taming of the schrew
The Taming of the Shrew: A Perceptual Ability TestA recurrent theme In Shakespeare's plays is the idea that things are not always what they seem. The Taming of the Shrew shows a good example of this theme. In this play we find many discrepancies between what seems to be and what is. The main theme of this play is knowing what a person is really like is more important than how they appear to be. This is shown by Petruchio's relationship with Katherine; the changing roles of Tranio, Lucentio, and Hortensio; and the true characters of Bianca and Katherine. All three of these situations help to enrich the theme.The play begins with an induction in which a drunkard, Christopher Sly, is fooled into believing he is a king and has a play performed for him. The play he watches is what constitutes the main body of The Taming Of The Shrew. In it, a wealthy landowner, Baptista Minola, attempts to have his two daughters married. One appears to be very shrewish, Katherine, while the other, Bianca, is the beautiful and gentle one. In order to ensure Katherine is married, Baptista disallows Bianca to be espoused until Katherine is wed, forcing the many suitors to Bianca to find a mate for Katherine in order for them to vie for Bianca'
Perhaps it is because of the way she is treated by others that she is so contrary. In Act I, Scene I after a long discourse with his man Tranio declaring his desire to come to Padua to attend the university, which he eventually forgets all about and commences on a quest to win the love of Bianca. Through appearance changes, character relationships, and inner personalities, the theme is displayed, the theme being that what someone's real identity is more important than what they seem to be. This situation is one of the ways Shakespeare uses mistaken identity to display this reoccurring theme. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**Works CitedBarron's Book Notes on the WWW (I could not get the documentation information as when I tried to access the information on October 22, 2000, access was denied. This shows how Kate has a mistaken identity because she appears rude and unreachable, when in fact she is not. By putting The Taming Of The Shrew in a 'play within a play' structure, a microcosm with in a macrocosm if you will, Shakespeare immediately lets the audience know that the play is not real thus making all events in the play false realities (Righter 104). Yet, as David Daniel points out in his essay "Shakespeare and the Traditions of Comedy", "at the end Bianca shows herself petty, and even shrewish" (106). " When the parents put their foot down and stand their ground through the child's testing, the child looses the need to push against the boundaries of acceptable behavior to see if they are still there. In The Taming Of The Shrew, courtship and marriage are not so much the result of love but rather an institution of society that people are expected to take part in. Like the disguise of Bartholomew, these are intended to last only for a short time and are for a specific purpose, to woo and wed Bianca.
Common topics in this essay:
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IV Scene,
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Leo Hughes,
Christopher Sly,
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Kate Bianca,
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ed stanley cambridge,
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stanley cambridge cambridge,
shakespeare traditions comedy,
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Acceptance Essays
