In the play Taming of the Shrew, a man named Petruchio attempts to tame a mean spirited woman named Kate. Much to Kate’s chagrin Petruchio convinces her father that Kate loves him so they will now be married. Through several maneuvers to try and squash Kate’s pride, Petruchio is met with strong resistance at first when he finds she can equal him in verbal back and forth. The fact that Petruchio could match Kate surprises her as well. Eventually, Kate sarcastically gives in with her speech about the sun and moon on the way to her sister’s wedding.
Finally after all his calculating moves throughout Petruchio successfully breaks Kate’s spirit which is evident in her final speech. Petruchio undertakes to woo Kate before he has met her. He decides to recommend himself to her father as the dominant male that could tame her: “And so she yields to me. For I am rough and woo not like a babe. “(II. I. 136-137) Petruchio reports to Baptista that it is a match. Conclusively, he refuses any further discussion of the matter. If Petruchio were to speak more of the truth then his strategy to woo Kate may be revealed.
His domineering attitude has limited Kate to express her thoughts of the situation. From the moment Petruchio sets foot in her room, Kate is most abrasive towards him. Kate makes an effort to assert her dominance by developing a shrewish attitude. They engage in a lengthy verbal duel with elaborate puns. “If be waspish, best beware my sting. “(II. I. 209) Kate’s puns are generally insulting or threatening, but Petruchio twists them into sexual innuendo. His persistence in breaking her spirit causes Kate to become more conniving. Petruchio has employed a hawking metaphor to describe how he has begun his reign over Kate.
My falcon now is sharp and passing empty. And till she stoop she must not be full-gorg’d, for then she never looks up her lure. Another way I have to man my haggard, To make her come, and know her keeper’s call, That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites That bate and beat, and will not be obedient. She eats no meat to-day, nor none shall eat; Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not. “(IV. I. 166-174) A falconer has a close relationship with his falcon. The falconer is always the dominant figure in the relationship.
In this metaphor, Petruchio is the falconer while Kate is the falcon. He expresses that he will order her every move. She is kept awake by being continually carried upon the falconer’s wrist. Katherine shows her emotions by rejecting every suitor who comes to call and treating everyone else around her like dirt. When Petruchio tries to “tame” her, she reacts harshly – only because no one has ever tried to make her see the other side of the situation before. Katherine is precluded from expressing herself in the fact that Petruchio shoots her down whenever she does.
However, we must keep in mind that this is part of his technique to tame her. Petruchio’s act of “taming” is the equivalent to ownership and puts a major burden on women. The final speech in which Kate becomes completely submissive to Petruchio shows that Petruchio was successful in taming Kate. She also stereotypes women as physically weak and then suggests that they should make their personality mild to match their physique when she says, “Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth… But that our soft conditions and our hearts. Should well agree with our external parts? V. II. 169-172)
In short, Shakespeare’s society believed in the social structure that Kate supports in her speech. However, for Kate to realize the proper way to act Shakespeare had Petruchio break her spirit. That was shown through numerous conventions whether it involved starving Kate, making her find her own way to her house, ripping her beautiful dress, or even making her go to her own sister’s wedding in nothing short of rags. Together in the end everything lead to everyone being in shock, as Petruchio had done what no one thought possible, he tamed the shrew.
