The Taming of the Shrew – William Shakespeare ‘The Taming of the Shrew ends in a trio of happy marriages.’ To what extent do you agree with this view? Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on Shakespeare’s dramatic methods. [25 marks]
It cannot be said that The Taming of the Shrew ends with three unreservedly happy marriages. Petruchio and Katherine seem to be a match for each other and their marriage seems to have achieved a semblance of unity and order at the end of the play. However, it is debatable whether the fiery displays of passion witnessed during their first meeting survive the ‘taming’. One critic [Stevie Davies, Penguin Critical Studies, 1995] has questioned the promising future that Petruchio announces, “peace it bodes, and love, and a quiet life” [V ii 89], because, she argues, Katherine has conceded her ‘voice’. Certainly, their quieter life may be more harmonious but we should not be absolutely persuaded that, by acquiescing, Katherine has not forfeited something. Many have argued that compliance and subjugation do not necessarily bring happiness. This might also be the case with Katherine’s sister, Bianca. Her relationship with Lucentio appears strained by the final act. From the very first scene Lucentio declares his intention of achieving Bianca’s love, using standard lover’s rhetoric. He compares her to classical beauties, and says that, like a courtly lover, he will “burn…pine…perish” if he “achieves not this modest girl”. However, Bianca is by no means compliant in the final scene. Unlike the more forceful Petruchio, Lucentio requires some education himself if he is to achieve a happy marriage. In the end, like Hortensio, he is no match for the strong-willed wife he has hastily married, in spite of the fact that he has acted the role of the deceiver himself. Hortensio lacks the masculine vigour of Petruchio or the romantic conviction of Lucentio. In choosing wealth over passion, his marriage appears to be a mere financial transaction. If we were called upon to wager whether he would be easily tamed by the Widow, we could be confident of winning. If we were to extend the wager by placing a sum against which married couple might experience lasting happiness, we could again be confident that most bets would be placed on Petruchio and Katherine.
The prospect of achieving a lifetime of marital bliss with Petruchio when we first meet him, however, would seem far from propitious. His capacity for cruelty and violence seems evident in his treatment of Grumio. He also announces that he does not care whether his prospective bride is “As old as Sibyl” or “as curst and shrewd/As Socrates’ Xanthrippe” as long as she is wealthy. He does not hide his arrogance or avarice when he responds to Hortensio’s list of Katherine’s faults by saying, “Thou know’st not gold’s effect” [1 ii 89]. On the other hand, he is also resourceful, educated and quick-witted. There is a case for believing that he undertakes the ‘taming’ of Katherine in order to make her realise how her behaviour affects others. Katherine can also be violent - she breaks an instrument over Hortensio’s head and ties up her sister -and is capable of upbraiding or bullying those around her. There may be some excuse for this behaviour. Perhaps she is responding to the patriarchy which seeks to repress her or trade her as a commodity. However, her wealth and status should perhaps have insulated her against the worst abuses of masculine imperiousness that were prevalent in the Renaissance world. She seems curiously unaware of the social niceties and etiquette of her society.
Petruchio is clearly more in tune with the social context in which he lives because of his appreciation of how important it is that Katherine conforms. Ultimately, if she does not yield to her husband, her happiness in a patriarchal society will be limited. Katherine’s shrewish nature is such a good match with Petruchio’s character, that it is no surprise that Curtis concludes “By this reck’ning he is more shrew than she” [1V i 85]. Petruchio flings the “burned and dried” meat away because he recognises that they are mutually inclined to be hot-tempered or “choleric”. Depriving Katherine of food and sleep may be regarded as heartless and cruel, but it is worth considering that he chooses to “kill a wife with kindness” [1V i 188] rather than break her shrewish character with force. This suggests that Petruchio has fallen emotionally for Katherine, thereby gaining credit with the audience. Though his ‘taming school’ methods are coarse and insensitive, his intensions are worthy. His determination to amend Katherine’s temper also suggests that he is not entirely after her money, but wishes for a happy and loving union, provided she conforms to the accepted standards of the day, which she appears to do in her final speech.
However, by submitting completely to her husband, Katherine’s final speech makes for a galling and inadequate end to the play for feminist critics. She stereotypes women’s bodies as “soft, and weak and smooth” which are unfitted “to toil and trouble in the world”. Her categorizing of her own gender as earth-dwelling creatures is particularly offensive placed next to the accolades Katherine uses to describe husbands, including “lord”, “king”, “sovereign” and “prince” [V ii 160]. These terms are associated with supreme power, in contrast to “froward and unable worms”. However, it has been suggested that there may be some collusion at the end of the final act. A person of Katherine’s background and stature would be intelligent enough to realize that Petruchio is simply trying to tame her into submission. If viewed in this way, then the final speech should be read as ironic and, far from endorsing the patriarchy, she could be attempting to parody Petruchio’s conceits and affectations by adopting the sort of rhetorical flourishes that he uses such as “A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby’s cap” when rejecting her hat. Her martial imagery, such as “dart not scornful glances from those eyes” echoes Petruchio’s later pun about Lucentio “hit[ting] the white” – a reference to hitting the centre of the target in archery, appropriately white because he has won Bianca. Furthermore, her decorous lists, such as “peevish, sullen, sour,” and “to serve, love and obey” may be her way of defeating the overbearing Paduan patriarchy, who have been critical of her from the beginning of the play. Her linguistic set pieces are the sort that would be convincing to her father, who was so easily won over by Petruchio’s persuasive speeches and bluster. Shortly after her speech, Petruchio, Lucentio, Vincentio and Hortensio all concur with her sentiments. Viewed in this light, we do not have to accept that she has conceded her voice (as Stevie Davies has implied); rather she has learned to join the many dissemblers of the play.
Nevertheless, despite the ironic interpretation that many directors apply to the ending of the play (for example, in the 1929 Hollywood film, the final speech is made ironic when Katherine winks at Bianca, suggesting she still has a mind of her own), should we agree, with Katherine, that she must obey her husband in everything? Some critics have argued that this would be a faulty reading of how she has developed in the play. There are many indications that what she has achieved is a partnership. For example, she eagerly participates in the gulling of the real Vincentio on the road to her father’s house and shows her accomplished wit by not only agreeing with her husband, but also good-naturedly improvising. Therefore, by promoting the interests of her husband, she gains more power herself. Kate has attained a level of maturity, able to handle things in an adult manner (in which there is both give and take).
In contrast, Lucentio displays no such maturity when we first meet him. He is ardent and immediately drawn to Bianca’s silent and demure personality. When he does ‘achieve’ her Lucentio finds that Bianca is not the unassuming and submissive young woman he assumed she was. For all his reading, Lucentio needs the help of the more down-to-earth Tranio to win Bianca. Lucentio’s use of Ovid’s Art of Loving further frustrates him. This book is a witty cynical textbook for seducers, and not a manual for romantic lovers. This indicates his naivety. It is not long before Bianca begins to reveal another side to her character. She speaks more assertively, as the play progresses, whereas Katherine becomes less vocal. Her rejoinder to Gremio’s comment about quick-witted folks “butt[ing] together well” seems to imply that he has been cuckolded. She is also able to evade Petruchio’s request for her to continue this banter with a witticism of her own: “Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush,/And then pursue me as you draw your bow”, implying that she will be too quick for him.
She is certainly too quick for Hortensio in the tutoring scene when he attempts to woo her with his musical scale. She will not be played upon. Hortensio reveals his insincere and superficial devotion to Bianca as soon as he perceives how affectionate she and Lucentio/Cambio are with each other. As swiftly as an involuntary reflex, he switches his attention to the Widow, claiming he was mistaken in valuing beauty over goodness, “Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks,/ Shall win my love” (1V ii 41-42). However, he is also encouraged because the Widow is wealthy and he still displays overconfidence in his ability to win her: “I will be married to a wealthy widow/ Ere three days pass” (1V ii 37 – 38). His presumption here reveals that he regards women as objects to be adopted or disposed of in a casual way. Although he attends the “taming school” to learn about taming his future wife, it is clear by the end of the play that he has not succeeded. When Petruchio suggests that Hortensio is afraid of the Widow, she replies, “Your husband, being troubled with a shrew, / Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe" (V.ii.28-29), meaning that Petruchio assumes that all wives take after his wife in being shrewish. However, it is the widow who proves less amenable than Katherine. The outcome is clear. Both Hortensio and Lucentio will find matrimony a hazardous business and the prospect of marital happiness is not assured.
Therefore, it would appear that at the end of the play two out of the three couples are in for a difficult road ahead. Because Bianca’s potential shrewish quality is unmasked at the end, there is no real closure at the end. One “cursed shrew” is “tamed”, but there is every possibility that she will be replaced by two of the other wives. The taming plot ends in peace and harmony, while the subplot, which appeared to be more romantic, ends in friction. Realism is pitted against romanticism and wins.
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