Multiple Heroes in The Taming of the Shrew
Multiple Heroes in The Taming of the Shrew Throughout Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, it is easy to see that a greatresponsibility is put on Petruchio for his efforts in having to tame the shrew, Katherine. With this responsibility also came admiration when his goal was finally achieved. Becauseof this admiration for taming a shrew, Petruchio is the character most looked upon as a"hero" in this play. However, I believe that although Petruchio can be looked upon as ahero, Katherine and Bianca also have good arguments as to how they are heroes alsobecause of the drastic ways they changed as people. In my eyes, The Taming of theShrew has more than one hero, in fact, there are multiple heroes. The most obvious hero in this Shakespearean play is Petruchio. Petruchio, uponsetting foot in Padua, has announced that he has come "Happily to wive and thrive as bestI may" (Dolan 63). He is looking for a wife, and feels like he has much to offer. Hortensio jokingly tells Petruchio about Katherine, the shrew, which immediately sparksPetruchio's interest in the wealthy, fiery woman. After Petruchio and Katherine's firstmeeting in Act II, Scene I, Petruchio says this: "For I am he born to tame you, K
" Bianca alsodiscourages Hortensio in the same scene after he reads her a love poem by pretending tonot understand or care for that matter. However, as the play goes on, Bianca seems to find some inner strength and startsto go against what a "perfect" woman would do. Shehas seen that the way Petruchio is treating her is often the way she would treat others. ate, Andbring you from a wild Kate to a Kate Comformable as other household Kates. But, it also more importantly shows that she respects and, in asense, loves her husband for helping her see that she needed to change and be a betterperson. When Petruchiotells Katherine to come sit on him, she replies with, "Asses are made to bear, and so areyou" (Dolan 79). Only heroes can look within themselves and change to be a betterperson. First of all, she starts to fall in love withher tutor, which would be intolerable if Lucentio was only a tutor and not a man withmoney. That quote was from her soliloquy at the end of the play,which is somewhat offensive to women these days because she has become completelysubmissive to her husband. Bianca realizes that she is a person with thoughts and feelings too. The last hero that I believe is present in The Taming of the Shrew is Bianca, theyoungest, more docile daughter of Baptista. When the story comes to an end, in the last few scenes, it is obvious that Katherinehas now been tamed. However, in order for Katherine to be a hero, she herself wanted and realized sheneeded to change.
Common topics in this essay:
Baptista Bianca,
Taming Shrew,
IV Scene,
Basically Katherine,
Katherine Thy,
Bianca Bianca,
Bianca Katherine,
KatesI Katharine,
Petruchio Petruchio,
Petruchio Katherine,
taming shrew,
perfect woman,
hero katherine,
looked hero,
entire life,
baptista bianca,
tame shrew,
perfect woman role,
katherine hero,
play perfect,
petruchio tells,
play perfect woman,
role entire life,
refused play perfect,
taming shrew hero,
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