The Womanizer

             Why are Shakespeare fans embarrassed by The Taming of the Shrew? The controversy about controlling women in the play is hotly debated issue, but was it as big of a deal in Elizabethan society? The presence of gender roles is an important aspect of the play. The relationship between Petruchio and Katherine balances on a thin line between acceptable and controversial.

            In Elizabethan society, men were permitted to beat their wives. Men at the time were concerned of shrewish women because of their power to disrupt the model of a perfect household. Shakespeare might be showing a lighter side of the Elizabethan gender treatment. He does not show physical violence against women in the play. But Petruchio does threaten to hit Katherine and uses other tactics to tame and exert his superiority. Even in the courting process Petruchio makes Katherine his property. He offers to marry Katharine to save her from being a spinster. Petruchio also comments on Katherine’s physical beauty and says that she has passed the test but implying that she just barely passed. But the main controversy is the means in which Petruchio “tames” Katherine. 

            Petruchio uses many different controversial techniques to “tame” Katherine. From there first meeting Petruchio tell Baptista that Katherine has agreed to marry him when she obviously did not wish. Later at the wedding, Petruchio shows up late, in unfashionable clothes, and riding a broken horse. In the middle of the reception Petruchio asserts his authority on Katherine and forces her to leave. When they arrive to Petruchio’s house he decides to “kill her with kindness”. He does this by saying that nothing is good for her and therefore she is not allowed to have anything that is not perfect. This put Katherine in an awkward position because he has never claimed that he does not want the best for her.  Because of this Katherine cannot retaliate in anger. Katherine’s speech at the end of the play proves that Petruchio’s strange tactics have worked to tame Katherine.

            In the 21^st century, The Taming of the Shrew is seen as more controversial than it was when it was originally written. I think we have to remember that the play is written as a comedy and in a time where traditional gender roles were practiced therefore we should not take the play too seriously.