Taming the shrew
In a Rom-Com characters and staging can be very important as an audience will usually expect a main and sub plot. In act 5 scene 2 this is shown by the fact that the two main characters Petruichio and Katrina, the two main sub-characters Bianca and Lucientio and two of the sub characters Hortensio and the Widow-who is a new character- and all main characters from both plots are in one room,-which shows the importance of this scene. -talking and celebrating. The women then leave which shows that the men are now the most important characters of the moment.
The limelight then shifts to each man in turn. – Petruichio, Hortensio, Lucientio, and Baptista, before moving on to the servants. When the women return, the limelight brings Katrina’s character to centre stage, whilst also bringing Bianca’s and the Widow’s shame to light. The way Shakespeare has structured the play is so that that the focus of the audience is never on one person or persons for any sustained amount of time. This allows the audience t experience the play from multiple characters point of view.
This is done to illustrate how different males and female are as social groups; Shakespeare then uses Katrina as a pivotal character to bring the male and female groups together. There are various themes throughout the play; there was however two main themes, being marriage and appearance versus reality, both of which are split into several sub-themes. The sub-themes for marriage include Language-being the frequent use of sexual innuendos such as the common use of the words “head, horn” and “butt”-and consummation. shown when Petruichio asks Katrina to bed. The sub-theme for appearance versus reality disguise and deception, the main plot of this theme is disguise of language and appearance- Petruichio disguises his language to tame Katrina, and Lucientio and Tranio use physical disguises so that Lucientio can woo Bianca. The end of the play is quite interesting as Shakespeare sexual innuendos and puns to lighten the mood and to create a merry atmosphere.
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There is also the mentioning of hunting “O sir, Lucientio slipped me like his greyhound, Which runs himself and catches for his master” which is used as an analogy for wooing the women as well as the wager, “Let’s each one send onto his wife, and he whose wife is most obedient to come at first when he doth send for her shall win the wager which we will propose” that ends in the most unexpected outcome; When the wager is resolved Katrina begins her monologue which includes similes twinned with alliteration.
“It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads”-which means frowning can spoil a woman’s beauty but also uses alliteration to make the similes effect more profound-as well as lists, repetition, “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life thy keeper, thy head thy sovereign, one that cares for us” commands, ” Come, come, you froward and unable worms “and rhetorical questions. “What is she but a foul contending rebel and graceless traitor to her loving lord? ” The language of the speech dampens the mood, which is then lifted by light jesting at the end. In conclusion I would say that Taming the Shrew fits with most Rom-Coms but does however differ in many ways; the main discrepancies are the problem of not knowing whether the main couple is happy or not, as well as the introduction of a new character in the final scene and the fact that the final speech which is usually given by a male and is normally inviting and merry not witty, cynical, sarcastic and critical.
