Blog 3, The Taming of the Shrew, Period 1, Sonam Sherpa, Character Watcher
Well, first off I would like to say that it is just super that this is our last and final blog, and I also would like to congratulate anyone reading this blog for making it through Mr. Shank’s class alive. Ok, now I will actually start to write about what changes the characters have gone through in these last two acts of the book.
Well, so far in this play we’ve seen Petruchio go through some changes, such as how he had acted before he had met Kate and after he had met Kate. In this final portion of the book we see however that he is much more cunning and ingenious than we have thought from what we have seen of him so far. Well, what I mean by this is that we did realize that by him acting out that he must have had a greater scheme to accomplish, but now in these last two acts we see that he was actually misbehaving to get Kate to learn how to listen to him. Then at the very end we can see that Petruchio’s plan to calm down Kate had actually worked and had taught her how to not be such a “w”itch. So my question for you is as follows. Do you think that Petuchio’s plan would have worked as fast as it did, and that Kate would cave that fast? Or, do you think that Shakespeare was just tired and wanted to finish the flippin’ play? You tell me.
Although, in these last two chapters we also see some other characters become more cunning. I shall be describing how Lucentio has changed since we have seen him from the beginning of the play. Well, at first Lucentio had started his little charade out of pure love at first sight and the reader would imagine it as being very “sweet”. However as we see in these last two acts, he becomes desperate when he is willing to find a fake dad to support the marriage between him and Bianca, and then it becomes less “sweet” and more desperate and pathetic. It’s not only Lucentio that is more cunning though, he has also brought Biondello and of course Tranio into his little circle of lies. Then the peak of their punishment for lieing was when the real Vincentio finds them and flips crap. So my question for you is as follows. Do you think there is any girl (or guy) out there that would make you willing to go to all of the same lengths that Lucentio had just to get her to be yours? Please elaborate.
Of course what kind of idiot would I be to forget the character that has gone through the most changes since the last portion we read; Kate. When we had first met Kate she had been a bitter “w”itch that was destined to be alone forever, but due to her father and his big pockets a man had actually wanted to marry her despite all of her flaws. Then we also see these two progress through the play from a mutual dislike from first meeting, to a one sided attempt at love, to finally a mutual agreement of listening to one another. This truly shows how characters can change throughout the course of a work of literature and how other characters play a big part in certain character’s development. So my question for you is as follows. What do you think of Kate now? Do you think she would now be a worthy person to marry after she has been married to Petruchio for this short amount of time? It would just be super if you told me.
Well, since I have already taken the liberty do describe one sister’s changes throughout the play I might as well describe the other sister’s development through the course of the play. Well at first we had seen Bianca as this naive girl who had everything she wanted, money, a hooked up family, and of course, guys galore (jk). Then we see that she starts to get angrier as her sister still has yet to find someone suitable and then decides to fall for Lucentio after Kate has been married to Petruchio. This is interesting because out of all of the guys that she could have she chooses the guy who was creepy enough to pretend to be a tutor just to get inside of her house to meet her. Then as we see that at the very end of the story that when the men make bets on who will come first, and astonishingly Kate wins. So my belief is that Bianca was only needed to help extentuate the changes that Kate went through throughout the story. So my question for you is as follows. Do you think that Bianca will turn into what Kate once was because Kate had turned into what Bianca once was? Or, do you think that maybe Bianca may turn out to be a real “w”itch? You can tell me now that my blog is over.
So I would first off like to thank everyone in advance for commenting on my blog, as I always do, then I would like to restate my previous fact that it’s great that we all survived Mr. Shank’s class this year. Now all we have to look forward to is Mrs. Cipher next year. woohoo (unexitedly).
Category: Uncategorized 4 comments »
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:18 pm
First of all Sonam you have out done yourself again with your post, and I am sort of dreading responding to all of it, because my fingers will hurt from typing by the end of it. Okay, so maybe I am exaggerating an itsy bitsy little bit. ha ha. Anyway…
To respond to your first question I would first like to comment on your way of asking the question… it was well interesting. Anyway, I do think that Petruchio’s plan would have worked as fast as it did, at least for me personally it would. I would get so sick of his actions and acting outs that I would have obeyed him too. I do not think that Shakespeare was just being lazy.
It is sad to say, but I know that there are people in the world low enough to create such terrible lies to get what they want. The only difference is that Lucentio creates his web of lies much faster than I believe people in the real world would, but I cannot say for sure. Either way many people in the world cheat the truth to reach their goals faster. I do not believe that you would get the same enjoyment out of reaching that goal though, because you lose some of the satisfaction by lying about who you are.
I think Kate has blossomed into a very lovely wife and person. She went through a lot of changing to reach her current state, and I think she is worthy of having a good husband by the end of the book. She is even better position for marriage than the other two females are because she truly respects Petruchio by seeing her own flaws. “I am ashamed that women are so simple…” I just love that song so I had to say it. =]
I would have to first state that I disagree with part of this last section. You said that Kate become what Bianca was and the Bianca is becoming more like Kate, but I do not see this to be true. I do not think that Bianca changed much at all. What I believe creates this illusion is that Kate changed sooo much, and she became so perfect that it makes Bianca look worse. In that way it makes it seem like Bianca is becoming less well behaved when in fact it is her sister changing.
~eRiN cAmPbElL =]
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:00 pm
I am glad to see you were pulled out of the rubble too, Sonam. Now we can prepare for the next blast site of next year. (Sorry Mr. Shank).
Petruchio’s plan would work because I am prett sure if you went like two days without eating or sleeping you would learn to do what you are told pretty quickly. Shakespeare was not lazy.
There are people who would go to extremes to get what they want. People do some crazy things for love, like this one time at band camp…(jk). Seriously though people would jump through burning buildings for the ones they love, they are their life. It is kind of weird to try to sneak into someone’s house that you don’t know to see them but he had to do what was needed for him to find love. But yes there probably is someone out there I would do something stupid for there is someone like that for everybody.
I think that Kate has grown a lot and is a better person for real and will not go back to being shrewd. She is probably a good person to be married to now. She seems to be understanding and she realizes her true “beauty”.
I think that Bianca might start acting like Kate used to because of the lies she has been told. She might feel used and might start using people but I think that Kate will teach her the proper way to live and she will be like she used to and will be happy.
-Taran
May 24th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Colin Easter
I think that Kate wouldn’t have been tamed that fast if the play was real life. It didn’t take long for Petruchio to tame Kate, and that is surprising given the behavior and attitude of Kate. It wouldn’t have been worth dragging out the play, however. The plot would have had to change to make room for a few months of Petruchio making Kate’s life miserable. It was more practical to have Kate be tamed quickly. It also allows the viewers to think that they are actually in love, since Kate was tamed quickly.
I don’t think that many people would go as far as Lucentio did. Faking your own father seems a bit out of the ordinary lengths that someone would go. The amount of deception is also surprising. Since he actually has the wealth, you would think that he could impress the family with that.
I think that Kate is a much better woman than she was at the start of the play. She is now the most loyal of the wives and certainly deserves a good man. However, this came as the result of Petruchio’s plan. It seems like she might revert to her old ways if Petruchio died or somehow became incapacitated.
I think that Bianca will try to become more like Kate is now. There is no reason for her to become a shrew because all the pressure is on behaving properly. She would see that Kate is getting attention for being good and would try to mimic that good behavior.
May 25th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Shakespeare is unpredicable, I would want to finsih the play. It can go to … bad place. But depending on the intensity of his “taming” he might be able to do it.
Maybe one of those like cronic lyiar. Like a klepto for lying. haha. but i know that i would not go that far.
She has definatly acceled as a person. She won the bet which shows that she is better
I think that she will be who she wants to be. Depending on her actions she could become a wannna be.