Taming Of The Shrew

Essay by pritesh1986 October 2002

download word file, 9 pages 3.0

In the play 'The Taming of the Shrew' (by William Shakespeare) the family it is based around is called the Minola family. The Minola family is a complex family, each member being completely different in their own right. They are different for many reasons, jealousy, deprevation and how they stand socially. The 'man' or father of the family is Baptista. A widow who has dedicated his life to ensure that both his daughters marry. However, more importantly, that the eldest daughter, Katharina, marries before the youngest daughter, Bianca. This is due to Italian sixteenth century social standards, which Baptista, as a respected gentleman, heartily follows. Katharina ends up marrying a substantially rich gentleman, Petruchio. Consequently, not a very good choice. She may or may not fall in love eventually. It is hard to differentiate at the end, whether she is genuinely in love and therefore has been tamed, or, she is just playing along with the game.

Bainca marries Lucentio, who she genuinely loves from the beginning. There is the debate on whether Baptista loves Bianca more than Katharina, and the reasons for this. Then, in a closely related issue, of the relationship between Bianca and Katharina and the reasons for their situation. In this essay, I will analyse the text of 'The Taming of the Shrew' and expand on my brief explanation of each of the characters, and put forward my feelings and opinions on each of the relative issues. Katharina is the elder of two siblings, their father being Baptista Minola. Katharina, from birth is destined to marry first, much to her dislike, as in the sixteenth century Italian respectable households the eldest daughter married before the youngest. Katharina is 'the shrew'. Shrew, meaning a rodent. She is named this for her foul...