In Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, was Kate really "tamed" or was she just playing the game?

Question

Was Shakespeare pulling a prank on the audience? Was Kate just pretending to be tamed in order to get what she wanted?

Answer 1

If you take it with the Christopher Sly bits, including the ending scene, I think it's clear that Kate is "tamed," but she tames herself. She sees herself in Petruchio's behavior... and they both become "tamed" in relation to how they were acting previously.

And so does Christopher Sly. He has seen himself and his boorish behavior as a negative and can return to his life and wife a better man, also "tamed."

I think if she is just playing along (and I've seen it played that way), it detracts from the ideas in the final scene: she offers her hand to be stepped on, but Petruchio does no such thing -- he kisses her. If she is just pretending, then the power of love is diminished and there is no hope.

Without the central character being changed in some way by the experience of the story, the story has less meaning for us as people. If she has been changed by the experience, we can overcome our own ills.

Answer 2

Taming Of The Shrew Katherine

Answer 3

It depends on the interpretation of the director and the team. And also the individuals mood, condition, culture and understanding among the audience, is important. In one of the productions I had seen; at the end scene, when Kate came and forwarded her arms against her husband, we saw blood dropping from her wrists. That is, she was neither "tamed", nor pretending to be tamed but couldn't afford a such a life which her husband is too much dominant...In theater there is no such a result which carries always the same meaning... In every new production it can be changed...

Answer 4

The answer varies by the production -- the choices made by the director and actors. Thet's what makes theatre great. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for any play to be produced more than once.

And because it is a play and not a novel, it's meaning is sharply curtailed when it is considered outside the context of a particular productiuon or performance.

Plays on the page aren't plays any more than music written on a page is music -- they are each part of the directions for creating an artistic experience.

Answer 5

I think the main point to keep in mind is that Kate and Petruchio are very much equals. The reason Kate is so unhappy (and therefore shrewish) is that she's bored by all the preening dolts that have courted her in the past! She's a bright, witty, strong woman who has no patience or desire for being a dutiful little wife. But when she meets Petruchio, she has met her match. And he, his.

The turning point comes during the famous "Sun/Moon" scene. (Act 4, sc, 5) Petruchio says "Good Lord, how brightly and goodly shines the moon!" Now, the scene takes place in the middle of the day, and Kate rightly points this out to him. "The moon? The sun! It is not moonlight now." But Petruchio keeps insisting. At a certain point, something clicks over for Kate. "But sun it is not when you say it is not./ And the moon changes even as your mind./ What you will have it named, even that it is, / And so it shall be so for Katherine." This pleases and surprises Petruchio. Then Vincentio enters, and Petruchio address him as "Mistress." Not only does Kate follow his lead, but she goes him one better. "Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet" Petruchio doesn't quite know what to make of this. "Why, how now, Kate? I hope thou art not mad!" Kate responds to Vincentio, "Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes/ That have been so bedazzled with the sun" This is, of course, for Petruchio's benefit.

I think it is at this point in the play that they both realize that no one else in all of Italy would be as much fun to be with as the other.

The final speech "I am ashamed that women are so simple..." certainly seems to show a tamed Kate. But I think she is saying this for the benefit of her family and friends, and as a way of professing her love for Petruchio. He is truly touched by this, and they finally share a mutual, passionate kiss. They have fallen in love. Interestingly, the two main characters, Kate and Petruchio, leave the final scene before the end of the play. "Come Kate, we'll to bed," says Petruchio, as they rush off stage, now eager to consummate their marriage!

Answer 6

She maintains much of her fire, but in the view of the time she was largely tamed. We usually undercut it today by the way we present it. We try to make therm partners rather than master and wife at the end of the play.

Answer 7

I like to believe that Kate was just playing a game. That she had HIM tamed, or duped, or that they had come to some sort of agreement. I don't like the idea that she was "broken". That's kind of sad.

Answer 8

Slap the Taco eh? Cant say that ive ever played it, but the name alone makes me interested. What is the game aboout?

Answer 9

She fell in love and was thereby tamed.

Answer 10

No, unfortunately, I think the message was that she was indeed tamed. Feh.