Read the passage from The Taming of the Shrew provided, and respond to the following:
• How does Shakespeare present aspects of love in this passage?
• Examine the view that, in this passage and elsewhere in the play, Petruchio underestimates the challenge of ‘taming’ Katherina.
Isabel Morgan
The Taming of the Shrew – William Shakespeare
Read the passage from The Taming of the Shrew provided, and respond to the following:
How does Shakespeare present aspects of love in this passage?
Examine the view that, in this passage and elsewhere in the play, Petruchio underestimates
the challenge of ‘taming’ Katherina.
In the passage and the play as a whole, it is apparent that Petruchio underestimates the challenge of
taming Katherina due to his physical struggle with her witty attitude in the beginning. This is shown
through the use of stichomythia in the passage as well as from the beginning of this scene, which
presents Petruchio’s clear underestimation of Katherina as its prominent how much quicker she is
within their verbal battle of wits. This use of stichomythia between them represents how fast the
relationship between them is moving, since despite Katherina’s insistence of rejection towards
Petruchio there is a clear connection between them, connections of love. Shakespeare presents love
in this passage as comfort and protection as well as a complicated emotion that none can
understand, as Petruchio and Katherina often show that they work through the idea of mutual
respect of one another.
However, this use of stichomythia could also represent a power struggle between these two
characters which further supports how Petruchio underestimated the challenge. This presents love
as challenging, since Petruchio was only hoping to marry Katherina for her dowry and the challenge
of taming her, yet he comes to ‘woo’ her. During this Shakespearean era Katherina would’ve been
seen as an outcast in society which would’ve expected Petruchio to tame her well and form her into
the obedience that they expect or he would be shamed, due to these expectations the audience
interprets that Petruchio expected the ‘taming’ of Katherina to be easy.
Throughout the play katherina and Petruchio are consistently challenging each other and it is made
evident that Petruchio finds ‘taming’ her more difficult than expected as he gets frustrated with her
lack of compliance. In Act 4, Scene 5 Petruchio expresses how ‘cross’d and cross’d, nothing but
cross’d’, this emphasises his frustration with Katherina’s opposition through the use of diacope
repetition of ‘cross’d’.
This could also not only be an expression of frustration but an expression of worry. During this era
Katherina would be punished physically for her ‘shrewish’ behaviour, however Petruchio never even
raises a hand towards Katherina and his push for compliance could be interpreted as a way of
protecting Katherina from the harsh society. This presents love as protection as well as complicated
to understand as it was uncommon to marry someone you love within this era due to women being
considered low ranking in society.
Petruchio is presented as thoughtful in the passage as well as the play as a whole, as he struggles to
keep up with Katherina. This is evident through the use of iambic pentameter and split lines, which
clearly show how Petruchio has to pause and think before he speaks, whereas Katherina’s split lines
show that there’s no pause after what he says. This supports how Katherina and Petruchio mock
each other as well as challenge each other throughout. Katherina refers to Petruchio as ‘a young
one’ which is a sexual innuendo suggesting that he is inexperienced, by using the word ‘young’ it
suggests a description of a child rather than a man.
However, it could also suggest that he is slow and doesn’t understand her quick witted responses.
This creates a comfortable effect as they both contrast against each other, depicting how
Shakespeare presents love being comfortable as well as a contrasting element. This shows the
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