The Role of Women in The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew has long been associated with issues of misogyny and chauvinism. Critics of the play identify several layers of thematic and aesthetic attributes which forward ideas which to modern readers seem sexist and, in some cases, cruel. Certainly, the theme of female submission which runs through the play suggests that Shakespeare's intention in writing The Taming of the Shrew was either to reinforce sexist Elizabethan values and thereby placate his audience, or to cast dispersions of the sexist society of the Elizabethans through exaggeration and satire. Whatever Shakespeare's motive, controversy surrounds the play through to the present day regarding the play's portrayal of women, just as the play caused controversy at the time of its debut.
One aspect of the play which seems forthright and obvious is that the relationship between men and women forms a type of "battleground" where male dominance is the only reasonable and suitable conclusion to the war. This idea resounds solidly with the social mores and ideas of the Elizabethan world. Katherina emerges as a "rebellious woman" during the course of the play who must be "tamed" by her husband. Petruchio's refusal to employ physical force or abuse to his wife in order to make her submit, was not only innovative in Shakespeare's day, but radical. Since it was both legal and customary for men to physically beat their "rebellious" wives, Shakespeare's portrayal of a man who uses psychological rather than physical cruelty against his wife stands out as an attempt to both "humanize" and justify the dominance of women by men.
One of the key aspects of the play that reflects Shakespeare's theme of male dominance is the use of language. The dialogue between Katherina and Petruchio reflects the "war" between the genders and also demonstrates the slow evolution of Katherina's use of language from an idiom which is first "rebellious" and later submissive to Petruchio. Similarly, Petruchio's diction moves from ridicule to dominance throughout the course of the play. Other characters, such a Tranio, objectify Katherina by referring to her as "a commodity" (2.1.330). The idea that she is a commodity is also implied by Petruchio's desire to marry her because of the large-scale size of her marriage dowry and the fact that upon first meeting her, he inspects her physical attributes as though he is purchasing a slave or an animal.
I will be master of what is mine own.
She is my goods, my chattels, she is my house,
My household stuff, my field, my barn,
My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing.
(Shakespeare, Act 3, Scene 2, 231–234)
In addition to using language to forward a theme of male dominance, Shakespeare relies on physical symbolism and physical comedy to enhance the theme of female submission. In regards to the physical aspects of the play, Shakespeare utilizes a form of perception known as physiognomy , which is the belief, held by many in Elizabethan times, that one's outward appearance divulged one's inner psychology and motivations. As a play that professes to be a comedic morality play for the plebeian masses, The Taming of the Shrew exaggerates its use of physiognomy through detailed stage directions which encourage or require exaggerated acting and stage movement. So, body language as well as body-type and facial features becomes an integral conductor of comedic impact and narrative tension.
Katherina's lines preceding Petruchio’s "I will be angry ... Father, be quiet: he shall stay my leisure" (3.2.218-9) indicate that she may very well look big, stamp, and stare as she delivers the lines. "We are told that he "stamp'd and swore" during the wedding ceremony (3.2.169), an over-the-top (albeit unseen) technique of acting up that erupts onto the stage during his honeymoon, when he physically abuses his servants and throws his dinner at them in feigned" (Gay, 23). These visual cues are as much a cliche as the diction and dialogue described above, where the elements of the play stand as pure expressions of social types and prejudices. As such, both the linguistic, narrative, and visual basis of The Taming of the Shrew demonstrate a coordinated unity of expression meant to reinforce Elizabethan values and social mores, many of which were, to modern eyes, based on sexism and the oppression of women.
To a modern observer, the fact that Katherina capitulates at the play's end and seems to embrace her role as a subservient figure to her husband, seals the fate of The Taming of the Shrew as a play which reflects outmoded and sexist attitudes. Perhaps the only defense to this reasonable charge against the play is that Shakespeare did not intend the audience to perceive Katherina's capitulation to her husband as authentic. Rather, Shakespeare intended her capitulation to be understood as ironic. If this were the case, the theme of the play would not be the condoning of female submission and male dominance but a cautionary story which intended to criticize Elizabethan society for oppressing women. However, evidence for this assumption is not readily apparent in the play itself, as described in the preceding discussion.
Careful examination of the play's plot, dialogue, and visual expression reveals a play which is concerned not with challenging sexist assumptions, but with reinforcing them. In fact, Shakespeare's theme of female submission runs even deeper than even the critical observer may suspect because the play, at root, regards "rebellious" women as not only a distortion of social value and "goodness" but as a threat to social order and continuity of human life and culture.Looked at with twenty-first century eyes, physiognomy in Shakespeare’s plays seems like the use of racial stereotypes or gender stereotypes, both and integral and outdated element of the plays. However, the sue of physiognomy succeeded brilliantly in the age of the Elizabethans due to their cultural and intellectual assumptions.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. "The Taming of the Shrew." The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. H. J. Oliver.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. 89-232.
Gay, P. As She Likes It: Shakespeare's Unruly Women. New York: Routledge. (1994).
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