Taming of The Shrew

I watched a play in the school called “Taming of the Shrew”. This play was written by William Shakespeare. “Taming of the Shrew” is not very popular in China. So I am not familiar with it. After I watched the play, I know the plot of this story. This is a ridiculous but funny story between Katharina, who is an intelligent, but grumpy shrew and a man, Petruchio, who tames her. Katharina’s pretty sister Bianca who is chased by numerous suitors is another sparkling role in this play. Dramatically, the whole story is a drunkard’s dream! While Katherina displays physical cruelty on stage - in the tying together of her sister’s hands, the beating of Hortensio with his lute, and the striking of Petruchio -, Petruchio utilizes cruelty as a psychological weapon; he purposely misunderstands, dismisses, and humiliates Katherina, while all the time attempting to project his own wishes onto her Krims believes such treatment makes Katherina’s final speech seem a forced camouflage of pain as well as a final humiliation. He believes that cruelty is a more important theme than the more often debated controversy surrounding gender as the play portrays a broad representation of human cruelty rather than merely cruelty between the sexes The Taming of the Shrew has been the subject of much criticism, most often relating to a certain feminist view of the play, and in particular Katherina's final speech, as offensively misogynistic and patriarchal. Others have defended the play by highlighting the induction as evidence that its sentiments are not meant to be taken at face value.