Usuario discusión:Tha Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew: Act I

William Shakespeare

- Born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford, England.

- Educated at the King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford.

- At 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years older than him.

- He was an actor and playwriter in London.

- Wrote more than 30 plays, all in four different categories: histories, comedies, tragedies and romances.

- Sometime after 1612, Shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to his hometown, Stratford.

- Died on April 23, 1616, in Stratford, England.

- Only eighteen of his plays were published separately in four editions during his lifetime.

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Historical Aspects of Act

The Taming of the Shrew focuses on courtship and marriage, but, unlike most of them, it devotes a great deal of attention to married life after the wedding. During the period of Queen Elizabeth, the marriage contract was a financial agreement by two parties (the parents or guardians of the bride and groom) that constituted a “merger,” not unlike today. Such a contract was based upon movement of property and the resulting power that accompanied the new combined wealth of two families.
In the act,Baptista’s auction his younger daughter to the highest bidder because he meant to assure the financial future of his daughter and his own heirs. But with the Renaissance period and thanks to Henry VIII’s separation of England from the Catholic Church in 1534 in order to secure a divorce that the pope had refused to grant him,"financial and property" marriage was change by "companionate" marriage, that is a bond of marriage based upon the free choices of the individuals.

Synopsis

The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado about Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A play focusing on the concerns of married life would have seemed particularly relevant to English audiences of the Renaissance period. Lucentio, a young rich man, in desperation, encounters with the love of his life, Bianca, in Padua, Italy, where he went to start studying. The problem is that, Bianca already has two suitors, and a very ill-tempered older sister named Katharina, which according to their father’s rule, would have to get married before Bianca does. This controversy leads up to weird confrontations, awkward encounters and a twist which will make you want to keep on reading.

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Mayor Components

Plot

The Taming of the Shrew, Act 1, is where the main conflict is provided to the reader, and various character qualities are described. For instance, the parts of the plot involved in Act 1 are the following: exposition, in which Shakespeare clearly explains the setting and the atmosphere, the initial incident, which is the controversy involving the order in which Baptist Minola's daughters are supposed to get married, and part of the rising action, when Bianca's suitors start to plan their scheme to win over her. Lucentio, a rich young man, arrives to the Italian city of Padua, with his servants, Tranio and Biondello, to begin his studies. Suddenly, his priorities change when he first encounters Bianca, a beautiful and mild young girl, who he rapidly falls in love with. There are two main problems: first of all, there are already two more suitors, Hortensio and Gremio, and second, Bianca's father, a wealthy old man named Baptist Minola, has declared that Bianca may not get married until her older, vicious, and ill-tempered sister Katharina, does. Lucentio, under all this drama, decides to disguise himself as Bianca's latin tutor, while Hortensio disguises himself as a music teacher. When Lucentio tutors Bianca, Tranio, dresses up as Lucentio and begins to conversate with Baptista with the possibility of marrying his daughter. For Bianca's pretenders, the problem reguarding Katharina is solved, when Hortensio’s friend Petruchio, a brash young man from Verona, who arrives to Padua to find a wife. He intends to marry a rich woman, and does not care what she is like as long as she will bring him a fortune. The suitors convince Petruchio to, only because Katharina's father is a very wealthy man, marry her. Later on, he goes to Baptista’s house to meet Katharina, and they have a tremendous duel of words. As she insults Petruchio repeatedly, he tells her that he will marry her whether she agrees or not.

Characters

In the Act I, we see Lucentio, a passionate young state and he was born in Pisa but he moved to Padua, nursery of the arts, to continue his education and learn some philosophy with Tranio, his loyal servant and friend. Then, we have an affluent man named Baptista. He is Katharina’s and Bianca’s father and he was a little cruel with her daughters because he said that he was not going to allow his youngest daughter Bianca to get married if Katharina, the oldest one, is still without a husband. Lucentio fall in love instantly, at first sight with Bianca, and he says that he is going to die if he cannot win her heart. But, there is the conflict about Katharina getting married first, because Katharina is widely reputed throughout Padua to be a shrew, and she constantly insults and degrades the men around her. She clearly abhors society’s expectations about her obeying her father and showing some grace toward her suitors (lovers). But his younger sisters Bianca, is the total opposite of her sister Katharina because she is very sweet, very beatiful, lovely, kind and soft-spoken but, she can’t marry anyone until her “infernal demon” of sister is married.

Gremio and Hortensio are two gentlemen of Padua. Both are Bianca’s suitors at the beginning of the play. Though they are rivals, these older men also become friends during their mutual frustration with and rejection by Bianca. And finally, Biondello that is Lucentio’s second servant and he also helped his master and Tranio to carry out their plan with Bianca.

Theme

On the first act of the play “Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare, are presented several important themes. They are fundamental ideas explored in a literary work, for example the public perception of Katherine as a hateful and unhappy person. That was mentioned by Hortensio and Gremio, who also describe Katherine as a jealousy in the face of Bianca’s preferential treatment, disrespect for her father and a violent temper woman who would not sacrifice her individuality for her husband. Because around those times the majority of people believed that woman’s should submit to her husband, and yet they did not necessarily expect the wife to sacrifice all of her independence. In addition there is a romantic relationship between men and women as they develop from initial interest into marriage. 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. Another important theme of the play is how it emphasizes the economic aspects of marriage, specifically how economic considerations determine who marries whom. Also the subplot between Lucentio and Bianca shows subtle signs of objectifying women, because Lucentio does not necessarily view Bianca as his equal. On the contrary, he sees her mostly as a prize to be won.

Adaptations

To create a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew", the writers and directors of the movie "10 things I Hate About You" had to change some aspects of the original piece to make it more accessible to modern audience. Even though the movie and the play have differences, there are some clues that connect both pieces. In the movie, the opening of the story is about the social life of a group of teenagers on high school, basically the same idea about the hierarchy of nobility in the play. During the movie, references to Shakespeare give clues to the inspiration for the film. The first clue comes from the characters' names. Bianca carries the same first name as the corresponding character in The Taming Of The Shrew, while Katharina from the play becomes Kat in the film. Their last name, Stratford, is a reference to Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-Upon-Avon. The name of the high school, Padua, is the same as the name of the town that is the setting for the play. Also, the school that was chosen for filming was a visual reference to the architecture of Shakespeare's time in the "castle-like" design of the high school. In conclusion, although the movie has a purpose of entertaining, it is a reflection of the Shakespeare classic "The taming of the shrew".

External Links

1.The Taming of the Shrew "Full Script"

2.Taming of the Shrew: List of Scenes

3. William Shakespeare: Biography

4. The Taming of the Shrew: Movie Trailer

5. The Taming of the Shrew Summary and Analysis

6. William Shakespeare: Quotes

7. The Taming of the Shrew: New York Times

8. The Taming of the Shrew: Online Quiz

9. William Shakespeare: Plays

10.The Taming of the Shrew: Act 1 Audiobook

References

• Billington. M. (2012). The Taming of the Shrew – review. The Guardian. pp. 01-02.

• Costa. M. (2012). The Taming of the Shrew: 'This is not a woman being crushed'. The Guardian. pp. 01-05.

• Kahn. C. (2013). "The Taming of the Shrew": Shakespeare's Mirror of Marriage. Modern Language Studies. Vol. 5, No. pp. 88-102.

• Seitz. J. (2012). The Taming of the Shrew: A real wedded couple illuminated the roles of Kate and Petruchio in Stephen Mills' well-loved ballet. The Austin Chronicle. pp. 01

• Stevens. A. (2010). The Taming of the Shrew (review). Project Muse. pp.491-495.