Feminism In The Taming Of The Shrew

William Shakespeare is known to have authored to over 37 complete plays and over 154 sonnets, and has the unique accolade of writing strong female characters over 400 years ago. “In a world that viewed women as the "weaker sex," Shakespeare wrote some of the strongest female characters in literature…we can almost definitely call him a kick-ass proto-feminist” (Bustle). William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew are two of Shakespeare’s plays that “portray a social order in disarray and two women who defy the rigid confines of their gender” (Jardine 134). The two female protagonists in these works, Juliet and Katherine have a great deal in common that contribute to a better understanding of gender expectations during the Elizabethan era. They are both headstrong women who are considered “unruly,” and are unwilling to conform as they are expected. Despite the differences in storylines, the two women have to contend with gender expectations and marriage, challenging familial relationships and the harsh realities of choosing love over everything else. …show more content…
She is a strong protagonist who is easily angered and hostile. This is, of course, distressing to her father who wants her to eventually marry. However, she is angry and hostile, in part, because she is secretly jealous of her younger sister, Bianca. She disguises this with hostility instead of allowing this vulnerability to show. Petruchio desperately wants to break through Katherine’s challenging emotional veneer, and eventually is successful. Comparatively, in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is madly in love with Romeo; however, their families have long been involved in a bitter and violent feud. Their love is forbidden because of the feud, but they persevere. Both are willing to give up everything to be together, which at the end of the play, is exactly what they