THE TAMING OF

THE SHREW.

The major Themes and

Climax:

1)APPEARANCE VS. REALITY

Appearances are not always an indication of a

person‟s true identity

The play is full of physical disguises, deception,

changes in attitude and behavior, and

psychological changes

The Lord‟s “transformation” of Sly from a drunk to

a nobleman

Lucentio disguising himself as a language teacher

(Cambio) to woo Bianca

Hortensio disguising himself as a music teacher to

get close to Bianca

The pedant impersonating Vincentio

Tranio impersonates his master Lucentio

APPEARANCE VS. REALITY

Petruchio‟ s wedding embarrass and humiliate

Kate.

Kate accepting whatever Petruchio says is true

Bianca‟s obedience (not as sweet as they thought)

Kate‟s transition from a shrew to a tamed wife

2)DISGUISE

Disguise figures in The Taming of the Shrew: Sly dresses as

a lord, Lucentio dresses as a Latin tutor, Tranio dresses as

Lucentio , Hortensio dresses as a music tutor, and the

pedant dresses as Vincentio. These disguises enable the

characters to transgress barriers in social position and

class, and, for a time, each of them is successful. The play

thus poses the question of whether clothes make the man‟s

personality, whether a person can change his or her role by

putting on new clothes. The ultimate answer is no, of

course. As Petruchio implies on his wedding day, a garment

is simply a garment, and the person beneath remains the

same no matter what disguise is worn.

3)FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Baptista treats Bianca like his treasure

Guards her, gets her tutors

Tries to find her the richest husband

Wants to get rid of Kate

Tells the suitors she must marry first

Tries to get money for her

Doesn‟t care that Petruchio forces her to leave her

wedding feast

Offers Petruchio more money because he tamed her

4)JEALOUSY

Jealousy in “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Jealousy is a common and reoccurring theme throughout

Shakespeare‟s “The Taming of the Shrew.” The emotion is

shown in more than one character and causes each of these

individuals to act wicked or deceitful in some way. The

most obvious example of jealousy is evident in Katherine;

her shrewdness is directly related to the envy she feels

towards her sister Bianca. A few of the men in this play

including Hortensio, Gremio and Lucentio are also touched

by the feeling of jealousy during their pursuit for the fair

Bianca.

Jealousy in Katherine‟s case is what causes her to be so

wicked, not only to her sister but to everyone around her.

The beginning of Act II clearly defines Katherine‟s

jealousy and its source when Bianca states, “Is it for him

you do envy me so?”(2.1.18). Even though Bianca is

speaking of a specific man, it is clear that Katherine is

jealous of any attention Bianca receives. It pains Katherine

to know that she will never receive such attention. The

jealousy is also carried over to the relationship between

Bianca and Baptista. Katherine believes that even their

father shows a level of favoritism towards Bianca and this

is an even stronger cause for her to envy her own sister.

Katherine realizes her sister is favored even in the eyes of

Baptista and her jealousy grows because Bianca will be

wed before her. Katherine‟s jealousy gets the best of her

and causes her to act in such wicked ways.

5)MARRIAGE

Marriage is important to comedies of every era of

literature, from well before Shakespeare's time to

ours. Almost all of Shakespeare's comedies end

with a marriage, and often with several

marriages. Marriage is treated as the natural

satisfactory resolution to a romance.

In some ways, The Taming of the Shrew follows this

model. It is the aim of Lucentio as soon as he lays

eyes on Bianca to have her as his wife; likewise,

Hortensio , Gremio, and Petruchio all seek to be

married.

Uniquely among Shakespeare's early comedies,

however, The Taming of the Shrew does not end

with marriage. Shakespeare uses multiple plot

lines in order to have one couple - Kate and

Petruchio - struggling with marriage while

another - Bianca and Lucentio - are still in the

courtship phase. Shakespeare shifts from one

narrative to the other, hopping back and forth

throughout Act IV, thus patterning the

idealizations of Lucentio„ s language and actions

against the harsh realities of Kate and Petruchio.

Unlike almost all comedies, Shrew is cynical

about marriage.

Themes

1. Love/Marriage

2. Relationship between Father and Daughter

3.Desire for money

4.People can be influenced to change

1. Throughout this story there is an apparent theme of love and marriage seeing as how people are constantly falling in love and wanting engage in a permanent relationships.

2. In this story you can see the relationship between Baptista and Bianca . Like many father daughter relationships Baptista is quite protective of his daughter and won‟t allow her to marry until her older sister does.

3. We can see the desire for money in this story when Petruchio initially decides to marry Katherine just to increase his wealth and money. He is a materialistic person

4. We can see how people can change when Katherine is able to be tamed through the influence of Petruchio.

CLIMAX (The turning point)

There is no single moment of intense action in

the play, but rather a long process of

development culminating in Katherine‟s fully

changed behavior. It might be possible to see a

climax in the wedding scene in Act III, or in

Katherine‟s decision in Act IV to submit to

Petruchio when he says (the sun is really the

moon, and Vincentio is a beautiful woman)

IS THERE ANY QUESTION

GIRLS?

………………………..

OK,

THANK YOU

Presented By:

Rana Ehsan

Khesifan