“Thy husband is thy lord, thy keeper,” (Katherina: Act 5 Scene 2) To what extent do you feel Katherina’s personality has radically changed at the end of the play, or is she just performing the role of a traditional Elizabethan woman?
Katherina, as one of the most complex characters in Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, provokes audiences everywhere to question the sincerity of her conformation at the end of the play. Katherina is presented to the audience as a witty, independent, resilient woman and as a result of her behaviour is labelled a ‘shrew’. It soon becomes apparent that she is somewhat feared by men– “From all such devils, good lord deliver us!” In a God fearing time, religion was taken very seriously by the Elizabethan’s and …show more content…
In her final speech, she states “Thy husband is thy head, thy sovereign…” which if taken seriously, indicates that she has finally accepted the dominance of men and now aspires to become the ideal wife. Katherina uses the word ‘sovereign’ when defining how women should behave towards their husbands. Whilst Katherina could be voicing all of this in complete sincerity, her overuse of these metaphors ‘lord’ and ‘sovereign’ suggest she may be overcompensating to cover up the possible lack of genuineness concerning her new position. In reality, she may not fully believe in what she is preaching and could in fact be playing a role, preferring to choose an easy, submissive life over one of hardship and rejection. If this is the case, then her only reason for ‘conforming’ is for fear of what will happen to her if she chooses not to, “I swear I’ll cuff you if you strike again.” Alternatively, as opposed to acting out of fear, Katherina’s pretence and use of what could be viewed as verbal irony could be her way of continuing to mock the roles of men, only in a subtler way, a way more like that of her sister when she insults and scorns Hortensio “Old fashions please me best. I am not so nice to change true rules for odd inventions”. Bianca rejects his advances in this scene and insults him quite crudely but the male characters are so captivated by her that the meaning behind her words goes unnoticed. For an Elizabethan audience, the majority of who would have been men, they may most likely view this as a necessary means to an end – the disobedient woman has been controlled, the status quo has been restored. On the other hand, a modern audience would in all likelihood see Petruchio’s behaviour towards Katherina as an act of cruelty and neglect due to alterations in attitudes towards women. These different perceptions
Katherina, as one of the most complex characters in Shakespeare’s ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, provokes audiences everywhere to question the sincerity of her conformation at the end of the play. Katherina is presented to the audience as a witty, independent, resilient woman and as a result of her behaviour is labelled a ‘shrew’. It soon becomes apparent that she is somewhat feared by men– “From all such devils, good lord deliver us!” In a God fearing time, religion was taken very seriously by the Elizabethan’s and …show more content…
In her final speech, she states “Thy husband is thy head, thy sovereign…” which if taken seriously, indicates that she has finally accepted the dominance of men and now aspires to become the ideal wife. Katherina uses the word ‘sovereign’ when defining how women should behave towards their husbands. Whilst Katherina could be voicing all of this in complete sincerity, her overuse of these metaphors ‘lord’ and ‘sovereign’ suggest she may be overcompensating to cover up the possible lack of genuineness concerning her new position. In reality, she may not fully believe in what she is preaching and could in fact be playing a role, preferring to choose an easy, submissive life over one of hardship and rejection. If this is the case, then her only reason for ‘conforming’ is for fear of what will happen to her if she chooses not to, “I swear I’ll cuff you if you strike again.” Alternatively, as opposed to acting out of fear, Katherina’s pretence and use of what could be viewed as verbal irony could be her way of continuing to mock the roles of men, only in a subtler way, a way more like that of her sister when she insults and scorns Hortensio “Old fashions please me best. I am not so nice to change true rules for odd inventions”. Bianca rejects his advances in this scene and insults him quite crudely but the male characters are so captivated by her that the meaning behind her words goes unnoticed. For an Elizabethan audience, the majority of who would have been men, they may most likely view this as a necessary means to an end – the disobedient woman has been controlled, the status quo has been restored. On the other hand, a modern audience would in all likelihood see Petruchio’s behaviour towards Katherina as an act of cruelty and neglect due to alterations in attitudes towards women. These different perceptions