Sunday, February 7, 2010
Does Petruchio love Katherine?
"The Taming of the Shrew" is an interesting play surrounding courtship. In most Shakespearian plays, the lovers fall in love nearly instantaneously and either marry or attempt to marry. There is little to no courting ever shown, leaving room for the remaining plot to show the effects of said union. However, "The Taming of the Shrew" provides the unique story of a man trying to court a lady after marriage. Today most people court each other before marriage in search of a person that is connected to them in what can only be described as "love". Love of course has multiple meanings but in this case most people use the word in its connotative form, meaning some type of connection based beyond what is visceral but instead on what is often referred to as feelings felt at their "heart". This deeper connection is often a justifiable cause for a couple to marry, however during the time of the play "The Taming of the Shrew", marriage was a business proposition between two families. In this case the proposition was between Petruchio and Katherine's family. Petruchio marries Katherine and in return received a large dowry. Following their marriage Petruchio begins to court her through various acts. However these acts are not aimed at winning her heart but are instead an attempt to tame her shrewdness: "For I [Petruchio] am he born to tame you, Kate, and bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate conformable as other household Kates" (Act 2 Scene 1 Line 291-293). Hence we see that Petruchio does not "love" Katherine but instead it can be said that he enjoys controlling her.
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2 comments:
I'm Kate and I have a Peteruchio trying to tame me.....what is the payoff? Should I give in?
OMGosh me too! He's an insightful INFJ who is beautiful, but scary at the same time. Heaven and Hell exist in him. Part of me whats to go with it and break out of my family's conditioning (I'm a 37yr old who came from a family of addicts).
He wrote the below on Taming The Shew... Tell me what you think?
I wrote the comment below after watching a short video that gave a modern interpretation of the "Taming of the Shrew":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVbN3_mddZM&t=339s
The fools eye praises that which is new though it be only gilded dust, rather than praising the ancient gold that is only dusty …Irony too is kin to nature.
“Irony” by modern definition “inverts our expectations”, which is a literal invitation to look inward rather than relying exclusively on what can be seen heard felt sniffed or tasted, matter of fact, irony teaches us if we pay attention that relying on what's literal is ironically illiterate. Using subjective archetype, Shakespeare mastered the trick of irony and made it the friend of those who pay attention. Think about it, if the audience knows what’s going to happen before the actor knows, is it not the actor who plays the role of the fool to the benefit of the audience?
The “Shrew” is a childish fool with ignorant expectations.
“Reasoning” is a gentleman looking to make a friend of irony and tame his foolish child.
All the world’s a stage, after all, and nature crafted each of us with more than a mortal knowing.
Ethereal human characteristics like ”conscience” and “maturity” can only be depicted subjectively (archetype, metaphor, symbolism, etcetera), and so they require intuitive reasoning in order to be comprehended by an audience. “Reason” is an archetypally masculine characteristic, “Intuition” is feminine, together they are “wisdom”, and wisdom is the natural inheritance of all who tame the fool and wed the Hu and Man.
The conscience is key to comprehending truth beyond that which is obvious, the allegorical assertion the Taming of the Shrew makes is, “You need a good daddy because we’re all socially influenced to belie the subtle gifts of the conscience”. Shakespeare speaks to the wisest part of you and tells an ancient story of true love; if you watched with only ignorant expectations, you are the very fool of his story. Ironic comedy.
Wisdom knows and history shows that the part we feed is the part that grows...
The feminine aspect of our nature is sick and dying, like a spoiled overfed child with keys to the candystore.
The masculine aspect of our nature is bound and gagged, like a pet raised to obey only childish commands.
We are a modern army of illiterate children, and reasoning is a dog begging at the teat of a Golden Shrew.
If devaluing masculinity is comfortable for you, as is mocking morality, you know not thy self for you are an ironic slave to the opinions of the illiterate.
In our modern age, a wise man is a lightbulb locked in a box of dim definitions.
I tell you a truth that is dark to only the eyes of a fool: women have always ruled this Earth and little boys have always aspired to grow-up to be exactly what women find attractive, when mothers make wisdom a breed-worthy virtue we will once again live in the light.
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