Is Baptista a Good or Bad Father?
In our world today, arranged marriages are shunned upon in the western societies. In the east, however, they are still very prominent to this day. In Taming of the Shrew, the story is almost completely geared towards arranged marriages in the case of baptista’s daughters, Bianca and Katherina. That brings up a question, and that is: is Baptista a poor father? This essay will be answering that question by explaining why he is a good and bad father. In this case, does baptista love Bianca more, and if he does are there repercussions? Is baptista a good father for wanting financial security for his daughters, but is a poor one for arranging the marriages? Finally, what is it about Baptista that makes him good …show more content…
Well, the answer is probably, but why? Here, at the start of act II, Katherina is physically abusing Bianca and Baptista enters saying: “Why, how now,dame! Whence grows this insolence?” (2.1.23) Baptista is protecting his precious Bianca and he has a right to, even if it seems like he loves her more because she is being physically harmed. Throughout the story, however, it is quite clear that he loves Bianca more than Katherina and that may be a contributor to Katherina’s shrewish behaviour. That brings me to the next point: what are the repercussions of Baptista’s favouritism towards Bianca? We can clearly see that Baptista favouring Bianca is evident and the effects it has on Katherina …show more content…
Well, how can financial security be an issue? It is not, because as most parents of any child, would want the best and most luxurious life possible. Baptista is discussing with gremio and tranio disguised as lucentio about having the greatest dower for Bianca. “That can assure my daughter greatest dower/Shall have my Bianca’s love.” (2.1.335-336) As you can imagine, having a great amount of money is not bad, especially for this time. But, what is the downside to this? The downside here is that it is an arranged marriage. While this practice is very common in eastern countries, most other countries have either stopped or never have had this as a regular practice. In this case, arranged marriages were business arrangements and was about the dowry, not about love on a personal level. Baptista spends a lot of effort to marry off Katherina and when he does, he marries her to a man name Petruchio. This marriage was arranged and it is clear they do not love each other because of the way they treat each other. This is Petruchio speaking: “She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat;/Last night she slept not,nor tonight she shall not.” (4.1.179-180) Petruchio is talking about Katherina here and it’s
In our world today, arranged marriages are shunned upon in the western societies. In the east, however, they are still very prominent to this day. In Taming of the Shrew, the story is almost completely geared towards arranged marriages in the case of baptista’s daughters, Bianca and Katherina. That brings up a question, and that is: is Baptista a poor father? This essay will be answering that question by explaining why he is a good and bad father. In this case, does baptista love Bianca more, and if he does are there repercussions? Is baptista a good father for wanting financial security for his daughters, but is a poor one for arranging the marriages? Finally, what is it about Baptista that makes him good …show more content…
Well, the answer is probably, but why? Here, at the start of act II, Katherina is physically abusing Bianca and Baptista enters saying: “Why, how now,dame! Whence grows this insolence?” (2.1.23) Baptista is protecting his precious Bianca and he has a right to, even if it seems like he loves her more because she is being physically harmed. Throughout the story, however, it is quite clear that he loves Bianca more than Katherina and that may be a contributor to Katherina’s shrewish behaviour. That brings me to the next point: what are the repercussions of Baptista’s favouritism towards Bianca? We can clearly see that Baptista favouring Bianca is evident and the effects it has on Katherina …show more content…
Well, how can financial security be an issue? It is not, because as most parents of any child, would want the best and most luxurious life possible. Baptista is discussing with gremio and tranio disguised as lucentio about having the greatest dower for Bianca. “That can assure my daughter greatest dower/Shall have my Bianca’s love.” (2.1.335-336) As you can imagine, having a great amount of money is not bad, especially for this time. But, what is the downside to this? The downside here is that it is an arranged marriage. While this practice is very common in eastern countries, most other countries have either stopped or never have had this as a regular practice. In this case, arranged marriages were business arrangements and was about the dowry, not about love on a personal level. Baptista spends a lot of effort to marry off Katherina and when he does, he marries her to a man name Petruchio. This marriage was arranged and it is clear they do not love each other because of the way they treat each other. This is Petruchio speaking: “She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat;/Last night she slept not,nor tonight she shall not.” (4.1.179-180) Petruchio is talking about Katherina here and it’s