BLOG 5 - More about Taming

With Petruchio’s character, Shakespeare demonstrates that marriage is nothing more than a business negotiation.  Petruchio says,

            Signor Hortensio, ‘twixt such friends as we

            Few words suffice.  And therefore if thou know

            One rich enough to be Petruchio’s wife –

            As wealth is burden of my wooing dance –

            Be she as foul as was Florentius’ love,

            As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd

            As Socrates’ Xanthippe, or a worse,

            She moves me not, or not removes, at least,

            Affection’s edge in me, were she as rough

            As are the swelling Adriatic seas.

            I come to wive it wealthily in Padua –

            If wealthily, then happily in Padua.  (I.II. 64-75)

Basically, Petruchio spells it out for us here.  He is only interested in money.  In fact, the wealthier the woman is, the happier he will be.  Petruchio’s search for a wife can be though of as international commerce.  Like a businessman who trying to merge his business with another in order to produce more revenue, Petruchio has traveled all the way from Italy to find a wife, in order to enhance his domestic fiscal status. 

           

            In act two, scene one, not only does Petruchio expand on this idea of marriage being a business negotiation, but he also portrays it as a chauvinistic conquest.  For example, Petruchio says to Katherina:

            Marry, so I mean, sweet Katherine, in thy bed.

            And therefore, setting all this chat aside,

            Thus in plain terms.  Your father hath consented

            That you shall be my wife, your dowry ‘greed upon,

            And will you, nill you, I will marry you.

            Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn,

            For by this light, whereby I see thy beauty –

            Thy beauty that doth make me like thee well –

            Thou must be married to no man but me,

            For I am he am born to tame you, Kate,

            And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate

            Conformable as other household Kates.

            Here comes your father.  Never make denial,

            I must and will have Katherine to my wife. (II.I. 268-281)

In this speech, Petruchio communicates that the business side of the deal is already done because her father has agreed.  He also expresses his ultimate goal, which is to tame Katherina.  Petruchio sees Katherina’s wild behavior as a challenge.  Now, not only does he want the money, but he also wants the pleasure of dominating and domesticating Katherina.  Petruchio knows that by telling Katherina, “thou must be married to no man but me,” and therefore forcing her into marriage, he is accomplishing the impossible: he is controlling her.  Through the successful taming of Katherina, Petruchio gets the money and the fame.  In the minds of his male friends, Petruchio is a God. 

BLOG 4 - Julius Caesar

            In Shakespeare’s play,  Julius Caesar, it is interesting to notice the difference in the roles of the female characters when compared to other plays by Shakespeare such as The Taming of the Shrew and Richard III.  In both The Taming of the Shrew and Richard III, the female characters had no more value than the value granted to them through marriage.  In Julius Caesar, both Brutus’ wife Portia and Caesar’s wife Calphurnia seem to have an unusual amount of virtue.  Although both of them are virtually powerless without their husbands, they certainly exercise power over their husbands and also display a high degree of wisdom.

            For example, in act two, scene one of Julius Caesar, Portia basically tells Brutus that he is lying to her when he tries to say that nothing is wrong, he is just sick, she says, “You have some sick offense within your mind, / Which by the right and virtue of my place/ I ought o know of” (288-290). 

            Then, in scene two of the same act, Calphurnia (Julius Caesar’s wife) tells Caesar: “What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth?/ You shall not stir out of your house today” (8-9).  After learning of Calphurnia’s dream where all of the Roman’s were bathing in the blood coming from a statue of Caesar, Caesar decided it was best to stay at home that day.  Little did he know, Cassius and Brutus were already plotting against him.  Somehow, by wisdom or maybe intuition, Calphurnia and Portia already knew this.  It is Brutus’ bad judgment that coerces him to continue with Cassius’ evil plan.  And it is Caesar’s pride that persuades him to meet with the council to take the plan rather than stay home as Calphurnia pleaded him to.  In this light, the audience sees the men as arrogant, while the women appear to be wise and virtuous.  This portrayal of the female character is much different than the other two plays.

Taming of the Shrew

            In William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, it is interesting how rapidly the main character Katherina changes from her shrew-like attitude to an obedient and tamed housewife. In the beginning of the play, Katherina is a single, strong headed, resistant, and hostile woman.  For example, she introduces herself by saying the following hostile words to Hortensio:

            I’ faith, sir, you shall never need to fear:

            Iwis it is not halfway to her heart.

            But if it were, doubt not her care should be

            To comb your noddle with a three-legged stool

            And paint your face and use you like a fool.  (lines 61-65)

In the end of the play, Katherina has a very long speech where she tells Bianca and the Widow what it takes to be an obedient wife.  She says, “Thy husband is they lord, thy life, thy keeper,/ Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee” (152-153). This sudden change in character makes the audience wonder whether Katherina has finally caved in and become a weak woman or whether her change of heart is authentic.

            After re-reading some of the play, it seems obvious that Katherina has always been rejected by her father, her sister, and everyone else in town.  She has always been treated like the outcast.  Her shrew-like behavior was brought on as a self-defense mechanism.  In act one scene one, Katherina’s father Baptista says, “And so, farewell.  Katherina, you may stay,/ For I have more to commune with Bianca” (100-101).  Kate’s reaction reveals her true feelings.  She says, “Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What,/ shall I be appointed hours, as though, belike, I knew/ not what to take and what to leave? Ha!” (103-104).  Obviously Kate feels left out.  Bianca is the favored daughter and Baptista doesn’t hide it.  Another example of this favoritism is in lines thirty through thirty-six.  Baptista tells Bianca “get thee in.”  Kate is hurt by her father’s attempt to protect Bianca and not her.  She says, “Will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see/ She is your treasure, she must have a husband.”  In this passage, Kate is expressing that she sees her father’s favoritism.  She’s been trying to communicate this throughout the whole play, yet her father does not care.  Kate’s only reason for her dramatic change in the end of the play is due to the fact that Petruchio actually chose her for who she is.  Even though one of his motivations for marrying Kate was money, he was obviously turned on by the fact that she was hostile.  Through her marriage to Petruchio, Kate gained social status, a voice, and a man who actually paid attention to her.

BLOG 2 - The Taming of the Shrew

In William Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew, the initial two scenes, which are composed of a drunk who is tricked into believing that he is a nobleman, serve as an outer crust for the actual play.  These two scenes cause the actors to become the audience and the audience then becomes a part of the play.  The play within a play technique that Shakespeare employs invites and almost obligates the audience into the play.  When the initial actors (Christopher Sly, the Lord, the Lord’s attendants, and the Page) actually take a seat in the audience to have the play performed for them, the audience is then included in the play.  It serves to lure the audience into participating in the play. 

            Also, because the overall theme of the play is a love story, Shakespeare uses his genius induction technique to mix genres.  Since the play consists of Lucentio, Gremio, and Hortensio chasing after the lovely Bianca while simultaneously seeking a suitor (Petruchio) for the oldest daughter Katharina, it serves as the “romance,” and the induction, with the Lord playing pranks on the drunkard Christopher Sly, is the comic relief.  By mixing these two themes, he has created one of the first romantic-comedies. 

            In addition to obligating the audience to participate and mixing genres, Shakespeare sets up the play so that the audience assumes that the play within the play has something to do with the induction.  It leaves you wondering when and how the play will eventually affect the actors in the induction (Christopher Sly, the Lord, etc.). 

            With all of that said, it is interesting that Shakespeare took a low class individual (Christopher Sly) and, although it was done as a prank, he elevated his social status during the play.  Then he shows him sleeping throughout either because he’s bored or drunk.  It seems that Shakespeare was making an effort to make fun of social hierarchy. 

BLOG 1 - RICHARD III

What I find interesting in the play Richard III by William Shakespeare is the female image that Mr. Shakespeare portrays.  Through the dialogues of all five of the female characters in this play: the Duchess of York, Lady Anne, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Margaret, and Clarence’s daughter, Shakespeare depicts these ladies as aggressive and irrational individuals. 

            For example, Lady Anne is introduced to the audience by cursing Richard, his future wife and unborn child in her long winded speech which starts with, “Cursed be the hand that made these holes” (Shakespeare 12).  Shakespeare reveals Lady Anne’s character to be irrational as he ends this scene with a change of heart.  After Richard admits to killing Lady Anne’s husband he seduces her and she decides to take his ring.  This rapid change of heart is ridiculously unreasonable even if Richard hadn’t killed Lady Anne’s husband.

            Another good example lies in Queen Margaret’s dialogue when she says,

            “Hear me, you wrangling pirates, that fall out in sharing that which you have             pilled from me.  Which of you trembles not that looks on me? If not that I am             queen, you bow like subjects, Yet that by you deposed, you quake like rebels.              Ah, gentle villain, do not turn away.” (Shakespeare 29)

In this scene Queen Margaret is aggressively expressing her anger towards Richard who has killed her husband and her son.  Of course, it seems natural that any woman would be aggressive and mean toward the murderer of her family.  Yet, in Shakespeare’s time, the queen was powerless without her husband.  Given the 16^th century context, Queen Margaret is really going out on a limb with her word choice.  She directly calls Richard a pirate and a villain, while placing herself in the position of an authority figure. 

            After carefully reading Richard III, it seems reasonable to ask what Shakespeare thought of women personally.  Did he really believe all women are aggressive and irrational or did he just create this image to fit into his play?