The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy written by Shakespeare that tells a story of how an ill-mannered woman, shrew, is transformed into the perfect bride. This story features characters such as Petruchio, Vincentio, and Kate. Throughout the story of The Taming of the Shrew, character use violence in both a positive and negative way. Petruchio is character that uses violence in a somewhat positive way. They used violence to show authority/dominance and to take control of certain situations; they used violence more as a tool instead of an impulse. On the other hand, Kate, a character with little to no power, uses violence to gain authority and seem dominate.
Petruchio powerful and controlling gentlemen, that has many servants underneath him. The only way he is able to control his footmen are through means of violence; as shown …show more content…
... He wrings him by the ears (1.2.1-17)
In that little snippet from the play, Petruchio is instructing his servant to simply knock on a door for him. However, his servant just isn’t understanding his simple command, not until Petruchio begins and get violent with him. Throughout the play these footmen would tend to be obedient but when they would begin to be combative, violence was the only way to correct this behavior. On the contrary, Kate, daughter of Baptisia, is a character with very little influence would use violence sporadically, when she felt threatened. This violent behavior led her to gain the disreputable name of “Shrew”. In these lines Kate is seen hitting her restrained sister Bianca:
BIANCA: ...I prithee, sister Kate, untie my hands.
KATHARINA: If that be jest, then all the rest was so. Strikes her (2.1.20-22)
In this scene Kate has Bianca tied up while she is both physically and verbally abusing her. This line is a great showing of how Kate is having to go through great measure just to exert a sense of dominance over her sister. This extreme show is a negative way violence was shown with this
Petruchio powerful and controlling gentlemen, that has many servants underneath him. The only way he is able to control his footmen are through means of violence; as shown …show more content…
... He wrings him by the ears (1.2.1-17)
In that little snippet from the play, Petruchio is instructing his servant to simply knock on a door for him. However, his servant just isn’t understanding his simple command, not until Petruchio begins and get violent with him. Throughout the play these footmen would tend to be obedient but when they would begin to be combative, violence was the only way to correct this behavior. On the contrary, Kate, daughter of Baptisia, is a character with very little influence would use violence sporadically, when she felt threatened. This violent behavior led her to gain the disreputable name of “Shrew”. In these lines Kate is seen hitting her restrained sister Bianca:
BIANCA: ...I prithee, sister Kate, untie my hands.
KATHARINA: If that be jest, then all the rest was so. Strikes her (2.1.20-22)
In this scene Kate has Bianca tied up while she is both physically and verbally abusing her. This line is a great showing of how Kate is having to go through great measure just to exert a sense of dominance over her sister. This extreme show is a negative way violence was shown with this