The Taming of the Shrew:
The Taming? Of the Shrew?
A Return to the Question of Role-Playing
Who most self-consciously plays a role different
from their “real” selves in the Taming?
A) Sly
B) The suitors of Bianca, Hortensio and
Lucentio
C) Bianca
D) Petruchio
E) Katherine
Is Sly convinced that he is now a Lord?
A) No
B) Yes
C) Mostly
Sly dressed up and treated as a Lord
• At first he protests that he is “by birth a peddler,
by education a cardmaker, by transmutation a
bearherd, and now by present profession a
tinker” (p. 9)
• With the sensory “proof” offered by the Lord and
his servants Sly accepts he is a lord (p. 11)
• But he keeps acting like a lowlife: e.g., calls for a
“pot o’ th’ smallest ale” (11)
Are the disguises adopted by the suitors of Bianca
reflections of the characters’ inner identities?
A = Completely  E = Not at all
How do we know?
Disguises are easily doffed:
-see Hortensio, pp. 55, 75
-see Lucentio, p. 99
Would you agree with this statement?:
In the Katherine/Petruchio plot, Kate and Petruchio
do not so much don disguises as play or act out
"roles" (e.g., shrew, boor) that are more closely
connected to their inner selves.
A = Totally Agree  E = Totally Disagree
Early evidence of Petruchio’s and Kate’s
inherently choleric nature:
• Petruchio’s opening “knock me here” scene with
Grumio (pp. 24-25).
• in very next scene, we see Kate binding and
then striking her sister (pp. 36-37).
• Gremio’s repeated comments that Petruchio is
being too “froward” in the wooing negotiation:
“You are too blunt, go to it orderly” (38).
At the same time, there is some early evidence
that Kate does want to get married:
• tortures Bianca to find out whom Bianca most
favors among her suitors:
Of all thy suitors, here I charge thee, tell
Whom thou lov’st best. See thou not
dissemble it (p. 36)
• expresses fear she will go unwed (p. 37)
• clearly disappointed when Petruchio doesn’t
show up on time for their marriage ceremony (p.
56)
Why would Kate act like a shrew, which is both
socially denigrating and off-putting to suitors if she
really wants to get married?
A) The role of shrew challenges societal
masculinity (she’s looking for a real man)
B) The role of shrew challenges traditional
femininity (esp. idea women should be silent
– see p. 37)
C) The role of shrew is a defensive measure (vs.
father’s favoritism for Bianca and the
treatment of women as objects or goods)
D) All of the above
E) None of the above
The problem of getting locked in a role:
• See Sarah Badel’s Kate in the BBC film
production of Taming
• the binding scene, 2.1.1-36 (pp. 36-37)
What is Petruchio’s most effective “taming” method?
A) Classic brainwashing/intervention strategy
- removes her from her home, and deprives her of food & sleep
B) Treats her “illness” with contraries (Galenic medical theory)
-if she ”rail” “She sings as sweetly as a nightingale” (p. 42)
- bars burned meat because he and Kate are choleric (p. 72)
C) Treats her “illness” with likes (Paracelsian medical theory)
- he acts shrewishly, as in beating his servants Kate defends
them (pp. 69, 71); “He kills her in her own humor” (p. 72)
D) Advocates anti-materialism
- comes in motley to their wedding
- destroys Kate’s fashionable dress, making them return home
in their “honest mean habiliments” (p. 85)
E) All of the above
By the end of Taming, Kate is
A) Tamed into being the ideal woman/wife
B) More socialized, if not fully socialized
C) Savvy in the tricks of playing socially
acceptable games to get what she wants (as in
the sun/moon; virgin/old man game, pp. 92-93)
D) Unchanged
Kate’s final speech
Two different film versions of the concluding
scene:
• The one played by Sarah Badel (BBC)
• The one played by Elizabeth Taylor (Zeffirelli)
Which version do you like best?
A) Badel
B) Taylor
In Kate’s final speech is she
A)
B)
C)
D)
E)
Deadly serious
Mostly serious
Ironic throughout
Just playing the role of good wife
Mocking
In conclusion, I resubmit my sketch of the
Katherine/Petruchio plot as follows:
Art, like life, is full of questions, and many roles.