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The Taming of the Shrew is an early comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a drunken tinker named Sly is tricked into thinking he is a nobleman by a mischievous Lord.
The Lord has a play performed for Sly's amusement with a primary and sub-plot.
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Quotations
Do as adversaries do in law, —Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
Tranio, scene ii
Encyclopedia
The Taming of the Shrew is an early comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1590 and 1594. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the Induction, in which a drunken tinker named Sly is tricked into thinking he is a nobleman by a mischievous Lord.
The Lord has a play performed for Sly's amusement with a primary and sub-plot. The main plot depicts the courting of Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, and Katherina, the headstrong, obdurate, and eponymous shrew. Katherina is at first an unwilling participant in the relationship but Petruchio tempers her with various psychological torments - the "taming" - until she is an obedient bride. The sub-plot features a competition between the suitors of Katherina's less intractable sister, Bianca.
The play's misogynistic elements have become the subject of considerable controversy, particularly among modern audiences and readers. It has nevertheless been adapted numerous times for stage, screen, opera, and musical theatre; the most famous adaptation being Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate.
The play's date of composition and genesis cannot be easily discerned, due to its uncertain relationship with another Elizabethan play with an almost identical plot but different wording, entitled The Taming of a Shrew.
Sources
The basic elements of the story are present in the 14th-century Castilian tale by Don Juan Manuel of the "young man who married a very strong and fiery woman". The play's subplot, involving the characters Bianca and Lucentio, derives from Ludovico Ariosto's I Suppositi, either directly or through George Gascoigne's English version Supposes (performed 1566, printed 1573).
Date and text
The subject of the performance and publication of The Taming of the Shrew is complicated by the existence of an alternative version of the story, The Taming of a Shrew, which is "now generally believed to be either a pirated and inaccurate version of Shakespeare's comedy or else a "bad quarto" of a different play, now lost, which also served Shakespeare as a source...." While A Shrew was printed in 1594, 1596, and 1607, Shakespeare's play was first published only with its inclusion in the First Folio in 1623.
Characters
Main
- Christopher Sly - Drunken Tinker
- Baptista Minola - Father of Katherina and Bianca
- Vincentio - Father of Lucentio
- Katherina (Kate) - The "shrew" of the title
- Petruchio - Suitor and later husband of Katherina
- Bianca - Sister of Katherina; the ingenue
- Lucentio - Suitor of Bianca (later disguised as the teacher Cambio)
- Gremio - Elderly Suitor of Bianca
- Hortensio - Suitor of Bianca (later disguised as the teacher Litio)
- A Pedant (later impersonates Vincentio)
- Tranio - Servant of Lucentio (later impersonates Lucentio)
- Biondello - Servant of Lucentio
- Grumio - Servant of Petruchio
Supporting
- A Haberdasher
- Bartholomew - A Page (later pretends to be Sly's wife)
- A Lord
- Curtis - Servant of Petruchio
- Nathaniel - Servant of Petruchio
- Joseph - Servant of Petruchio
- Peter - Servant of Petruchio
- A Tailor
- A Widow - eventually marries Hortensio
- Hostess of an alehouse
- Huntsman of the Lord
- Players
- Servingmen
- Messenger
Analysis and criticism
The Taming of the Shrew has been the subject of much criticism, most often relating to a certain feminist view of the play, and in particular Katherina's final speech, as offensively misogynistic and patriarchal. Others have defended the play by highlighting the (frequently unstaged) induction as evidence that its sentiments are not meant to be taken at face value. A recent production by the American Players' Theater not only performed the induction but also extended it as an epilogue in an attempt to sidestep the controversy. In this version, the taming plot is presented as Sly's dream in which he plays Petruchio, a dream from which he is awakened prematurely by his shrewish, real-life wife. Such a premise is, however, an adaptation rather than an interpretation of the original text.
Critical history
Authorship
Throughout the years, critics have debated the issue of the play's authorship. The existence of another play, The Taming of a Shrew, which surfaced around the same time as The Shrew, has led to this examination of authenticity. This play is described by Wentersdorf as having “similar plot lines and parallel though differently named characters” (202). Leah S. Marcus addresses this point of contention in her article “Leveling Shakespeare: Local Customs and Local Texts”. She discusses the idea held by some critics that Shakespeare authored both works, and that A Shrew is simply an earlier quarto version as opposed to the later Folio version of the The Shrew. However, she notes that some critics have also taken a different approach to the Folio and quarto idea; they have rejected the idea of A Shrew being a work of Shakespeare’s. She states that the reason for this, apart from the many differences in the text, is “because it identifies the acting company with an audience of lowlifes like Sly” (172). Marcus writes that this is seen by editors as out of character for Shakespeare and is therefore an indication that he did not write A Shrew. Karl P. Wentersdorf introduces the idea that Shakespeare penned both plays, but A Shrew may have been abridged, which would explain the differences between the two versions. Christopher Sly, for instance, has a greater role in the quarto text, but departs prematurely from the Folio. Wentersdorf admits, though, that his theory is mostly based on speculation so there is no way of knowing for certain why Sly disappeared from the later text (214).
Other critics in the 20th century, such as Morozov, have maintained the idea that Shakespeare may not have been entirely original in his writing of the play, suggesting that the ideas from The Taming of a Shrew were those of another author (Makaryk 286). Muir believes that Shakespeare had a laissez-faire attitude to borrowing content from other authors and cites The Taming of the Shrew as an instance of this (28).
Language
The usage of language is a major theme of the play. Katherina is described as a shrew because of her sharp tongue and harsh language to those around her, often causing offence (e.g. I.1.61-65); Petruchio, in turn, attempts to tame her - and thus her language - with rhetoric. Fineman suggests that the play draws a distinction between male and female language and further subcategorizes the latter. He suggests that female language in the play falls into two categories, good and bad, epitomized by Bianca and Katherina respectively. Baumlin emphasizes the role of Petruchio's rhetoric in his taming machinations, using his puns on her name as an example. By referring to Katherina as a cake and a cat (II.1.185-195) he objectifies her. A further notable aspect of Petruchio's rhetoric is the repeated comparison of Katherina to animals, for instance a falcon (IV.1.188-211), often adhering to an overarching hunting metaphor. Katherina, however, appropriates the method herself and insults, rife with animal imagery, are traded in Act 2, Scene 1 (l.194ff.). Language has becomes a battleground and Petruchio seemingly emerges as the victor. The final blow is dealt at the end of the play when Katherina is made to switch the words moon and sun (IV.5.1-22). From this point Katherina's language drastically changes from her earlier vernacular; instead of defying Petruchio and his words, she has finally succumbed to his rhetoric and accepted that she will use his language instead of her own - both Katherina and her language have been tamed.
Petruchio's rhetoric is not reserved solely for Katherina, however. By denying that she is a shrew to others, e.g. to her father in Act 2, Scene 1 (ll.290-298), he effectively changes her reputation. The Katherina of the past is changed as well as the Katherina of the present. Katherina's reputation as a shrew is a result of her language and reputation. Petruchio uses rhetoric to change both.
It appears that in her final speech, Katherina willingly accepts her new submissive role and both comments upon and agrees with the social and physical differences between a husband and wife, seen by some critics, including Rackin, as an emphasis of contemporary Elizabethan norms. The sincerity of the speech is a highly contentious topic, the conclusion of which affects the entire tone of the play. Two distinct groups of critics have emerged, those who view Katherina's speech as ironic - she is not being sincere in her statements, but sarcastic - and those who believe that Katherina's language is indeed sincere and that Petruchio has successfully tamed her. The argument is not so clear-cut however.
Some critics see the use of the language of the speech as politically and sociologically rationalizing the submission of wives to husbands. Others view the physical description of women as evidence of a more farcical intention when considered alongside both the historical context of the Elizabethan theatre in which female characters are always played by prepubescent boys, and the Induction in which Sly is attracted to the Lord's page disguised as his wife ; thus Shakespeare is satirizing gender roles. Some critics believe that as the speech (and, of course, the play) was written by a man, performed by a man, and viewed by a predominantly male audience what is being represented is the patriarchal ideal of female compliance. Some even view the language of the speech as a completely sincere change of heart; Bean writes that Katherina has been "liberated into the bonds of love" and highlights the speech's mentions of women's warmth and beauty rather than their stereotypical sinfulness..
In productions it is often a director's interpretation of Katherina's final speech that defines the tone of the play.
Themes
Cruelty
Some critics believe that cruelty permeates the entire play, including the Induction (Krims 51). The Sly frame, with the Lord's spiteful practical joke, is seen by some to prepare the audience for a play willing to treat cruelty as a comedic matter (Krims 51). A modern audience may find the cruel actions of the main characters comical, but should they consider the situation in reality they would very likely be appalled (Krims 51-52). While Katherina displays physical cruelty on stage - in the tying together of her sister’s hands, the beating of Hortensio with his lute, and the striking of Petruchio -, Petruchio utilizes cruelty as a psychological weapon; he purposely misunderstands, dismisses, and humiliates Katherina, while all the time attempting to project his own wishes onto her (Krims 52). Krims believes such treatment makes Katherina’s final speech seem a forced camouflage of pain as well as a final humiliation (Krims 52, 53). He believes that cruelty is a more important theme than the more often debated controversy surrounding gender as the play portrays a broad representation of human cruelty rather than merely cruelty between the sexes (Krims 59).
Gender relations
The history of criticism of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is saturated with controversy. It may be assumed that the play was easily received by all in Shakespeare’s time, based on prevailing societal oppression of women and a mostly male theatre audience, but not all critics agree. Aspinall argues that an Elizabethan audience would have been similarly taken aback by the play’s harsh, misogynistic language: “Since its first appearance, Shrew has elicited a panoply of heartily supportive, ethically uneasy, or altogether disgusted responses to its rough-and-tumble treatment of the ‘taming’ of the ‘curst shrew’ Katherina”. She further explains that “arranged marriages began to give way to newer, more romantically informed experiments”, and thus people’s views on women’s position in society and their relationship were in the process of shifting.
Davies believes that the modern response to The Shrew “is dominated by feelings of unease and embarrassment, accompanied by the desire to prove that Shakespeare cannot have meant what he seems to be saying; and that therefore he cannot really be saying it”.
Evidence of at least some initial societal discomfort with Shrew is that John Fletcher, a contemporary of Shakespeare, felt the need to respond to the play with one of his own. He wrote The Woman's Prize, or The Tamer Tamed as a quasi sequel telling the story of Petruchio's remarriage after Katherina's death. In a mirror of the original, his new wife attempts to tame Petruchio - thus the tamer becomes the tamed. Although Fletcher’s sequel is often downplayed as merely a farcical mockery of The Shrew, some critics acknowledge the more serious implications of such a reaction. Linda Boose writes: “Fletcher’s response may in itself reflect the kind of discomfort that Shrew has characteristically provoked in men and why its many revisions since 1594 have repeatedly contrived ways of softening the edges” (179).
After the 17th century, performances of The Taming of the Shrew greatly decreased compared to Shakespeare’s other plays. When performed the play was often an adaptation of Shakespeare’s original. In the 18th century, however, there was a revival of the original text: “As the 18th century demanded a greater realism and a more authentic Shakespeare, both on stage and in print, a newfound admiration for Petruchio accumulated rapidly”, writes Aspinall.
As women achieved a more equal social status due to the feminist movements of the twentieth century, reactions to the play evolved. Society's new and progressive views on gender impacted upon the critical approach to The Shrew: “In short, Katherina’s taming was no longer as funny as it once had been for some readers and spectators; her domination became altogether disgusting to modern sensibility”. Thus, in a modern society, with relatively egalitarian perspectives on gender, the staging of Shakespeare's original text presents a moral dilemma. Two methods are most commonly employed when attempting to perform The Shrew while still maintaining faithfulness to the text. The first is the emphasis of the play’s farcical elements, such as Sly's and the metatheatrical nature of the play. The second strategy is steeping "the play in irony, such as Columbia Pictures' 1929 Taming of the Shrew where Katherina winks as she advocates a woman’s submission to her husband”. The treatment of Katherina’s final speech, the most problematic of the play, as purely ironic makes the submissiveness of Katherina’s words more palatable.
Burns claims the speech simultaneously belittles women while also explaining the essential and central place of women in relationships with men (Burns 45). Detmer explains that “rebellious women” were a point of concern for men during the late 16th and early 17th century and thus the issue of gender relations, and therefore domestic violence, comes as little surprise (Detmer 273). Petruchio's treatment of Katherina may well have the effect of making the domination one’s wife seem tolerable, as long as physical force is not used (Detmer 247). The psychological cruelty may be intended to be seen as a more civil way to dominate one’s wife, though to a modern audience at least it is viewed as an equally oppressive form of physical abuse (Detmer 275).
Male perception of women is addressed, albeit through a comedic situation, in the Induction as the Lord explains to his serving man how to believably act like a woman, (Ind I.110-21):
With soft low tongue and lowly courtesy
And say, 'What is't your honour will command
Wherein your lady and your humble wife
May show her duty and make known her love?
And then, with kind embracments, tempting kisses,
And with declining head into his bosom,
Bid him shed tears, as being overjoyed
To see her noble lord restored to health,
Who for this seven years hast esteem'ed him
No better than a poor and loathsome beggar.
And if the boy have not a woman's gift
To rain a shower of commanded tears...
The above represents the Lord's view of how a woman ought to behave; she should be courteous, humble, loyal, and obedient. He also believes that females are emotional - crying is a woman's gift. The Induction acts as suitable preparation for Katherina's character and her disgust for such stereotyping as well as her rebellion against Elizabethan society's gender values.
In the Sixteenth Century it was permissible for men to beat their wives. Rebellious women were a concern for Englishmen because they posed a threat to the patriarchal model of a good household upon which Elizabethan society was built. Some see The Shrew as innovative because, although it does promote male dominance, it does not condone violence towards women per se, an accepted practice of the time. The "play’s attitude was characteristically Elizabethan and was expressed more humanly by Shakespeare than by some of his sources,” (West, 65). Although Petruchio never strikes Katherina, he uses other tactics to physically tame her and thus exert his superiority. Many critics, including Emily Detmer, see this as a modern take on perpetuating male authority “…legitimizing domination as long as it is not physical,” (Detmer, 274). George Bernard Shaw condemned the play in a letter to Pall Mall Gazette as, "one vile insult to womanhood and manhood from the first word to the last".
Other critics, such as Natasha Korda, believe that even though Petruchio does not use force to tame Katherina, his actions are still an active endorsement of patriarchy; Petruchio makes Katherina his property. Two examples present themselves while Katherina and Petruchio are still courting. First, Petruchio offers to marry Katherina and save her from an impending spinsterhood because she has a large dowry. In Elizabethan society, a woman of age was expected to become a wife. Second, Katherina is objectified when they are first introduced: Petruchio wishes to physically judge Katherina and asks her to walk for his observation; he is pleased with her princely gait and she passes the test.
Although Petruchio is not characterized as a violent man, he still embodies the subjugation and objectification of women during the Sixteenth Century: “The object of the tale was simply to put the shrew to work, to restore her (frequently through some gruesome form of punishment) to her proper productive place within the household economy,” (Korda, 110). Harold Bloom, however, reads Katherina's final speech as ironic (see above), proposing that she is explaining that in reality women control men by appearing to obey them.
Performance
The earliest known performance is recorded in Philip Henslowe's Diary on June 13, 1594, as "the Tamynge of A Shrowe." This could have been either A Shrew or The Shrew, but as the Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men were sharing the Newington Butts theatre at the time, scholars tend to assume that it was Shakespeare's play. The canonical Shakespearean version was certainly acted at Court before King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria on Nov. 26, 1633 - and was liked). After numerous adaptations (and one sequel), Shakespeare's uncut play returned to the stage in 1844 in a Benjamin Webster production.
Lily Brayton was a noted Katherina in the Edwardian era, playing the part in a number of productions, sometimes opposite her husband Oscar Asche and in the 1907 OUDS production opposite Gervais Rentoul.
Famous recent productions include the 1960 Royal Shakespeare Company production with Peter O'Toole and Peggy Ashcroft, William Ball's 1976 Commedia dell'arte-style staging at the American Conservatory Theatre, and the New York Shakespeare Festival's 1990 production starring Morgan Freeman and Tracey Ullman set in the old west. The longest running Broadway production was the 1935 Theatre Guild staging with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, which ran for 129 performances.
Adaptations
Plays
The first known adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew was entitled The Woman's Prize, or The Tamer Tamed, a sequel and reply written by John Fletcher, perhaps around 1611. In Fletcher's play, the recently-widowed Petruchio is remarried to a bride who "tames" him with the help of her friends, driving him from his house and refusing to consummate their marriage until he promises to respect her and endeavor to satisfy her. When the two plays were revived together, in 1633 and in the Restoration era, Fletcher's play proved more popular than Shakespeare's.
In the 1660s The Shrew was adapted by John Lacy, an actor for Thomas Killigrew's King's Company, to make it better match with Fletcher's work. Lacy's adaptation, Sauny the Scot, somewhat inconsistently anglicized the character names and recast the play in prose. Most significantly, Lacy expanded the part of Grumio into the title role, which he played himself. Sauny is an irreverent, cynical companion to Petruchio, comically terrified of his master's new bride. The conclusion, in which the Katherina-character feigns death, is influenced by Fletcher's play. Lacy's work premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1667; it is known to have been revived as late as 1698. Samuel Pepys saw John Lacy's adaptation on April 9, 1667. More adaptations followed including Christopher Bullock's Cobbler of Preston (1715) and Charles Johnson's play of the same name (1716); David Garrick's version, Katherine and Petruchio, was introduced in 1754 and dominated the stage for a century; Herbert Beerbohm Tree staged it in 1879. Another version adapted by Laurentian University professor Dr. Ian Maclennan named "The Squaddies Shrew", sees the play set within an army barracks, performed by 6 males as soldiers or "squaddies", with the cast playing the roles of multiple characters throughout the play.
Opera
Operatic versions include A Cure for a Scold, a ballad opera by James Worsdale at Drury Lane (1735), Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung (The Taming of the Shrew) (1874) by Hermann Goetz,The Taming of the Shrew (1953) by Vittorio Giannini, and the Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari opera Sly.
Musicals
A number of later works have been derived from The Taming of the Shrew, most famously the Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate.
Film
The earliest known film adaptation is the 1908 silent version directed by D.W. Griffith. The first sound version on film is the 1929 adaptation starring Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, with "additional dialogue by Sam Taylor." The 1967 film adaptation directed by Franco Zeffirelli and starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton is the most widely seen version of the play. Other film versions include: the 1942 Italian adaptation La bisbetica domata directed by Ferdinando Maria Poggioli and located in the XX century Rome; the classic 1952 film The Quiet Man, in which John Wayne, as an ex-boxer living in Ireland, "tames" his chosen wife, played by Maureen O'Hara; the 1969 Rankin/Bass TV version; the 1999 teen motion picture 10 Things I Hate About You starring Julia Stiles as the shrew and Heath Ledger as Petruchio; and the 2003 motion picture Deliver Us From Eva.
The play's theme was parodied in the 1980 Italian comedy Il Bisbetico Domato (international English title: "The Taming of the Scoundrel") starring Adriano Celentano and Ornella Muti.
Television
The earliest broadcast of the play was on the BBC in 1952, with Stanley Baker as Petruchio and Margaret Johnston as Katherina. PBS broadcast a videotaped version of William Ball's 1976 stage production on their Great Performances series starring Marc Singer and Fredi Olster that was set against a commedia dell'arte backdrop. In 1980, the BBC produced a version of the play starring John Cleese as Petruchio. The television series Moonlighting also produced one episode ("Atomic Shakespeare") that recast the show's main characters in a comedic parody of The Taming of the Shrew; The BBC One ShakespeaRe-Told series sets the story in modern-day Britain, with Katherina (played by Shirley Henderson) as an abrasive career politician who is told she must find a husband as a public relations exercise. This modern version still has Katherina stating it is a woman's duty to love and obey her husband, but with the requirement that he do precisely the same for her. The 2000 Brazilian soap opera O Cravo e a Rosa was also based on the play (this title means "The Carnation and the Rose" and comes from a children's song about a couple of engaged flowers who had a serious "fight" -- which, in Portuguese, may mean either an awful argument or some physical confrontation).
Gallery
Works cited
- Baumlin, Tita French. "Petruchio the Sophist and Language as Creation in The Taming of the Shrew". Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 29 (1989): 237-257.
- Boose, Linda E. “Scolding Brides and Bridling Scolds: Taming the Woman's Unruly Member.” Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 2. (Summer, 1991), pp. 179-213.
- DeRose, Daivd J, Kolin, Phillip C. “Shakespeare and Feminist Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography and Commentary”. TDR (1988-), Vol. 37, No. 2. (Summer, 1993), pp. 178-181.
- Detmer, Emily. "Civilizing Subordination: Domestic Violence and the Taming of the
Shrew". Shakespeare Quarterly, 1997.
- Helms, Lorraine. “Playing the Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism and Shakespearean Performance”. Theatre Journal, Vol. 41, No. 2, Power Plays. (May, 1989), pp. 190-200.
- Hodgdon, Barbara. “Katherina Bound; Or, Play(K)ating the Strictures of Everyday Life (in Underwriting Performance: Appropriation, Legitination, Exchange).”PMLA, Vol. 107, No. 3, Special Topic: Performance. (May, 1992), pp.538-553.
- Korda, Natasha. "Household Kates: Domesticating Commodities in the Taming of the
Shew." Shakespeare Quarterly, 1996.
- Makaryk, Irene R. “Soviet Views of Shakespeare’s Comedies”.Shakespeare Studies 15 (1982): 281-313.
- Marcus, Leah S. “Levelling Shakespeare: Local Customs and Local Texts”. Shakespeare Quarterly 42.2 (1991): 168-178.
- Muir, Kenneth. The Sources of Shakespeare’s Plays. London: Routledge, 2005.
- Swift Lenz, Carolyn Ruth. “The Woman's Part: Feminist Criticism of Shakespeare”. South Atlantic Review, Vol. 46, No. 2 (May, 1981), pp. 119-122
- Wentersdorf, Karl P. “The Original Ending of The Taming of the Shrew: A Reconsideration”. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 18.2 (1978): 201-215.
- West, Michael. "The Folk Background of Petruchio’s Wooing Dance: Male Supremacy
in “'The Taming of the Shrew.'” Shakespeare Studies, 7, 1974.
External links
- - includes searchable HTML text with notes, line numbers, scene summaries
- - searchable, indexed e-text
- - plain vanilla text from Project Gutenberg
- - Scene-indexed, searchable version of the play.
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