Literature Crossroad
We are a group of students who study literature. This tumblr would be a platform for us to discuss mainly on The Taming of the Shrew, and other literary texts (:
Comments and post submissions are welcome!
To submit a post, please email us at tametamingtamed@gmail.com!
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“Sex and alcohol - it fuels the desire, but kills the performance”— Shakespeare
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Sonnet 128
How oft, when thou, my music, music play’st,
Upon that blessed wood whose motion sounds
With thy sweet fingers, when thou gently sway’st
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Different interpretations of an excerpt from Katherina’s last speech.
Excerpt from “What is she but a foul contending rebel…” to “…should well agree with our external parts?”
‘Fake’ Interpretation: Katherina has a hidden resentment towards Petruchio. She might have ‘succumbed’ to him now, but in actual fact she is just waiting for a chance to strike back.
As seen from previous acts and scenes, it is in Katherina’s nature that she subscribes to violence and does not allow anyone, especially males to step over her. Though she has supposedly undergone the ‘taming’ process by Petruchio and has been deemed as being successfully ‘tamed’, for her to describe a woman’s body as “soft and weak and smooth”, is not in her nature. The overly drastic change in not only her personality, but also the way she speaks makes it difficult for the audience to completely believe that a change has taken place in her. A hint of resentment can also be felt when Katherina says that women are “bound to serve, love, and obey”. The word “bound” gives an image that women are being restricted, or even chained up, thus with the use of that word, there may be an underlying resentment that Katherina is trying to express, that she is being forced to pledge her complete obedience to men.
In our interpretation, Katherina wears a mask, which signifies that she is putting on a disguise in front of Petruchio. She hides a knife behind her and waits her chance to get back at him. She is also pushed to kneel down before him, which shows that she is insincere and does so only unwillingly. From the first interpretation, the actors have been switched to represent the role reversal that has occurred between Petruchio and Katherina. In this second interpretation, it is Katherina who has control over Petruchio, and this opposes the power relationship that is shown when Katherina is sincere.
Different interpretations of an excerpt from Katherina’s last speech.
Excerpt from “What is she but a foul contending rebel…” to “…should well agree with our external parts?”
‘Sincere’ Interpretation: Katherina is sincere in the speech, i.e. she really respects and listens to Petruchio.
One of the interpretation for the passage is that katherina is actually being sincere when she presented her speech in front of the others. Although it is seen as a rather drastic change but it is likely that she has really been tamed by pertruchio and finally sccumbs to the patriarchal system. Through the previous parts, we can observe that katherina is subjected to both mental and physical tortures as she was not given any food or sleep. This might be the method needed to tame her and circumvent her strong willed character which is proven by the fact that she is willing to deliver this speech and lecture the other female characters about obedience and female roles in a patriarchal society.
Lucentio’s speech:
Petruchio’s speech:
(analysis)
The hilarious wordplay battle between Petruchio and Katharina!
William Shakespeare’s death mask
a small ToS comic strip (:
I’m sure most of you have heard of McFly’s ‘5 Colours In Her Hair’. Well, we’ve edited the lyrics to change it to a song about Katherina that Petruchio sings! Do comment on the lyrics and suggestions are welcome! Hope you guys like it :)
Do do do do do doo [x3]
She’s got a foul-temper and malice in her blood,
Not into fashion but I love the clothes she wears,
Her beauty’s always hidden by her scowl.
She don’t care.
Everybody wants to know her name,
I threw a house party and she came
Everyone asked me
Who the hell is she?
That shrew with malice in her blood.
She’s just a loner with a spiteful attitude,
I’d like to phone her cos she has her way with words.
The rumours spreading round that she speaks like the devil.
But she don’t care, she don’t care.
Everybody wants to know her name,
How does she cope with her new found flame?
Everyone asks me,
Who the hell is she?
That shrew with malice in her blood.
She was all I thought about,
The girl I couldn’t live without.
But then she went insane,
She couldn’t take the tame
She said I was to blame
She’d had enough
And struck my head off
And now she’s just a sweet wife with no name.
Everybody wants to know her name.
How does she cope with her new found flame?
Everyone asks me,
Who the hell is she,
That shrew with malice in her blood.
Do do do do do doo [x3]
Like the lyrics? ;)
This post is sent in by one of our readers Melissa:
Hey guys!
Chanced upon your tumblog while trying to research for stuff on Shakespeare’s Taming of The Shrew for a school project. (: I found your posts quite cool, especially the one on ShakespeaRe-Told. I never knew there was a modern version of ToS!
While researching I found out that there is a movie in the year 2009 named “10 Things I hate About You”, starring the late Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles. This movie is actually inspired from ToS, did you know? (: Maybe you guys can do a comparison between the play and the inspired movie, or maybe compare “10 Things I hate About You” with the movie under the ShakespeaRe-Told series? (: It would be cool (:
Anyways, keep up the good work and continue posting! :D
Cheers,
Melissa
Hello Melissa! Thank you for your suggestion!
Yes we do know that “10 Things I Hate About You” is inspired from ToS, but we never really thought of comparing it to the original play.
We’ll start working on this area, so continue to look out for it!
And to everyone else, if you have anything, be it questions or things that you want us to see, please drop us an email, or comment. Thank you! :D
Another underlying hierarchy system in TOS is between the two genders and the roles they represent in the play.
Although the play depicts a scenario where all the males are helpless and thirsty for the affection of the females but this does not meant that the females are at a position of power.
In fact when you explore deeper, it will be clear to you that the female characters in the play are actually being objectified and regarded as prizes.
The dominant power of the father to control and dictate the marriage and life of the female characters like how Baptista displayed when interacting with Bianca and her suitors put emphasis on the power of the male in the family.
The lack of appearances of the wife of Baptista and mother of Bianca also indicate that the females in the family have no voice and power to make any decisions.
Even the feisty Katherine is not free from these boundaries of the genders as she finally gets tamed and submit herself wholly to Petruchio.
The specific dictions in the play helps to amplify this underlying notion of male superiority over female in the play and establish the Shakespearean time as a patriarchal society.
Excerpt
Tranio (as Lucentio) : Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free for me as for you?
Gremio: But so is not she
The “she” in this excerpt refers to Bianca and despite not having any romantic relationship with her, Gremio openly states that she is not available to Tranio. This established Bianca only as a object and prize for the males to fight for without taking into consideration her own preferences.
Thus from all these observations, we can clearly observe that TOS is a patriarchal play where a hierarchy of genders existed in it.
If you guys desire more holistic understanding of the play, here is a link to a version of TOS : http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6117710320762600410
The visual interaction with the play will help you understand it better through stage positioning, tone of the conversations and depth which is hard to get through the text only. Enjoy (:
In the context of UK, Katherine is a politician who wants to get married in order to improve her public image. There is a power relationship between Katherine and her secretary Tim that is similar to that of Petruchio and Grumio in the text.
Image source: http://triblocal.com/mchenry/calendar/2011/07/23/shakespeare-in-the-park-presents-the-taming-of-the-shrew-3/
Despite the time gap of more than 400 years, such hierarchy still exists. Petruchio, being the master of Grumio, mistreats him as exemplified by the picture above. He grabs his ears and calls him a “villain”. As for Katherine, her disrespect for her secretary is shown right from the start of the film, as she begins by yelling at him, and even slaps and points the middle finger at him.
Are you interested in watching Shakespeare Retold now? ;)
