Mr_Shank

The Taming of the Shrew seems to be very different from Shakespeare’s other plays.  First of all, the main plot of it is actually within a broader part of the play; it is a play within a play.  We also have to go from reading one of his famous tragedies to a comedy and keep in mind that the two do not hold the same purpose.  In a tragedy, we expect the characters at the end to die and almost everything that happens has a direct link to the outcome of the plot.  In a comedy, however, the purpose is not to give the audience an emotional sensation like in a tragedy, but to simply entertain them with witty dialogue, amusing shenanigans, and other entertaining actions.  Not everything said or done in this play may have such a great meaning as it did in Romeo and Juliet.

That being said, I would like to bring to attention a few quotes.

GREMIO:
O Sir, such a life, with such a wife, were strange!
But if you have a stomach, to’t i’ God’s name;
You shall have me assisting you in all.
But will you woo this wild-cat?

PETRUCHIO:
Will I live?

(Scene I, Scene II)

This is one of the many instances where the men refer to Kate in such a loathing way.  She is described as a “wildcat” because they can not control her.  However, that is exactly what Petruchio plans to do.  It also shows that Petruchio does not care one bit for Katherine, only for her father’s money.  He sees Kate as simply the path to getting rich.  Do you think that his opinion on her will change?  Will the two come to love each other in the end with a romantic ending, or will Kate simply give up and submit to men’s will?

Another quote I want to talk about is one from Act II, Scene I.

PETRUCHIO:

Good morrow, Kate; for that’s your name, I hear.
KATHERINE.
Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing:
They call me Katherine that do talk of me.

PETRUCHIO.
You lie, in faith, for you are call’d 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 cates: and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;
Hearing thy mildness prais’d in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,–
Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,–
Myself am mov’d to woo thee for my wife.

KATHERINE.
Mov’d! in good time: let him that mov’d you hither
Remove you hence. I knew you at the first,
You were a moveable.

This is a good example of the witty arguments that Petruchio and Katherine exchange so frequently throughout this play.  Petruchio is trying to break Kate down, but he knows that if he simply insults or commands her she will never listen and will defy him completely.  Petruchio is smart enough to know that he must be subtle in his responses to her.  He is “Killing her with kindness” in a sense.

It is clear from this exchange of insults that Kate dislikes Petruchio very much.  She also dislikes just about everyone else, especially men.  Why do you think it is that she dislikes them so much?  Do you think that there could have been a previous event that made her so bitter?  From the perspective we are given, it seems that Kate is just a mean bitter person, but we must also consider that she probably has some very good reasons for this.

-Ditz