Essay on the Character of Katharina in Taming of the Shrew

The Character of Katharina in The Taming of the Shrew Michael W. Shurgot has written that The Taming of the Shrew whitethorn never be as intellectually stimulating as reading, say, The merchant of Venice or Hamlet or The Winters Tale and that the characters that seem one-dimensional on the page can yet become interesting on the peg (328). Shurgot would seem to imply that Shakespeare did not fully develop his characters, and that the shoo-in is only entertaining after a director has taken creative emancipation with the stage directions. A close reading of the play itself will suggest it to be interesting enough indeed, for it reveals clues to the motivation of both Katharinas shrewishness and later submissiveness, and the way of life in which her character is to be portrayed and viewed. Agnes Mure Mackenzie would have audiences believe that Katharinas push back is temperamental apparently at least we are given no reason for it in its beginnings, (24). Baptista says that h is daughters will have a good pitch up, (1.1.99), implying that he has always tried to raise the girls right. Katharina, he would have us believe, has turned out shrewish despite his best intentions. He excessively says that he intends to school his daughters. This does not necessarily mean that Katharina is intelligent, but she has belike been encouraged to think. Like it or not, Baptista has reared an independently thinking female. An audience mightiness assume that Katharina has always been shrewish her reputation seems to have already been established, as is evidenced by Hortensio and Gremios heckling in the first scene (1.1.55-61). This does not mean she is a shrew by nature, only that she had been exhibiting this behavior f... ...hout his even knowing it. So we see that Katharina is indeed a very labyrinthine and interesting character. Generations of readers and performers have misunderstood her character, and probably misrepresented her. Tucking Katharina into the crazy shrew package may be very convenient for the director expression for an easy production, but it is probably incorrect. In fact, no production that produces the play as a straightforward farce does the character of Katharina any justice. whole kit and caboodle Cited MacKenzie, Agnes Mure. The Women in Shakespeares Plays. London William Heinemann Ltd., 1924. face pack. Was shrewish Shakespeare a feminist bard? from http//web.uvic.ca/ucom/Ring/99feb19/bard.htm Shurgot, Michael W. From Fiction to Reality Character and Stagecraft in The taming of the shrew. Theatre Journal, October 1981, 327-340.