for knowledge has not fully been explored” (p. 678), in addition, is labeled as a woman with her husband; and when she is forward, peevish, sullen, sour, And not obedient to his honest will, What is she but a foul contending rebel And graceless traitor to her loving lord? (Crowther, 2004, p. 247), which continues in the play for the reason that women in this time period are continually affected by the principles of submission toward their husbands plus the play has many aspects of the manipulation of Katherine. The primary aspect is as soon as her father Baptista which isn’t a character influencing she proclaims “That now fair befall thee, good Petruchio, the wager thou hast won, and I will add on to their losses twenty thousand crowns, another dowry to another daughter, for she is changed, as she had never been. (5.2.124-128 Shakespeare) which connects toward the impression that she converts into a distorted woman operated through these principles. As a result, she isn’t a woman who ought to remain obedient in addition act out these behaviors of being influenced that …show more content…
Edward Hall 's argues "theatre of cruelty" which states his opinion regarding the mental and domestic abuse Katherine is receiving and he argues that if a reader "Followed the text through to its bitterest conclusion. Look at what Shakespeare has written: Kate is starved of sleep, beaten, and refused food." Too often, he argues, this abuse is played for laughs, when what should be being communicated is Kate 's suffering, which although this quote directly correlates with the development of Katherine is receiving from Petruchio it isn’t abuse it is suffering because he doesn’t hit her, but the words that are implied and how he sends her to the taming school to no longer be a shrew is a sign of abuse and Shakespeare challenges the expectations of a woman and although to many it isn’t a woman being crushed the play is worth noting that it does a brilliant job in exposing the manipulation of Katherine and turning her into a damsel in …show more content…
This further generates the idea of the domestic abuse and manipulation Katherine, and soon Petruchio faces. Petruchio is facing the cruel treatment of Katherine and her verbal and nonverbal actions, and the shrew and feminist that Katherine really is. The description of Katherine affects Petruchio, because he can never figure Katherine out and even describes her as “Plain Kate, /and bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst. But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom, Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate/ (for dainties are all Kate)” (Shakespeare 87), which accurately describes both of their actions and further develops the idea of the portrayal of bipolar disorder being in the picture due to their actions and manipulation of both of the

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Katherina Act 1 Analysis

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Petruchio, before meeting Katherina, realizes how much of a crazy shrew she was and decides to contradict or mimic Katherina’s statements and actions. Petruchio compliments her obsessively which agitates Katherine and causes her to flee from room to room, door to door. This doesn’t yield Petruchio’s onslaught of “... Will you, nill you, I will marry you. ”s…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In Petruchio's long soliloquy after Katherine goes to her bridal chamber, he reveals his intentions to "tame" Katherine, the shrew. He intends to tame her as a falconer tames his falcon. He compares her to an untamed falcon - wild, stubborn, and unwilling. Petruchio reveals that he will try to starve Katherine and deprive her of sleep until she becomes obedient. Petruchio describes his plan as "a way to kill a wife with kindness;" he claims it will curb her madness and destroy her stubbornness.…

    • 85 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Subsequently, the inequalities between the genders are evident in the master plan Petruchio uses to change Katherine from a “bad girl” to a “good girl” because it depicts the extent to which patriarchal men would go to ensure their dominance over women. According to feminist theory, women who follow patriarchal standards are called “good girls” and they “are put on pedestals and idealized as pure, angelic creatures whose sense of self consists mainly or entirely of their usefulness to their husbands” (Tyson 87). Since Katherine does not follow this definition, Petruchio takes it upon himself to change her. In other words, as Critic Marianne L. Novy states, “The way [Petruchio] talks about society proves him independent of its actual judgments and ready to reverse its expectations…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    No Gold Diggers Here When adapting The Taming of the Shrew into a movie to appeal to a modern audience, the director of Ten Things I Hate About You chose to emphasize the American ideals of love and respect instead of the commonly held Elizabethan belief that unions were akin to mutually benefitting business arrangements. Such an adaptation of the plot is demonstrated by the relationship between Patrick Verona and Kat Stratford—characters who respectively mirror Shakespeare’s Petruchio and Katherine. In both Shakespeare’s play and the modern adaptation, the Petruchio character agrees to ‘tame’ the Katherine character under the pretenses of monetary gain. In The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is promised “twenty thousand crowns” upon his marriage…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    William Shakespeare captivates the audience in the comedic play The Taming Of the Shrew by raising awareness of gender inequality and the significance of money during the Elizabethan context. Themes of sexism and money are still relevant in today's society. The Taming of the shrew deeply explores the relationships of men and women creating opportunities for Shakespeare to confront the responder with questioning thoughts of the power of money and the view of sexism in the Elizabethan era. The beliefs of women and men in the Elizabethan times where very patriarchy, regarding the women as the weaker sex.…

    • 111 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Comedic Devices in The Taming of the Shrew The Taming of the Shrew is a romantic comedy that takes place in Padua, Italy, which was a prominent city-state during the Renaissance. The story revolves around two characters named Katherine and Petruchio who get married in a week’s time. In the play, The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, plot development relies upon the use of comedic devices as the characters all do crazy things, like pretending to be tutors in order to woo a lover, or being absurdly unreasonable in order to tam a hot-tempered wife. The induction shows the beginning of the play where a drunk named Sly fell asleep and was found by a rich lord named Lord.…

    • 1424 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    At the start of the play, Kate is seen arguing with her sister, Bianca, and her father, Baptista, due to her father’s apparent favoritism of her younger sister, and also because of this she is viewed as a “shrew”. This perception of Kate by other characters, some saying marrying her would resemble being, “... married to hell” (Act 1, Scene 1, line 124), only illuminates what “the shrew”, as a symbol, represents. The shrew, in this play and in society at this time, did not represent a characteristic of a person, but rather a symbol of female independence that one, in this case Kate, represents herself. These women that were defined as shrews were leading a charge against the status quo and, as Camille Wells Slights defines it, represented a, “...threat to patriarchal order” (Slights 173). Kate being defined as this symbol illustrates her refusal to let the world around her define how she acts.…

    • 1508 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is home to a dystopian future where technology has taken hold of society, allowing no room for interpersonal connections. Bradbury saw how engrossed people were by the new technologies introduced in the 1950’s and felt that, if not controlled, this technology had the potential to dominate society as a whole. Though there was no way Bradbury could have known exactly how the future would look, his general predictions were quite accurate. In today’s times, our lives are highly technology centered - it is difficult for a person to go without checking their phone or computer for any length of time.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Feminism In Hamlet

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Their lack of personality is not what makes this a serious need for feminism, instead it is how Hamlet views these two women in his life and his abuse towards them in response to their lack of identity. What is important to understand is that women were viewed as lowly, emotional, and animalistic. Except this is not as accurate as Shakespeare leads his audience to believe. Men were the ones that put women in these roles of dependency and inconspicuous Stockholm Syndrome where submission is key and insubordination was punishable. This translated throughout all classes.…

    • 345 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a world where humans are frequently told to accept one another’s flaws and imperfections, one may still feel the pressure to meet the societal standards of both appearance and personality. In order to fulfill these standards, humans tend to hide their true self from others, and these hidden emotions are commonly expressed through any form of theater or art in which that individual can relate to. With the authentic emotions of an individual revealed, a certain truth in reality is discovered about that person. Although Shakespeare lived in a different era, the characters in his play, Hamlet, reveal that the times have not changed since many truths in reality are uncovered when the characters’ emotions are revealed through theater or art.…

    • 1388 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Lucentio utilized this to persuade Petruchio into marrying Katherine. In 1999 teenage society was more persuaded by instant gratification that is why Cameron tricked Joey into paying Patrick to date Katherine. Yet in Taming of the Shrew Lucentio and Petruchio intended to marry Bianca and Katherine as a permanent outcome. In 10 Things I Hate About You, Cameron and Patrick only intended to date Bianca and Katherine as a temporary outcome. In Taming of the Shrew the father, Lucentio and Petruchio were in control of Bianca and Katherine.…

    • 1037 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    A modern retelling of Shakespeare's work - Taming of the Shrew by Pulitzer Prize winner and American master Anne Tyler in her new light-hearted enjoyable tale "Vinegar Girl". Anne Tyler's storytelling is astute yet her easy familiarity with skewed family relationships and oddball characters makes it an enjoyabe tale.…

    • 49 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To him Kate is just a hindrance in getting the one thing that he wants more than anything; money. The first time we see Petruchio’s true violent side is with his treatment of his servants. “The male protagonist’s treatment of his servants and their reactions to him help to reveal much about Petruchio’s true nature” (Brown 3). Petruchio is not afraid to hurt those weaker than him and he does this with his servant Grumio. He does not treat Grumio well in any way.…

    • 1187 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Opposites and archetypes in The Taming of the Shrew The perfect woman, the perfect villain, the perfect stereotype, all highlighted and discussed in The Taming of the Shrew. Starting with Bianca, she is a very archetypal character; who embodies the characteristics of the Quiet Woman, the Virgin, the Good wife, and the Worthie. To counterbalance her Katherine is introduced, she acts as an opposite to Bianca. Kate embodies the Wanton Woman, the Unquiet woman, and the Effeminate Fool.…

    • 1010 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Shakespeare clearly shaped the character of Petruchio and his attitudes toward both women and the roles of husband and wife in marriage so that Petruchio would be able to suppress the character of Katherina and to make her into what he saw as the perfect wife. With the taming of the shrew Shakespeare seems to be through the comedy of the play commenting on the woman’s role in Elizabethan England by portraying it to an extreme, he seems to be in a way commenting on the hypocrisy of women being seen as subservient to men even though the country at the time was ruled by a woman. This is first portrayed, as many of The Taming of the Shrews themes are, in the induction as one way in which Shakespeare refers to male dominance and courtship is through the relationship between Sly and the Page. Here we see the Page saying to Sly “I am your wife in all obedience” showing his submissive nature as this male character refers to himself as “wife” as he intends to show him all the respect a superior figure deserves. He is taking the role of an ideal, obeying wife for the men of the times and an opposite of Katherina’s original character, the Page is similar to the role of the tamed Katherina.…

    • 2091 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays