Saturday, 30 August 2003 - 10:17 PM CDT
Name:
Cristen Vaughan
In the beginning of the play I know that Kate is very bad tempered and over the top, however I had to give her some credit for not being afraid to speak her mind and talk back to men, which is something that was rare in women back then, they weren't supposed to talk back to men. So, I had to give her credit for that. However, I didn't like the fact that she was so mean to Bianca. I do think however that maybe if her father at least tried every once in a while to talk to her or make a connection with her without giving up so easily, she might not be so mean to Bianca, because it seams like she is jealous of Bianca. To me, it seemed like Kate was jealous of Bianca's relationship with her father, and with men to. On page 19, Kate has just angered Bianca and Baptista says, "And so, farewell. Katherina, you may stay, For I have more to commune with Bianca". Kate then says, "Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What, shall I be appointed hours, as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave?" (p.19). Here she thinks that father doesn't care or worry about her because he says she can stay for how long she wants when only a minute ago he told Bianca to go in. I think she's angry that her father doesn't seem to spend time or worry about her as much as he does with Bianca. So i can't help to think that maybe if her father tried to connect with her she wouldn't be as mean as she is to her sister. I also think that is one of the reasons why Petruchio and Kate ultimately fall in love. Petruchio seems to be the first person, who isn't afraid to challenge Kate. Just like Kate he is loud and outspoken, and unlike other people who back down from her right away because of her temper or reputation, he doesn't back down, he challenges her and that is shown on page 45 when they first meet and both go at each other with insults. Maybe she actually admired the fact that he rose up to challenge her, or she saw that alot of his qualities, like being outspoken, loud, and even mean to his servants, she also had, and she finally saw that they weren't to pleasing. Although that I did think that she needed to be tamed, the end result was just way to annoying. In her final speach, she basically says that women have no other job than to please and serve their husbands. The lines, "Such duty as the subject owes the prince, even sucha woman oweht to her husband; ... I am ashamed that women are so simple to offer war when they should kneel for peace, or seek for rule, supremacy and sway, when they are bound to serve, love and obey. Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, unapt to toil and trouble in the world" (p.112). I just can't stand it. Yeah, I think that wives should love their husbands very much and to an extent please and obey them, but it should go both ways. I mean, I understand that back in that time women weren't considered to be equal to mean, and they many thought that a wife's only job was to serve the husband, but in the beginning she didn't have a problem goning the stereotype of a woman, I just wish she would have kept some of that backbone or attitude in the end. Maybe, Kate felt that she had to become a shrew because she didn't want to have to deal with rejection from men, or she didn't want to compete with her sister for men or competing to try and be the perfect women that men want. So now that she has found love, she's isn't afraid to succomb to the stereotypical woman because she has love and she wants to please her husband. Even though I'm a little disappionted at the end with Kate, I still feel maybe a tiny bit sympathetic for her. Oh, and I wasn't to fond of Petruchio's character at times either. At times he was just way to arrogant!
