The Taming of the Shrew

by William Shakespeare, Graham Holderness, and Bryan Loughrey

[clementine]

I am definitely not a Shakespeare buff, nor am I an expert on his work. However, based on my limited exposure to him in high school and now in my Intro to Shakespeare class, I'm pretty sure I like the tragedies more. Like, a lot more. Maybe it's just the plays I've read, maybe it's context. I think a good juicy tragedy is more universal than a comedy, which is more bound to the conventions and aesthetics of the time. I mean, I know I personally am so much more into regicide than some dude starving an outspoken woman for the sake of comedy.

The Taming of the Shrew was, y'know, a thing. It was cleverly-constructed, with two interwoven plots (Bianca's suitors' quest to win her, and, well, the taming of the shrew, Katherina) framed as a fiction within a fiction. There were various themes, the most obvious being disguise and sport (as in, Petruchio's insistence on taming Kate being not much more than a game to him). I mean, you can't deny that Shakespeare knew how to write a play. It's pretty tight, plotwise and thematically. (Though it's strange that the framing mechanism drops off abruptly after being introduced.)

I guess the issue is thematic for me, and I'm sure many of you can see why. It's very blatantly misogynistic, which makes for a deeply uncomfortable reading experience - which I'm sure is amplified when seeing the play performed, as is obviously the intent. It's unclear how much of this reflects Shakespeare's views on the role of women and how much of it is meant to be an over-the-top farce meant to elicit strong reactions from the audience in the face of its obvious offensiveness, but either way I do find it quite uncomfortable. It's hard to get past the extreme misogynistic and patriarchal overtones of the play.

Definitely an interesting one, but not my favourite. I'm excited to move onto a tragedy. (And can't wait until we read my true love, Macbeth!)