How does the Danish folktale, ‘The Most Obedient Wife’, which is presented in its entirety on p. 318, resemble the main plot of The Taming Of The Shrew? What does Shakespeare change or add?
With close reference to Act Four, discuss the view that The Taming Of The Shrew as written is impossible to stage for a modern audience.
With close reference to Act Four, discuss the view that The Taming Of The Shrew as written is impossible to stage for a modern audience.
Essay The Taming of the Shrew - Bianca and Suitors
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The Taming of the Shrew
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How does the Danish folktale, ‘The Most Obedient Wife’, which is presented in its entirety on p. 318,
resemble the main plot of The Taming Of The Shrew? What does Shakespeare change or add?
In ‘The Taming Of The Shrew’, we discover clear resemblances to the old folktale that was written in
1991 through the main plot as well as similarities of the main characters. When discovering that
Shakespeare clearly took inspiration from the old folktale, that had been popular at the time, we
realise that Shakespeare is clearly an underestimated play write as such as many other play writers
at the time, he rewrote the folktale and formed the plot into his play, in such a clever form that it
became presentable to be performed on stage for that Shakespearean era.
Shakespeare kept the resemblances from the folktale within his play, yet he changed them to fit a
play performed on the stage and assert his right to add his own style. Whilst the folktale had three
sisters, which was common for folktales to follow a rule of three within their stories, Shakespeare
adopted this idea of having the eldest sister be shrewish and introduced the audience to Katherina
and Bianca. This similarity of the eldest sister being ‘shrewish’ and ‘unmarried’, is also contrasted by
the younger sister being ‘easily married’ as well as ‘obedient’. These sisters being a direct contrast to
each other presents the audience with the ideal and the unideal wife.
In both the play and the folktale the eldest sister finds a husband that wants to marry her despite
her shrewish attitude, however Shakespeare changes the reason for the man to want to marry the
eldest daughter. In the folktale the man has travelled to tame the woman as he found interest and
desire in wanting to marry her, whereas Shakespeare changed this plot into Petruchio wanted to
marry for ‘dowry’ as well as being challenged to taming Katherina by Hortensio and Grumio, yet
when he meets Katherina they have a stichomythia exchange that sparks this desire in both
characters.
Another resemblance in the play and the folktale are the order in which the marriage happens, in
both folktale and the play, the husband demands to be married as soon as possible, arrives in
‘inappropriate attire’ for the wedding, denies the wife the chance to stay for the after feast and
forces the wife to travel home instantly. However despite these clear resemblances that show no
change in this section, there is a clear change in how Petruchio is presented when ‘taming’
Katherina. Whilst in the folktale the husband shoots both dog and horse, for not obliging with his
commands, Petruchio hits his servants, never lays a hand on Katherina and never harms any animals.
This sparks the taming as not stereotypical for this era as the folktale shows clear control over the
wife in this section through fear. In this section Shakespeare also uses the audiences familiarity with
the folktale to confuse as well as create a sense of nostalgia.
The Taming Of The Shrew being a problem play as well as his first play, contains not only
resemblances to the folktale within the main plot of the play, but also contains direct references to
the folktale amongst the lines of each character. Shakespeare does this as a nostalgic aspect for the
audience as well as using these folktale stereotypes to mock the expectations and conventions
created by society, such as Petruchio calling Katherina ‘his horse’, which is found in the folktale
when the husband commands his wife to carry the saddle of the dead horse.
When writing this play Shakespeare clearly wanted to introduce aspects of the folktale into his own
play, yet through certain scenes it is made apparent that Shakespeare not only used these folktale
stories to inspire his performances, as well as making them performance acceptable but he also over
exaggerated specific scenes in which it was similar to the folktale, solidifying the belief that the play
was Shakespeares way of mocking society subtly whilst appeasing to society. This is found in the final
scene in the play, in which the bet is made, similarly to the folktale, however when Katherina is
beckoned she has a scene of her ‘final speech’. This final speech is over exaggerated and
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