The Role Of Katherine In The Taming Of The Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, is a comedic play of two unlike sisters by the names of Bianca and Katherine. Bianca, the youngest sister, wanted to get married and luckily she was wanted by all the men for she was seen as kind and beautiful. The only problem was that her older sister Katherine needed to be married first, but no one wanted her because she was an irrational and wild woman that needed to be tamed by someone. But while many seemed to strongly believe this about Katherine, she actually turned out to be the most obedient wife, even compared to Bianca who only looked like she could be a great wife. Throughout the play Shakespeare is able to develop the character of Katherine from being a shrew who needed taming, to being a compliant wife through the harsh way she is described, and her aggressive actions and dialogue. Notably, the potential male love interests in the play chose not to marry Katherine due to her being “too rough” for them to handle (Shakespeare 55). At first glance, this may seem irrational for one to say about another person but it can be justified seeing as she practically scared everyone away, including her own sister. The male suitors continued to describe Katherine …show more content…
Freedman states, “As disturbing as Kate’s taming is the way in which she is portrayed as happily tamed...” in which she does agree that she is tamed even though her overall argument was about feminism (Freedman 284). While Petruchio did not really seem to have the best intentions when he first wanted to marry Katherine, in the end she was not a shrew, but she became herself. Ironically in contrast to Katherine who made a change for the better, Bianca was now the shrew that everyone tried to avoid marrying at