Transformation and Reversal in The Taming of the Shrew

             Shakespeare shows evolution and audience recognition between the two plots of the sisters and their suitors in The Taming of the Shrew. Katherine evolves from a shrew to the ideal woman and wife and attains true love and happiness, while Bianca becomes harder to tame and less of what society and her husband expects her to be. The reversal of personalities and ironic twist of love in the sisterly plots requires the audience to have a more complex recognition that people should not be categorized and can be more than what they seem. The audience must look at the dynamics of the two sisters and their personalities in the beginning of the play, and acknowledge the evolution and transformation at the end to have a more in-depth appreciation for the reversal.
             At the beginning of The Taming of the Shrew, Kate is viewed as harsh, cruel and frightening to the men around her. When Baptista says that Kate is to be courted before Bianca, Gremio makes a joke that she should rather be carted and refers to her as the devil and how no man would want to be married to hell. Kate shows her shrewish attitude and explains that she should "comb your noddle with a three-legged stool,/ And paint your face, and use you like fool."(1.1.64-65). Kate is explaining that marriage does not even half interest her and she is not afraid to tell him exactly how she feels instead of being quiet and biting her tongue. Kate is being publicly humiliated by her father and his want to prostitute her to find a suitor. Kate's desire for love is what fuels her resistance to marry based off of economic benefits between her father and husband; she wants to be with a man that loves her and does not make her sacrifice her true self in the process. Bianca is clearly Baptista's favorite daughter and Kate feels this jealousy on the favoritism. She voices these feelings by saying, "[Bianca] is your treasure" (2.1.32). It is clear to her, that...

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Transformation and Reversal in The Taming of the Shrew. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 05:09, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/203646.html