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Example research essay topic: Scene 1 Line Taming Of The Shrew - 1,783 words

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Examine the different ways in which Shakespeare presents the attitude towards marriage in the play, The Taming of the Shrew. The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Nights Dream. These characteristics include light-hearted and slapstick humour, disguises and deception and a happy ending in which most of the characters come out satisfied. The play has been dated from as early as 1594 and as late as 1598. (web) The main themes in the play are love, marriage, domination, society expectations, betting and money. Does love really exist in the play or is it just love for money. It seems that the key to a happy and successful marriage is money.

This comedy written by Shakespeare uses disguises and that also is a key part to the play. Although it is intended to be a comedy, there is sometimes a black cloud hanging over it. For instance the way in which Katherina is treated doesnt always seem to be funny; instead it is quite cruel and degrading. She eat no meat today, nor none shall eat; last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not. (Page 62, act 4 scene 1 line 182 - 183) Men saw marriage as a way to get rich; love didnt even enter the equation. Padua is a rich area and therefore many suitors fled there in the hope of becoming wealthy.

I come to wive it wealthy in Padua, says Petruchio. He asks outright, Then tell me if I get your daughters love, what dowry shall I have with her to wife? (Page 37, act 2 scene 1, line 119 - 120) The husbands were given a dowry by the father of the daughter when they became married. Women didnt have any say in who they chose to marry; instead the decision was given to the father. If a daughter was not married then they were looked shoddily upon within the society.

In this era every woman was to be married otherwise they were frowned upon within the community. Further more without Katherina getting married, Bianca would also never marry. Within a family the eldest daughter must be married off first and in this play turned out to be a bonus. Her father keeps from all access of suitors and will not promise her to any man until her elder sister first be wed. This is the main and only reason Bianca must wait before getting married. Baptista knew that it would be easy to find a suitor for Bianca, however Katherina was seen as a shrew and therefore not many suitors were available.

The view of the society on marriage is that women should obey their husbands, as they themselves are unimportant. This is the view in which Shakespeare took on board whilst writing the play. Baptista was the father of two daughters; he was a wealthy man and could meet the expense of two respectable dowries. One of his two daughters was seen to be a shrew amongst the people of Padua, this therefore making it extremely difficult for him to find a suitor for her.

Money therefore played an immense part in the marriage of Katherina. Without Petruchio turning up in Padua, looking for a wife it could have looked dreadful for Baptista, not being able to locate a suitor. I come to wive it wealthy in Padua, admits Petruchio. He himself along with Hortensio and Baptista are very money orientated.

Hortensio talks about Petruchio saying, will undertake to woo Katherina, yea, and marry her, if her dowry please. He suggests that she is only worth marrying if the dowry is high enough. Hortensio first told Petruchio of Katherina, and he claimed that his deceased father knew her father well. I know her father, though I know not her, and he knew my deceased father well. Even though he was told she was known in Padua for being a shrew he still insisted on meeting her. I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her.

Shakespeare shows Petruchio as an awful man and extremely dominant. The only thing he loves about Katherina is her fathers money; he may also enjoy the fact that he can treat her exactly how he wants without anyone saying anything. He is only there to tame her and therefore doing Baptista a favour by taking her off his hands, this way Batista can have both his daughters married. He lets her know immediately that she doesnt deserve anything and so he deprives her of sleep and food. I will win my wager better yet, and show more sign of her obedience. He took her food away from her as she didnt say thank you, and that is only one of the many ways in which he was cruel to his wife, Katherina.

Not only is he being paid a wealthy sum to marry her, but also receiving a reward (another large sum of money) when he can show to everyone that he has proved to do what was thought to be the impossible, tame Katherina. The wager thou hast won, and I will ad unto their losses twenty thousand crowns, another dowry to another daughter, for she is changed, as she had never been. Hortensio too wants to marry for money; however he becomes a suitor for Bianca. He is in competition with Lucentio and will have to prove to Baptista that he is worth more.

At no point did he love Bianca, as shown when he lost out. Thinking of his bank balance, no sooner after he was he rejected he went and married a wealthy widow. Shakespeare shows that money is important in marriage by giving out large dowries o the husbands. He shows that they (Petruchio, Hortensio and Lucentio) do not truly love the wives to be, and lets the audience see that they are only interested in the money that comes with the wife. Baptista chose wisely on his choice for his younger daughter Bianca to marry.

He chose Lucentio over Hortensio for the simple fact that he had more wealth. He wanted something in return, as he was paying out dowries to each husband and slightly over the top for Petruchio. Wives in the play and in that era were seen as possessions of the husband and Shakespeare has shown this. She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my household-stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything is what Petruchio says off Katherina. The wives are supposed to be grateful of everything in which the husband does for her and do exactly what is asked of them.

Shakespeare shows the men in the play to be dominant and uncaring towards their wife. In this era women have never had any power, when they are at home they are over ruled by their father, and he makes all the decisions for them and when he has chosen a suitable husband they are again over powered, this therefore making the males the dominant sex. Their next main concern after domination is money, they only marry for money. Money is the main reason why suitors travel to Padua to get married, as it is wealthy area they think they are going to get more out of marriage. For his dowry Baptista informs Petruchio, After my death, the one half of my lands, and in possession twenty thousand crowns. As a comical side of the play Shakespeare develops disguises.

When Lucentio disguises himself as Cambio, this is because Cambio is Bianca's music teacher, disguising himself as Cambio can mean he can get to know her better and can get close to her. As he is in competition with Hortensio to take Bianca's hand in marriage he will need to do all that he can to win her over. I think that an audience will dislike him for this, he is not being honest about who he is. However they may also find this amusing, as disguises within the play is what makes it comical. Is Petruchio a loving husband who teaches his troubled bride to find happiness in marriage, or a clever bully who forces her to bow to his will, Katherina's consent in playing the part of obedient wife could reflect a joyous acceptance of her assigned role as a married woman and the beginning of a fulfilling partnership with her husband however it instead could indicate that she has learned to play the obedient wife in public so as to get her own way in private. Further more could it reflect the defeat of a spirited and intelligent woman forced to give in to a society that dominates and controls women and allows them only very limited room for self-expression?

By the end of the play and in her final speech, Katherina may seem genuinely tamed, or ironic? I feel that at the end of the play when Katherina is shown to be tamed she is in fact playing the game. She is acting to make it look as though Petruchio has in fact succeeded to tame her. This also is how the rest of the society believes a woman should be, and therefore she is getting a kind of respect from the rest of the community. She now obeys what is asked of her by Petruchio like such as when she is told to lecture the other wives about how to be a good wife, Katherina, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women, what duty they do owe their lords and husbands.

Without arguing and saying a word against what is asked of her she gives her advice, Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee. Women in the Elizabethan era were presented as very obedient to their husbands and respectful to them also. They had no power and no say, they were treated badly and nothing would be done to stop the behaviour. In modern society most women have as much say as the men, they are not expected to stay at home and clean etc, and instead they go to work as well.

Some women are like Katherina before she was supposedly tamed, very out spoken, yet inequality still exists. During the Elizabethan era marriage was like a business contract, if the money is there then so is the signature. Love was never a part of the play and this showed in both Hortensio and Petruchio, who Shakespeare uses to expose this superficial approach to the supposedly romantic notion of marriage.


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