Taming Of The Shrew

Femininity and masculinity or one’s gender identity (Burke, Stets and Pirog-Good 1988; Spence 1985) refers to the degree to which persons see themselves as masculine or feminine given what it means to be a man or woman in society. Femininity and masculinity are rooted in the social (one’s gender) rather than the biological (one’s sex). Societal members decide what being male or female means (e.g., dominant or passive, brave or emotional), and males will generally respond by defining themselves as masculine while females will generally define themselves as feminine. Because these are social definitions, however, it is possible for one to be female, see herself as masculine or male, and see himself as feminine.

The women who were active and self-reliant in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England are reflected in the female main characters in Shakespeare’s plays who freely speak out, behave as they like, and pursue their fortunes. It can be found in the play that Katherine was being an intransigent. The patriarchal society in those days imposed on women the three virtues, which are, obedience, silence, and chastity in order to preserve the social order. The basis of this idea was that because of their inferiority women should be governed by men.

The theme of the play is a farcical comedy but the question is did Shakespeare really believe that a woman was in no way equal to a man or was this play tongue in cheek and was he portraying how men would simply like things to be. However, to say that Shakespeare is trying to uphold the status of women in that particular time, it is contradict with the way Katherine behave at last. Katherine who is believed by the society to be successfully tamed by her husband, was being obedience, and represent how the typical women of Elizabethan era should be.

The major argument against this theory of feminism lies in the words of Katherine’s final speech. In her speech, Katherine proceeds to scold the other wives for their improper behaviour in their wifely roles. The speech seems to defy everything that her earlier character embodied. By paying particular attention to the exaggerated performances of Katherine earlier on in the play and at the closing of the play, it can be suggested that this reversal of thought is all part of Shakespeare’s ploy to demonstrate the strong presence of female intellect going unnoticed in the sixteenth-century. She has gone from argumentative to overly accepting, from aggressive to submissive, and from controlling to controlled in a very short time.