The Taming of the Shrew presents a procession of gender conflict in a male dominated world, using two contrasting female characters to reveal the ‘proper’ expectations of women in the Elizabethan era. The play primarily focuses on the transformation of the sharp-tongued Katherine. Her foul temper is repressed as she is ‘tamed’ by her new husband Petruccio, leading to her concluding monologue commenting on a woman’s duties to her husband.
The seemingly submissive speech Katherine gives at the end of the play beginning “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,” is commonly criticised by our modern day audience, with many interpretations reinforcing the idea that her feisty character is crushed and remoulded by her husband, representing the patriarchal ideal of a woman’s submission. However, her transformation can also be read as a realisation in herself and her potential as a woman, considering the dramatic effect Katherine is able to create with this speech.
For example Juliet Dusinberre comments in her critical essay 'The Taming of the Shrew:' Women, Acting and Power, “beneath an ostensible message of humility it generates the suppressed exhilaration of its stage power: seizing of mastery by the apprentice even as she proclaims a master’s doctrine of subjection.” Katherine’s carefully chosen words show she hasn’t completely submerged her power, but has learnt to compromise showing respect for her husband whilst additionally gaining respect towards herself.
A Husbands Duty towards his Wife:
Many readings into this passage reveal a harshness in Katherine’s transformed character into a submissive role. For example, she comments on a wife’s duties in comparison to what “the subject owes the prince,” suggesting a significant difference in power between man and woman, wife and husband. However Katherine not only portrays a woman’s expected role within marriage, but carefully points out a husband’s duties to his wife.
The opening line for instance establishes the husband as ‘thy keeper,’ emphasising his responsibility towards his wife, as he too is expected to care for her as she is for him. This idea is further stressed as she comments on the role of a husband in the Elizabethan era to provide for and look after his wife.
“And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land...
Whilst thou liest warm at home secure and safe.”
This could even go so far as to suggest that a man’s work within marriage is more demanding and strenuous than a woman’s, as while the husband is out grafting, the wife is comfortable and safe at home.
Although this idea of the husband working while the wife’s duties are confined to the household is difficult to accept in the modern era, in the Elizabethan day this was expected, reinforcing the shared, although different responsibilities of both wife and husband within marriage. Katherine’s final speech therefore doesn’t put the power of man over woman, but shows how she has accepted the balance of the two. Her feisty character is not altogether dismissed, as she still relentlessly brings both Bianca and The Widow in with her, but is merely mellowed in response to her husband’s requited duties to her.
The Symmetry between Obedience and Beauty:
In this speech, Katherine also creates symmetry between obedience and beauty, describing an ugliness in resisting to oblige to male dominance or expectancies. In relation to the rest of the play this mirrors continual references between beauty and submission, especially in consideration of Katherine’s sister Bianca. Charlotte Scott argues in Shakespeare and the Idea of the Book that “whilst Katherine’s shrewishness makes her undesirable, Bianca’s beauty is characterised by Lucentio’s desire for her silence.”
Throughout the play, Bianca’s beauty is shown through her opposition to her sister, with her silence being necessary to compete with Katherine’s noisy brutality. In relation to the chosen passage Katherine comments:
“But love, fair looks, and true obedience,
Too little payment for such great a debt.”
This relation between obedience and looks further explores the desires of the male characters in the play, as a woman’s beauty is evident through her accepting to conform to the social ideologies of the time.
The use of the word ‘bound’ in the final line of the passage emphasises a slave like aspect of a wife’s obedience. A woman’s attraction is created by her submission, highlighting the modern problematic aspects of Katherine’s change in character. This idea can be further analysed in relation to the differences in male and female education at the time. A woman’s ‘silence’ as it were was often related to their lower standard of education, as they were pushed towards a silent, pious and domestic attitude. Katherine’s ‘education’ from Petruccio enables her transformation to be recognised in both social and physical terms in the conclusion of the play.
Audience Responses and Play Presentation:
The variety of responses to Katherine’s final speech has led to many different performances of the play’s conclusion. For example, her words can be taken sincerely or ironically with a mean to satirise gender roles within marriage and Elizabethan society. Many productions for instance have felt the need to downplay the extent of her submission to Petruccio, gesturing winks and nudges towards the audience throughout the speech.
The teasing and taunting between the characters throughout the play makes it difficult to assume Katherine’s words as sincere, with a continued feel of playfulness being evident in parts of her final speech.
“And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will.”
Here, Katherine’s choice of words seems to be teasing her previous self, as she reminds the audience and Petruccio of her prior peevishness.
Also, the use of ‘honest will’ here points out that although obedience to her husband is necessary, she must only oblige when it is within reason, establishing that a woman’s obedience is not to be taken advantage of. Michael Taylor suggests in Shakespeare: Criticism in the Twentieth Century that “the play allows us to see the relationship between Petruccio and Katherine as patriarchal or playful or both.”
Sources
• Dusinberre J, ‘The Taming of the Shrew: Women, Acting and Power’ in Aspinall D. E. (eds), (2001) The Taming of the Shrew: Critical Essays, New York: Routledge.
• Scott C. (2007) Shakespeare and the Idea of the Book New York: Oxford University Press.
• Taylor M. (2001) Shakespeare Criticism in the Twentieth Century New York: Oxford University Press.
Helen Reakes - As a student studying English Literature at Swansea University, I have embraced my passion for detangling and analysing literature, and ...
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