The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew Act 5 ‘I am asham’d that women are so simple’

CA Term 3: Essay Assignment • How does Shakespeare use wit and humour to present the relationships between men and women? • “Bianca and Lucentio are in fact seminal characters, instrumental in understanding Katherina and Petruchio.” How successful is the sub-plot in affirming the transformation of Katherina?

Plot and sub-plot • Bianca must be seen, at first, as nothing but the conventional heroine • Sought by the typical romantic hero, Lucentio • And in this capacity she is contrasted with another type of female character • Who is at first a much less attractive in terms of character to the audience, • that of her spirited sister, Katherina

Characterization as technique • Shakespeare does not just contrast one sister with another; • He uses the younger Bianca as part of the explanation of how the elder Katherina became a shrew; • There is something psychologically real about the scenes in which Katherina shows resentment towards Bianca’s success with her “pretty” tricks; • ‘So well I know my duty to my elders.’ [2.1] • And Baptista’s treatment of Bianca as his favourite, younger, daughter, so noticeably different in words and deed from the way he treats his elder daughter;

Also the audience has the opportunity of seeing Bianca ‘in action’ with her suitors Lucentio as Cambrio and Hortensio as Litio (in Act 3 Scene 1; • The speediness and suddenness of Lucentio’s infatuation with Bianca, can be seen to be purely on the strength of her beauty; • Bianca’s ‘dutiful’ behaviour, (also resented…) • It is a very self-possessed young lady who manages both Lucentio and Hortensio to her own satisfaction, insisting on her right to please herself about her lessons [3.1] • And it ironically gives Lucentio encouragement that she could not really have given, if she were not what she appeared to be in earlier scenes;

Lucentio’s ultimate ‘reward’ in Act 5 Scene 2? • Bianca proves to be a wife who is not only ‘disobedient’ (to the extent of causing Lucentio to lose the wager) • She sharply rebukes him— ‘the more fool you for laying on my duty’

A dramatic function of the sub-plot is to help explain how Katherina has become a shrew. • It serves also to make us (the audience) more sympathetic with Kate by contrast.; • On the level of story line of the play, the sub-plot connects with the Katherina main-plot when Bianca’s wooers show support for the suit of Petruchio because of their interest in having Katherina married off first.

Concerns and Techniques • Remember, any essay question on a literature text will require you to examine techniques in relation to concerns, suitably adapted to the focus of the requirements of the question. • A play: dramatic techniques • A novel: Narrative Techniques • A Poem: Poetic techniques • Concerns / Issues / Themes

Re Mid-Year Exam— Markers’ comments • Glossing for discussion; • Deciphering the texts narrative • Closely examining the use and effect of dramatic language • Some passing attempt at analysis; • Some attempts at close analysis; • Further elaboration / development; • Thoroughly discusses Petruchio’s relationship with K and implications, but does not FULLY address the scope of the question

Deborah Chan 30 / 50 • Focuses on discussing the play’s themes through analysis of language; plus insightful observations noted • Points and quotes are haphazardly selected and deployed, with no coherent overarching argument • Uses huge swathes of narration, description and summary to no real purpose

Literal reading; • Reading literally; • Literary analysis

Drama text: Top Girls by Caryl Churchill • Confirm? • All 1T02 students of H2 Literature? • 12 copies (3 + 9) • All 1T03 students of H2 students? • Have your own personal copy of this text? • 21 copies • Ideally • You need one copy for study purposes • And a second copy for exam purposes • 12 copies 3 + 9 extra second copies

Term 2 Who requires a second text? • 1) Reading and Studying Taming of the Shrew— • Critically significant issues (e.g. The Battle of the Sexes motif; verbal freedom through close reading and analysis of critically significant speeches; dialogue segments; and key scenes; • 2) Representation of women through a close study and analysis of their Linguistic Representation; • 3) Structure of a text; recognizing its structure • 4) New set text: Top Girls by Caryl Churchill

The play, The Taming of the Shrew, is essentially a comedy and yet more serious questions about gender issues overshadow its comic features. Comment • Remember to answer • Your entry point must be through the language of the text • E.g. the choice and form of imagery

Analysis of essay question;Breaking it down into its parts • The play, The Taming of the Shrew, is essentially a comedy And yet • More serious questions about • gender issues • overshadow its comic features. Comment.

Introduction: Identify more serious questions related to gender issues • What are some of these more serious questions about gender issues in the play? • Such as what? A_? B_? C_? D_? • The verbal silencing and hence curtailment of women’s verbal freedom; silence as an ideal; • State where, and show how these more serious questions make themselves apparent in the text of the play, and explain why? • And how they overshadow its comic elements

Through the language; e.g. Imagery of X? of the ‘Shrew’ • From Induction 1, the Lord’s instruction to First Player to go to Barthol’mew’s Page; • The Page will have to act the role of a woman, • ‘With soft low tongue…’ [Induction 1.110] • ‘Voice, gait, and action of a gentlewoman’ pg 6 • ‘Renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue’ pg 26 • I know she is an irksome, brawling scold’ pg 29 • ‘No mates for you / Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.’ [Hortensio to Kate] pg 16 • Tranio: ‘But in the other’s silence do I see Maid’s mild behaviour and sobriety 1.1.70-71 pg 17

Narrative Structure: A text is a web of meaning • How a text is connected, built up; ordered; sequenced; • Structure of a sentence • Structure of a speech in the play, The Taming of the Shrew • The structure of a scene? Of an Act? Of the play as a whole? • Structure of a paragraph in a novel? • Structure of a narrative prose passage; • How paragraphs are in sequenced on the page? • The structure of Hardy’s Tess? Its seven phases?

Unseen Prose Question • Comment closely on the following passage from the novel Alias Grace (1996) by Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. • Analytically discuss the ways in which it presents the character of Grace Marks, (a woman working as a domestic servant maid with a criminal past,) • And relate it more generally to your reading on the theme of women in literature

How writers choose to represent character through speech & description • Character is the most important single component of the novel; • Representation; Role; Relationship; • Difficult to discuss in technical terms; • So many different types of character, and so many ways of linguistically representing them • Flat characters; round characters; • Characters rendered from inside their minds • Characters viewed from the outside by others

Simplest way / method for a character to be introduced is by physical description and description of psychological attributes, and biographical summary; • Description is highly selective; synecdoche—its basic technique: letting the part stand for the whole • Modern novelists prefer to let the facts about a character emerge gradually; gradual emergence • The Static Pose; as if sitting for a verbal portrait • The scenic method; • Direct speech; character conveyed by speech; • Dramatic action; character shown in action;

And note Gender of the narrator • Point of view? E.g. First person point of view • Clothing is always a useful index of character, social class, and life-style; • Naming; Nomenclature • Speech past tense / present tense? Interior monologue; • Voice? The feelings and attitudes of the narrator can be detected through the tone of the voice adopted: Formal? Confident? Opinionated? Cynical? • And behaviour; • Imagery; Symbolism • Time; Setting • Nuances that are purely literary such as the use of various forms of irony to be found in fictional prose

Representation • How do fiction writers construct the world in the language of their texts? i.e. Linguistic representation? • Some writers conform to mainstream conventions of representation, for example of women, • thus contributing to the reification of these conventions— • i.e. the mainstream conventions come to be seen as the only natural ones, the common sense way of representing women, or representing the world. • Others, especially avant-garde writers, break through these conventions in an attempt to denaturalize them.

Thoughts on Comedy from Hardy • Hardy made a case for his insistence on ‘the tragical conditions of life’ in a letter to his friend, John Addington Symonds, poet and critic, written while working on his novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles. • ‘All comedy, is tragedy, if you only look deep enough into it.’

On the nature of Dramatic Comedy • Whatever happens along the way in a dramatic comedy • The ending will offer an image of happiness • For at least some of the characters whose fortunes we have followed. • If for others there is sadness and exclusion, that is a reminder that comedy’s optimism is an artificial and selective view of the world. (NOTE!) • Comedies can provide meaningful stories, • as well as opportunities for laughter and relaxation

Act 5 Scene 1 • What do we need to recall to understand and appreciate scene 1 of Act 5? • Events in Act 4, Scene 2 (pgs 79, 80) • That of a Merchant of Mantua, an old man • Asked by Tranio (posing as Lucentio) to pretend to be his father, Sir Vincentio: • ‘His name and credit shall you undertake, And in my house you shall be friendly lodg’d. Look that you take upon you as you should— You understand me, sir?’ 4.2.106-9

We note the constant presence of unromantic detail throughout the play • Tranio (as Lucentio) to the Merchant: • ‘Then go with me to make the matter good. This, by the way, I let you understand: My father is here look’d for every day To pass assurance of a dower in marriage ’Twixt me and one Baptista’s daughter here. In all these circumstances I’ll instruct you. Go with me to clothe you as becomes you.’ 4.2.114-120

See how they kiss and court 4.2.27 • Hortensio as Litio, and Tranio as Lucentio have already given up their quest for Bianca’s hand when they discover Lucentio as Cambio kissing her; ‘See how they kiss and court!’ • Hortensio thus by Act 4 scene 2 decides instead to marry a wealthy, ‘lusty’ widow; • By scene 4 of Act 4, we learn that Lucentio has been told by Biondello a church and priest has been arranged so that he may elope with Bianca; • By scene 5, we learn the real Vincentio is on his way to Padua to check up on his son

The battle appears to be now over • While Lucentio and Bianca go to church to get married, the real Vincentio arrives at his lodgings; • The real Vincentio is confused about what’s going on because Lucentio’s servants swear they have never seen him before; • Vincentio is then rescued by the real Lucentio who shocks everyone with the news he is married; • Everyone but Petruchio and Kate head to Baptista’s house to sort matters out; • Petruchio demands a kiss from Kate; she grants his request; the battle appears now to be over

No shame but mine. / To give my hand / Unto a mad-brain rudesby • Lucentio enters this scene as himself; • The timing of the unmasking of Lucentio as Cambio, along with the other characters in the sub-plot, Tranio as Lucentio, the Merchant as Vincentio • This is critically significant. Why? • For Katherina too has been transformed; • As becomes evident in the Sun and Moon Scene, scene 5 of Act 4; test of obedience • This means Petruchio can now do away with his put on persona, his own disguise or mask as ‘a mad-brain rudesby’ (a lout) 3.2.10

Lucentio unmasked Lucentio: • ‘Here’s Lucentio, Right son to the right Vincentio, That have by marriage made thy daughter mine While counterfeit supposes blear’d thine eyne. • Baptista: Why, tell me, is not this my Cambio? • Bianca: Cambio is chang’d into Lucentio’

Petruchio unmasks— no longer a mad-brain rudesby? • Now Petruchio at this point insists on Kate kissing him in public: • ‘First kiss me, Kate…’ • ‘What in the midst of the street?’ • ‘Nay, I will kiss thee a kiss.’ < She kisses him > Now pray thee, love, stay.’ (thee, not ‘you’)

Had the play ended at Scene 1? • Had the play ended at this point? • This would have served as a nice romantic ending for a genuine romantic comedy • Evidence? Given this mutually agreed kiss; • Yet against that it can be said the kiss is in accordance with Petruchio’s plan, and it can be played with different nuances of meaning; • Petruchio insists on her kissing him in public, which can be seen as an unbecoming show of affection or desire, and when she does give in • In a triumphant tone, he declares ‘Is not this well?’

Act 5 Scene 2 The Wedding Feast;Lecture Part 2 • Joyous celebration of a triple wedding • A public ceremony marking return to order; • Restoration of Order • Hortensio’s ‘lusty widow’ suggests that Petruchio is ‘troubled with a shrew’ as a wife; • Katherina retaliates in a way that shows her spirit has not been broken, but they are encouraged to withdraw by Bianca; • Once the women have departed, the male characters discuss their wives, using hunting imagery once again; Tranio suggests that Petruchio’s ‘deer’ holds him at bay; • At which point, Petruchio proposes a wager

But it does not stop there! + Scene 2 • To Act 5, a Scene 2 The Wedding Feast is added; • Shakespeare adds this extraordinary and controversial final scene • In which Katherina is asked to publicly demonstrate her ‘taming’ through Petruchio’s initiated wager; • There is a final reminder of her humiliation: • And another wager: She has to take off her cap and throw it underfoot when Petruchio commands her to; • Then there is her speech of instruction to those women who remain ‘shrews’

Wagers on Wives;Tame; Teach; Test; and final test; • In this final scene the men engage in a wager • They bet on their wives’ obedience to their husbands • And who wins? • Petruchio • As Katherina proves to be the most obedient; • She has been finally successfully tamed; • Or so it looks / appears to Petruchio; • Appearance and Reality; and audience?

Reminder! Reading Drama • From page to stage • Visualize the text in performance • Think again about how you will see the play on stage; at each stage of its plot development • How will we see the characters? In word and deed; dialogue and action; • Listening for meaning; • How will we hear them? • How will they sound—voice, rhythm, tone;

Rival Interpretations • This last scene marks the climax of the play’s exploration of the theme of love and marriage • It is a scene that has given rise to more differences of interpretation than any other part of the play; • Last scene subjected to many critical disputes; • Many drama teachers, critics and stage directors have sought to interpret this scene as ironic • Making its suggested deeper meaning (implicit rejection of the way Katherina is treated) much more significant • Than its surface meaning (women must learn to obey men no matter what)

What a metamorphosis! (Change!) • This may stem from a refusal to admit that Shakespeare could write a play as sexist as this appears to be; • There is Katherina’s most lengthy set speech, 44 lines, her ‘obedience’ speech • Meant to be a final statement on the subject of love and marriage • justifying patriarchy, (now an agent of patriarchy) • Arguing rhetorically that it is the best guarantee of marital happiness;

Restoration of the Natural Order of Things as decreed by God and Nature; • The speech begins with Katherina rebuking the Widow for her scornful glances designed ‘To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.’ • This establishes the basis of degree in her argument, that of status in the ‘the great chain of being’ (the World View of the play’s play-world) • The hierarchical order of all things natural and supernatural, decreed by God, Lord of Creation; • the rung of this chain on which a wife stands one step lower than her husband • ‘Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway…’ • Restoration of order ensures harmony

Katherina states her wife-husband relationship in a very clear manner: • ‘Such duty as the subject owes the prince Even such a woman oweth to her husband.’ • In the Great Chain of Being— • The wife is a vassal to her husband, the husband is vassal to the prince, the prince is vassal to God, Lord of all Creation; • This is the natural hierarchical order of the great chain of being; from the high to the low;

Noting the ending of the speech • And ending with such a strong visual image of submission; (a built-in stage direction): • ‘Then veil your stomachs, for it is no boot, And place your hands below your husband’s foot. In token of which duty, if he please, My hand is ready, may it do him ease.’ 5.2.175-9

Thinking about Katherina’s 5.2 speech theatrically; Interpretative Analysis • Some actresses acting as Katherina speak out Katherina’s lines with heavy irony • In a tone of hyperbolical submissiveness • In the belief that her speech is not intended to be taken at face value; • That it is full of hyperbole; • Ironic exaggeration, overstatement, for the sake of dramatic effect to convey a seeming show of submission and subservience; • A knowing pretense at conformity; (said with a wink); • Other actresses of this role act out this speech with a sort of brainwashed fervour. (What do you think?)

Yale Shakespeare scholar, Harold Bloom; • For Harold Bloom, one would have to be very literal-minded and mentally myopic not to notice • the delicious irony that is Kate’s undersong, centred on that great line— • “I am asham’d that women are so simple” • For Bloom, it requires a very good actress to deliver this line, and set piece properly; • For Kate is really advising women how to rule absolutely, while feigning obedience.

Views complimenting this view;And connecting back to Sly • The point is that the play itself does not invite us to take seriously Petruchio’s actions • or Kate’s submission in her acceptance speech; • That the play is Sly’s fantasy of male wish-fulfillment • That we as an audience are thus free to see it / hear it as a demonstration that the gender roles played by women and men in society are in fact socially ‘constructed’ • And therefore do not form part of their essential natures; (it is not fixed in their nature); • Also, the comic swapping of identities among the other characters in the sub-plot, also underlines the idea that all of what we see on stage is role-play

Further making connections • As a result, Katherina’s submission is very much an imaginary resolution of the conflict with her husband; it is not meant for real; • Her final speech holds up conventional reasons for male supremacy as fictions • That are no more to be believed than the reality of Tranio or Lucentio’s characterization, whether as themselves or someone else; such as Lucentio as Cambio;

American feminist critic, Karen Newman • Has argued that to show gender relations on stage as ‘natural’ in a fantasy play such as The Taming of the Shrew • Is to reveal the artificiality of male-female relations by exposing their contradictions; • Newman sees Katherina’s behaviour, right up to the end of the play, as a refusal to be categorized and controlled by the power structures by which men subordinate women (such as Marriage); • That Katherina refuses either to be silent or to submit herself as a passive public object for the male gaze.

For Newman, Katherina takes on male language and undermines it in two ways • 1) The first is Katherina’s riddling wordplay (punning) with Petruchio, through which she refuses to accept that he has a right to decide on the meaning of his own words; • Katherina’s punning exposes marriage as an unequal sexual exchange in which women are exploited to produce offspring for men with no benefits such as respect for themselves;

Critic, Karen Newman • Throughout the trials of her wedding day and night, Katherina insists on her right to be heard [3.2.207-21; 4.3.73-80] • Petruchio deliberately mishears her, distorting what she says to suit his meaning; • Female speech is associated with female independence—thus it is not to be listened to. • The only language available to Katherina in her final speech for public statement is male; • As a woman capable of ‘miming’ the male role to such effect, she exposes its contradictions. • So she has not in the end being silenced.

Karen Newman • The genre of comedy requires a ‘happy’ union; • It is this speech to which the entire plot has been leading; But note: • it is not Petruchio who speaks it; • So if Katherina is really at this point tamed, • how is it she holds the stage at the end— • UNSILENCED?

The Taming of the Shrew