In her famous speech at the end of The Taming of the Shrew, the former shrew Kate proclaims: Your husband is your lord, your life, your keeper, your leader, your sovereign, one who cares for you, and for your maintenance engages his body in painful labor both on sea and land [...] While you lie warm at home, safe and protected, and crave no tribute from your hands other than love, good looks and true obedience. (5.2.150-3,156-7)Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Shakespeare's much-debated play features the quarrelsome and disobedient Kate, who slowly comes to see the value of loving submission to her husband Petruchio. Or does it? Is the quote above sincere or sarcastic? Some interpret Kate's conformism as the clever disguise of a woman left with no alternatives; others consider Kate a tragic figure and see the ending as misogynistic and disturbing rather than uplifting. Later critics are of the opinion that efforts to insert a feminist agenda into a popular sixteenth-century work have obvious flaws, not the least of which is that they rob the work of its true warmth and value. For them, the love between Katherine and Petruchio is sincere and deep and is strengthened by the reality that, despite the farce and satire that dominate the script, it ultimately focuses on explaining true love in its historical context, namely as mutual devotion in a limited scope. hierarchy.William Shakespeare drew on a variety of sources when composing his play, and The Shrew is no exception. For example, both his adherence to and departure from the folktales he used as the basis for The Shrew highlight the creative message he sought to convey in the piece. According to Leah Scragg in her article "Shakespeare Edits Folktale Material" there are over 400 extant versions of folktales that follow the motif of the domestication of shrews (93). But it is important to note that Kate is different from the typical scold because she is presented with sympathy (Scragg 98). Indeed, Kate's first line elicits sympathy by placing her in a position of weakness: "Pray, sir, is it your will / to make me stale among these companions?" (1.1.57). As the plot develops, further elements of Kate's resentment of her father and derision of her suitors become evident, adding a level of complexity that is absent from most standard shrew tales. Kate doesn't seem to need simple "taming"; she is presented as needing to find a relationship in which she is treated appropriately. For some critics, the play is about her success in fulfilling this need as her relationship with Petruchio develops. The other major departure from standard folktales in The Shrew noted by Scragg is that Kate is not a wicked, disobedient witch, but a pitiful hag, isolated spirit who needs to be educated (99). Petruchio's behavior and violation of social norms do not force her into submission; instead, it "not only offers Kate a mirror image of her own behavior, but leads her to recognize her own dependence on the orderly conduct of everyday life and on the conventions she had previously despised" (100). Ultimately Kate realizes that if she lovingly fills the role society expects of her, and her husband fills his role with equal love, joy can be found. It is important to come as close as possible to understanding the exact paradigm of love and marriage that Shakespeare operated with. For example, in his essay“Love Wrought These Miracles,” Margaret Lael Mikesell presents an illuminating connection between the message of The Shrew and a genre of literature from Shakespeare's time; apparently, similar visions of love are found in the Protestant conduct books and domestic plays that were so popular in Shakespeare's time (Mikesell 106). The ideal marriage according to this genre is a mutual and devoted love that is expressed through "mutual obligations" and "rigorous observance of hierarchy" (107). If you compare it with the quote from the opening paragraph of this essay and the following one, you can establish clear similarities in respect for hierarchy and customs: "put your hands under your husband's feet. / As a sign of what duty, if he likes, / My hand is ready, let it be of relief” (5.2.178-80). This paradigm of mutual love within the hierarchy gives immediate meaning to the actions of The Shrew While the New Comedy calls for defiance to hierarchy and complete reciprocity, common shrew taming stories demonstrate brutal, loveless domination; Shakespeare resolves The Shrew with a perfect balance of both Petruchio and Kate come to play different roles, but are "temperamentally and dramatically the same." , especially since both are often referred to as “crazy” (Mikesell 108, 116). There are further noteworthy differences between the sources and the play that demonstrate how well this paradigm fits the show. The first is that while in other versions of the story the husband consumes a large meal while the wife dies of hunger, in The Shrew Petruchio and Kate die of hunger together, and the comic role of taunting others with food is, instead, entrusted to another character (117). The second difference is how the play ends because the usual conclusion involves the husband finally forcing his wife into submission. However, Shakespeare uses education, as opposed to direct physical abuse, to bring about "the same kind of reciprocity within the hierarchy celebrated in books of conduct as the foundation for a healthy marriage, family, and society" (117) . is very much in favor of interpreting Kate's transformation as genuine, her final speech as sincere, and the outcome as true love. For one thing, it would be very difficult to ignore the reality that Kate's final speech looks a lot like the Protestant domestic tracts that were prevalent in England in Shakespeare's time. Added to this ordeal is the happy ending, during which Kate and Petruchio kiss each other lovingly and immediately leave to enjoy their wedding. There is no explicit reason to assume that the love is a pretense or that Kate is insincere; any considerations external to the text – such as a prejudice against the representation of women as submissive – can therefore be refuted by the paradigm of mutual love within the hierarchy so common at the time. It is important to note, however, that not all critics are convinced by the above evidence. Coppelia Kahn, for example, argues in “The Taming of the Shrew satirizes male attitudes toward women” that Petruchio's extravagant behavior shows how absurdly men behave toward women (127). She states: "The overt force that Petruchio exerts on Kate by marrying her against her will in the first place, and then denying her every desire and comfort, stamping his feet, screaming [...] is nothing more than a farcical representation of the psychological realities of marriage at Elizabethton in England" (124-5). Kahn further argues that Petruchio's claim that Kate is his "commodity, my property" is too strong not to be taken seriously (4.2.228). It only recognises, however, the context in which the latter was made.