The Tamer’s Tactics Some people are wild, some people are calmed, some people are extroverted, and some are shy. Others believe some people have control, while others need to be tamed. In Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, a man named Petrucchio, is determined to tame a young lady named Katherine. He believes she is like a wild cat that needs to be tamed and it is because of this that he comes up with a series of tactics. Now at this moment, the audience is thinking: “will the tactics be effective” and if they are how effective will they be? Will Katherine be tamed and will she become a good wife? Well in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the tactics used by Petrucchio to tame Katherine are truly effective, making an important change in Katherine’s behavior.
In The Taming of the Shrew, Petrucchio is presented with the challenge of taming lady Kate, daughter of Baptista and sister of Bianca. Kate’s father does not let her sister marry until she marries, but the problem is everybody sees Kate as the ogre of the city. Petrucchio only accepts the challenge because he procures her money and his interest is so big that he is not intimidated by the challenge and as soon as he meets her he starts playing the game as well. He approaches her in a friendly way, with such volubility, trying to make her feel comfortable as if they knew each other from a long time in the past. During the conversation things start to get heated up and Petrucchio starts getting intense. This shows how he is willing to play the game and play rough if necessary. At one point in the conversation, Katherine hits Petrucchio and he says: “I swear, I’ll hit you if you hit me again.” (II.i. 228) Petrucchio demonstrates from the beginning that he is the man to tame Katherine and even though he starts pretending to be sweet at first, he shows her very quick what kind of man he really is