Preview

Concepts of Love in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew"

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2190 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Concepts of Love in Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew"
Concepts of love in Shakespeare 's "The Taming of the Shrew"

1. Introduction

In Shakespeare 's comedy "The Taming of the Shrew", the audience becomes aware of a variety of different love concepts. Such as romantic and rational love, mature and immature love, intimate and reserved love, paternal love and the love of a daughter. These concepts are represented by the different characters and are contrasted with each other.
I will sum up the play and furthermore elaborate on the contrast between the conventional and social accepted love and the unconventional love, which is looked down upon by society.

2. Summary of the play

The comedy consists of an induction and five acts. The play ends with a short scene, which one might call an epilogue. The induction and the "epilogue" serve as frame for the real comedy.

2.1 The induction

Christopher Sly, a drunken tinker, is turned out of an alehouse by the hostess. A lord and his train, who return from hunting, find Sly sleeping. For his own amusement the lord has sly taken to his castle. There the tinker shall awake and be told and treated as if he is the lord of that household. Along coming actors are invited to come to the castle and play in front of the "new" lord Sly, who does not really find his way around in his new situation, in order to cheer him up.

2.2 The comedy

The young Lucentio, son of the rich Vincentio from Pisa, arrived at Padua to start his studies. At first sight he falls in love with Bianca, the daughter of the old Baptista, who looks for a wealthy son-in-law. Before Bianca can marry, Baptitsta wants to find a husband for his older daughter Katherina. But Katherina has no admirers, or better, men get out of her way, because she is rebellious and high-spirited.
Petruchio, a nobleman from Verona, is interested in Katherina, to whom it seems as a task to tame her. By reacting fundamentally cruder than Katherina and repaying her doubly for what she says or does, he enforces in a quite



Bibliography: Hillegass, L. L., The Taming of the Shrew – Notes (Lincoln, Nebraska, 1971), Cliffs Notes. Schomburg, Elias Hugo, The Taming of the Shrew – Eine Studie zu Shakespeares Kunst (Halle a. S., 1904). II.2 Chapters Dash, Irene G., "Challenging Patterns – The Taming of the Shrew", in: Wooing, Wedding and Power: Women in Shakespeare 's Plays (New York, 1981), pp Rohrsen, Peter, "The Taming of the Shrew", in: Die Preisrede auf die Geliebte in Shakespeares Komödien und Romanzen (Heidelberg, 1977), pp. 228-231. Tillyard, E. M. W., "The Taming of the Shrew", in: Shakespeare 's Early Comedies (London, 1965), pp. 73-111.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The audience did not always respond well to the conclusion to the play, some of the characters do seem strangely disconnected throughout the play and their characteristics are un-naturalistic, Marchute Chutte – as well as other critics of the play – believe ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ “was an adaptation of an older play. Shakespeare took what was originally a tidy little farce and transformed it into a vigorous and colourful one. But it remains a rather heartless play, and although Katherina and Petruchio are entertaining they are not particularly real people.” This is perhaps the reason for their relationship being so out of touch with the audience’s expectations.…

    • 1027 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Many acclaimed scholars argue that the Induction in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is unnecessary and irrelevant to the main plot. (Bloom, 28) Shakespeare placed the induction into The Shrew for a specific dramatic purpose. The comedic tone of the play would be lost without the induction, resulting in a more literal interpretation of the play thus leaving the reader unable to distinguish the author's true intention. One cannot fully grasp the meaning of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew until one understands the importance of the tie between the induction and the main plot. Shakespeare reveals this tie with the use of…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The historical and cultural contexts of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (TTS) and the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You (10TIH) differ exceptionally, resulting in the film’s expression of values unlike those expressed in Shakespeare’s original text. Shakespeare’s play was written during the Elizabethan era, during which the belief that men were superior to women was prevalent. This concept is centralised in TTS, through incorporation of a disputably misogynistic tone and the dominance of men consequently forcing Katherina into marriage and submission. In contrast, 10TIH, a modern film appropriation of TTS, largely challenges the values of Shakespeare’s play. It presents to its audience a high school love story appropriate to modern beliefs and sensibilities, emphasising the greater equality between genders and the power of women in the characterisation of the Stratford sisters and their interaction with their respective love interests and father.…

    • 1385 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Kpa: Taming of the Shrew

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the play Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare includes several appeals of pathos, ethos and logos. In the last passage of the book, Katharina speaks out to all of the characters with a speech. Katharina describes how she has changed into a person who looks to her husband as her lord, her care taker. The characters who listened to her speech seemed impressed on how she has finally changed her rude attitude and how she obeys her husband Pertruchio’s every word.…

    • 1111 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After reading the Taming of the Shrew and watching Ten Things I Hate About You. I have realized that their are many similarities and differences between the play and the movie. I will be going into detail about these similarities and differences later in my paper. I will also be explaining a more in depth description of the major characters. Also if you have not read the Taming of the Shrew or watched Ten Thing I Hate About You, I would highly recommend it.…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A crucial factor in the "taming" of Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew is definitely the…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As a passing traveler in Padua, one could easily make superficial assumptions about the inhabitants. On the surface, Katherina seems like a vicious tiger that is angry at the entire world. Petruchio first appears like the type of man that anybody would like to have as a friend. At first glance, Bianca seems like a heavenly vision of beauty that any man would be lucky to have for a wife. However, after the courtship of Katherina begins, the true personalities of the characters are revealed.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This essay talks about the role of love as it used in Shakespeare’s comedies. It directly talks about “Much Ado about Nothing” and “Twelfth Night”, and how they use love in their stories. “Shakespeare expects us to accept wonder as having some kind of value in itself and in its relations to the action that has gone before. We are presented with the wonderful as an incitement to knowledge and to pleasure; and we are asked also to consider the dramatic fact that those who participate in the happy ending must be ready to set aside their human confinement to the probable and accept an intrusion of the improbable into their lives.” (262-263) Wonder and love are on equal footing in Shakespeare. He expects us to accept that the characters fall in love with each other as well. Love is a vital part of every romantic comedy whether it’s a play written by Shakespeare or a movie like “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days”. The essay also makes a note of how the characters change through the plays and compares how it works in both stories. The author of the essay…

    • 301 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A close analysis of the characters can reveal the attitudes and values of the two societies in which the texts, Shakespeare's play, The Taming Of The Shrew, and Junger’s film, 10 Things I Hate About You, were composed. An investigation of the Protagonists in each text, Katherina and Petruchio, and Kat and Patrick allows an insight into the attitudes and values of the societies in which each text was set.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Katherina may be a shrew, but Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew does not truly show a study of how a selfish, spoilt individual is made to conform to society’s expectations, or be tamed into a ‘proper’ woman. At the end of the play, Katherina is not, necessarily, tamed - she just realizes what she must to do in order to get the things she wants. Two main examples of her submitting to Petruchio in order to achieve her desires are in Act 4, scene 5, (the sun versus moon scene) as well as Act 5, scene 2 (the kiss me kate scene and her final monologue).…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shakespeare’s eminent play, Romeo and Juliet is a classic love story. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are two young kids who fall in love. Their families have an on-going feud and cannot stand each other. The two star-crossed lovers rush to their marriage and end this family feud through an unexpected turn of events. Shakespeare writes this novel to criticize and exaggerate young love. In the novel, Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, young love is made to seem impulsive through how rapidly the two characters manage to “fall in love”, the roles in which each gender takes, and the brevity of the play entirely.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Taming of the Shrew is a famous play written by William Shakespeare. In the modern day version, 10 things I hate about you, Gil Junger explores the relationship between men and women. Junger has taken Shakespeare’s ideas of favouritism, how looks can be deceptive and a person’s basis for a relationship and has put them into an up to date teenage friendly format.…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this comedy, The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, the author hides his opinion of a controversial issue in this framed story of a play presented to a foolish drunkard. Although the entire play is a trick on an unknowing man and many vices present themselves, one man still exhibits the virtuous qualities of a saint. Hortensio best illustrates the qualities of a saint by warning Petruccio, recognizing and rejecting sin, and marrying a widow.…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Masks in Twelfth Night

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cited: William Shakespeare. "Twelfth Night." The Norton anthology of English literature. 9th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2012. 1189-1250…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    question of who the real shrew is. The audience is first led to believe that…

    • 870 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics