The Taming of The Shrew

Taming of the Shrew: Act 4 & 5

Act 4

1. How is Petruchio's masculinity represented? Examine his treatment of servants, Kate, etc.

Pertuchio comes across as a pretty powerful man. He treats his servants terribly and beats and strikes them as well. When it comes to Kate he acts mostly nice to and claims everything he does he does for love only to try and attempt to "tame" Kate.


2. Many critics mark the sun/moon scene in the road to Padua (scene 5) as the turning point in the play which indicates Kate's taming. What is different about this scene? If she is tamed, what is she submitting to? Is it really a "submission," or can it be interpreted in other ways?

In this scene Kate comes across as submitting but she is actually just doing it without really submitting it's kind of like a forfeit She's doing it but not agreeing to it.

Act 5

1. Analyze Kate's final speech. Is she sincere or ironic? Should we take her at her word? Or should we imagine a gap between what she says and what she means? Does the context of her words change their meanings? What are different possibilities in performing this scene?

Kate is completely sarcastic. If you look back upon the rest of the book she is way to stubborn to change. Especially in the scene with the moon, even though Petruchio is saying that the moon is the sun and that he is right, Kate reacts as if she was saying, ok whatever you say can you please just shut up.

There are different ways you could perform this. You could make Kate come across as sincere or sarcastic. It would all just depend on body language and how speak your words.


2. What happens to the power dynamics in this scene–between men and men, women and women, men and women?

Men to men are very equal even though they all think they are the best and have the best; always trying to outwit one another. Women to women are very jealous of one another and try to bring each other down, but yet some positive there because women look out for one another. Men to women is more of a dominance role play, because the female is supposed to be controlled by the male; to love him and serve him as a loyal wife "should".

Taming of the Shrew: Act 2 & 3

1. How does Petruchio "tame" Kate? Consider how he seems to define their roles.  Petruchio tames Kate by talking with her and saying nice and romantic  things to her even though she is being completely rude while he is trying to woo her. 

2.How does Katherine act in the scenes where she says little or nothing? For example, in Act 2, scene 1, how does Katherine behave when Petruchio reports on his success in wooing Kate and in their plans for marriage? Because the text provides little explanation, you must decide how she would act based on your interpretation of her character from previous scenes.   Honestly she doesn't seem to care other than the fact of being forced to be married.

3. imagine viewing this play in the Elizabethan era. Identify 4 moments of comedy.
 -Petruchio walking into his own wedding dressed in rags
 -when the Lord is all for playing a big joke on Sly, the drunkard.
 -Petruchio exclaiming that he is the plan with the plan and is going to tame Kate.
 -The Lord making his page dress up as a woman.
.

4. Disguise is a major theme in TotS. What famous Bible story involves deceit and disguise?  

The story of Jacob and Esau that involves disguise and deceit. Esau was the favorite child of him and his twin Jacob from his father. Jacob did not like that; therefore, he disguised himself as Esau as he was hairy, so Jacob wore sheep skin and went to their blind father and took Esau's birthrights from him.

 Taming of the Shrew: Induction and Act 1

Describe each character:

• Katherine- rude and outspoken, she is the shrew.
• Bianca- quiet and naive, also very well mannered and respectful. She is a "perfect" lady.
• Gremio- an old man who is greedy, conceited, stubborn and determined to win Bianca's hand in marriage.
• Hortensio- sneaky and blinded by love for Bianca, also would do anything to get her
• Petruchio- a man who is very wealthy and odd, and wants Kate mostly for her money
• Lucentio- a honored man, who is blinded by love and will do anything to get what he wants

1. Compare Katherine and Bianca to modern day people - Cinderella and her two stepsisters, no one wants to be with the stepsisters but the mother wont let anyone get near Cinderella because she is their slave.The Induction portrays role-playing. Who acts the part of whom? Why? How does such role-playing address issues of gender and class? What effects might these representations have on the play?    The Lord portrays a servant, and the page portrays a lovely wife. Sly is being portrayed to himself by the Lord, page, and others that he is a King or very high royalty to play a joke on him. The play issues playing a woman was something looked down upon so lower class people played those parts.
2. From the outset, we learn from Bianca's suitors that Katherine is the less desirable of the two sisters. Examine and question this claim. How are Biance and Katherine different? What ma kes Katherine rather than Bianca the shrew?   Bianca s rather quiet, sweet, and well mannered, while Katherine is the total opposite, which is that she shares her opinion, very independent, and very rude. Katherine is more of the shrew because she is so sour and harsh towards everyone including people who try to be nice to her.