Shakespeare's Daughters by Sharon Hamilton

Author:Sharon Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2013-01-02T05:00:00+00:00

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew is broad farce from opening public spat to final raucous wager. At the same time, as in all of Shakespeare’s best comedies, the main characters are drawn in psychologically realistic terms. The relationship between the wealthy burgher, Baptista, and his strikingly different daughters is evident from their first appearance. Flanked by Kate and Bianca, he announces the ground rules for their accessibility to two suitors and anyone else who cares to listen. He offers either man “leave to court [Katherine] at [his] pleasure,” but restates his resolution “not to bestow [his] youngest daughter / Before [he has] a husband for the elder” (I.i.54, 40–41). The old father knows full well that the suitors, Hortensio and Gremio, have no interest in marrying “the shrew”—her type is specified in the cast list. Their predictable scorn of his offer only subjects her to ridicule, as she charges Baptista in her opening line: “Is it your will / To make a stale [laughing-stock] of me among these mates?” “Wonderful froward,” even “stark mad,” as she is, the suitors fear and disdain her. “No mates for you,” Hortensio says sententiously, “Unless you were of gentler, milder mold” (ll. 59–60). Kate reacts with greater refractoriness, threatening to smash his head and claiming that the idea of marrying is “not halfway to her heart” (l. 62). The scene has such an air of the pageant wagon or the auction block that an onlooker, the newly arrived Tranio, mistakes it for “some show” (l. 47) designed to amuse him and his young master, Lucentio. The show is, of course, at Kate’s expense.

Meanwhile, Bianca has been exhibiting the ideal of feminine decorum that the men exalt. Tranquil and quiet in the face of her sister’s tantrum, she seems to the love-struck Lucentio the epitome of “maid’s mild behavior and sobriety.” Her father, who does not hear this aside, is in full accord with the sentiment. Calling her “good Bianca,” he apologizes for having to separate her from her admirers and begs that it “not displease” her. He adds, “I will love thee none the less, my girl” (I.i.77). Kate hears this favoritism—she is not his “girl”—and reacts with a spiteful remark about Bianca as a “pretty peat” (spoiled papa’s pet) who is feigning sadness. Soon, Kate vows, she’ll see that her sister has good reason to weep. Bianca, breaking her silence at last, is inspired to heights of Good Girldom. First she urges Kate to be “content” with having caused her “discontent,” and then she turns to her father to profess obedience and industry:

Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe.

My books and instruments shall be my company,

On them to look and practice by myself [ll. 81–83].

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