...Skyler Conklin Dr. Boecherer 04/09/15 The Taming of the Shrew The concept of someone telling you are something that you are not is one thing and the chances of you believing them right away are not very high. But if that person repeatedly tells you enough times that you are one thing, you will begin question yourself and eventually believe that it is reality. The idea of appearance in The Taming of the Shrew is performed with the same idea. Focusing on the essence of appearance, Shakespeare uses the story of Christopher Sly’s taming and its correlatives, and Kate’s taming to show that appearance becomes reality. Eventually, the characters in The Taming of the Shrew obscure the lines between reality and illusion, making them the same. In the beginning of the play, the induction with Christopher Sly shows the phenomenon of illusion becoming reality with the help of appearance. A rich lord kidnaps Sly, a drunken beggar, and decided to play a trick on him. “Sirs, I will practice on this drunken man. What think you, if he were conveyed to bed, Wrapped in sweet clothes, rings put upon his fingers, A most delicious banquet by his bed, And brave attendants near him when he wakes, Would not the beggar then forget himself?”(Ind.1.36-41). When Sly awakens in an unfamiliar setting, he begins to question the truth of his circumstance, but after a while, Sly he begins to accept the illusion that he is the lord he appears to be. “Upon my life, I am a lord indeed, And not a tinker...
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...formation of a new society, indicated by some kind of party or festival (Frye 163). Frye further explains that this structural component of comedy is the origin of comedic form. At first William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew seems to have a clear message that the green world theory does not define the structure of the play and that Petruchio tames Katherine. While this could be an interpretation of the play, I find it unlikely that this is the case. The analysis of the film, 10 Things I Hate About You, opens the door visually to see the green world theory in action, which allows the reader to appreciate The Taming of the Shrew as a comedy as well as reinterpret its conclusion. The green world theory is the structural backbone of The Taming of the Shrew, and commands that Katherine and Petruchio change over the course of the play and ultimately both are tamed. The green world theory can be seen in 10 Things by analyzing Frye’s key elements of comedy, such as form, character type, and repetition. The movie opens in an old society where Kat and Bianca’s father, who plays the role of the senex (as Frye suggests, a character in charge of the plays society) and strictly controls the environment in a way that is not fitting for the time period (Frye 171). He does not allow either of his daughters to date, and this becomes a problem for the young men interested in dating Bianca. The plot is propelled in the green world when...
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...and some say that one cannot experience love at first sight because one does not really know someone until they spend quality time with the person they believe that they are meant to be with. The concept and accepted, societal definition of a real, serious relationship has changed so much throughout history, and Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You are two examples that show this progression. In the 1600’s, relationships and love were very rare, men just wanted to marry the most beautiful woman; whereas in modern times, relationships are portrayed as much more casual. In Shakespeare’s play, Taming of the Shrew, marriage is a very important concept, but it is very different than it is now. It is the fathers job to give away his daughters to the most wiling suitor, or the man who makes the best deal. If a suitor is interested in pursuing and marrying someone, the suitor will approach the daughter’s father and meet with him. They write a contract, willing things to the suitor and the father’s daughter for when the father dies, such as large proportions of land, or his home. If the daughter has multiple suitors, the father will choose who presented him with the best contract, not necessarily who loves his daughter the most or who his daughter wants to be with. Petruchio and Katharina’s marriage is a good example, because her father gives Katharina to Petruchio because of the contract Petruchio presented to him. Baptista, Katharina’s father, is in desperate need of...
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...a personification of affection. Written by William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, while having been produced in society ingrained with male dominance, also portrays side of playful affection and crimson love between couples in the Elizabeth age. Shakespeare writes of Petruchio and Kate, a male and female who sharply oppose each other. It touches on Kates changing character and allows her to undergo three phases: Kate's character in beginning, methods Petruicho uses to tame Kate and the final outcome (how Kate has changed). Petruicho must "tame" his wife Kate without breaking her true inner spirit. Taming of Shrew unravels to reveal a wild beastly Katharine lacking respect for her family, herself and others around her. Kate is a very outspoken and vulgar woman without respect to authority.Katharine, although depicted as a beautiful woman quickly becomes the talk of Padua. Kate has found that if she is loud and obnoxious she can have her way. She screams, grunts and pushes those who she does not get along with.The general character of Katharine seems to be that of a small child. Peturichos methods of pursuit in some cases border along the lines of torture. Peturicho manipulates and exploits Kates character in order to change her outward actions. Although Peturicho does not want to change Kates inward thoughts, he does not want to break her spirit. The greatest example can be quoted below; Petruchio says, "Thy gown's Why, aye. Come, tailor, let us see'st. / O mercy,...
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...Compare and contrast the ways in which the authors William Shakespeare, George Orwell and Jeanette Winterson examine the effects of control in their texts The Taming of the Shrew, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit. William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew attempts to present a comedic mockery of 16th century values. Shakespeare presents to the audience the farce of marriage values, the treatment of women and the control employed to tame those who were deemed ‘unruly.’ Shakespeare uses this technique in order to highlight to his audience the ridiculousness and brutality of their actions and, furthermore, to present to a modern audience the upheld expectations and beliefs of 16th century society and the ridiculousness of said societal values. The very title of the play alone – “The Taming of the Shrew” – through the language “taming” and “shrew,” indicates that there is something undesirable about a women acting of her own accord and thus she requires ‘taming.’ In the 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell uses control in an attempt to warn the reader of the dangers of totalitarianism after having witnessed the harrowing lengths that governments were willing to go to in order to sustain sovereign authority. Orwell was deeply disturbed by the cruelty and oppression that he had witnessed in Communist countries and was concerned by the increasing use of technology as a means of control; as presented by his use of the telescreen. Within Oranges...
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...The main character of the play's name is kathrine. Katherine is said to the the ‘shrew’ in the title of the play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. Shakespeare defines a shrew as a woman who is very outspoken, and in that time period women were not allowed to be outspoken. When relating to a woman being called a shrew is viewed as negative. If you were called a shrew people looked down upon you. ‘Shrews’ were usually extremely open and public when expressing what or how they felt, they said anything they wanted to. It was almost unheard of for a woman to be outspoken especially in this time era. Renaissance society highly disapproved of women who were like that. During that time only men were allowed to express what they felt, to say anything they wanted, to be expressive. In ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, the main character Katherine, is an especially terrible shrew. The words she used were harsh and degrading, and her actions were violent. Katherine was a highly abusive woman. Nobody liked her. No one approved of her being a woman and being outspoken and rude. The problem of the play was finding someone to ‘tame’ her, except nobody wanted to. Nobody wanted to go near her or deal with her that is until...
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...As someone once said don't judge a book by its cover. In the story Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, The wife's change over time. Bianca turns from sweet to sour near the end of the book, Katherine turns from a shrew to respectful and nice, finally Hortensio who is trying to tame his wife Widow who is a shrew. The author Shakespeare uses the title of the play convey the theme of how anyone can even tame the worst shrew. Bianca turns from a completely nice quiet girl to a shrew towards the end the story. In ACT two, Bianca says “I swear, dear sister, I have not yet encountered that special face I might prefer to any other” (Shakespeare 75). To explain Bianca acts very respectful and nice in this scene and later on Kathrine let’s her inner shrew out. The author William Shakespeare wrote ”The more fool you for betting on my loyalty” (45). To explain why Bianca is acting like this is because she now does not have to act nice and quiet because she’s already married and can do anything she wants. This relates to the thesis because Bianca was very respectful and now how she got married she let her inner shrew out which relates you can not judge a book by its cover....
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...wave of feminism that achieved gains in gender equality giving way to more sexual liberation and freedom for women. One of the stories where conventional gothic gender roles are most notably challenged is ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ where the female, the daughter of a man who gambled her away to a beast, is the protagonist of the story and seemingly in charge of her fate, whether it be sexual or in loyalty. This mirrors ‘The Taming of the Shrew’, where Katherina is initially in charge of her fate and her sexual fate before she is “tamed” by Petruchio, the story also juxtaposes ‘The shrew’ as it is her who is tamed, while in ‘The Tiger’s Bride’ the protagonist is the one who tames the beast by choosing him over her own father. The contrast in storylines emphasises how gender roles in general have been severely challenged by Carter, giving the effect of female empowerment especially contrasting the male empowerment in ‘Taming of the Shrew’. This possibly depicts the growing stature of women roles not just in literature but also in society, which is also shown in law changes across the world over the past 40 years, introduction of laws that have seen an increase in equal pay among males and females and also the increased popularity of women in sport. In its earliest beginnings, men primarily wrote Gothic...
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...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...
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