Essay on Taming of the Shrew: Stand by Your Man -- Taming Shrew Essays

The Taming of the Shrew Stand by Your Man - The Psychotherapist Perspective The universal nature of the themes in The Taming of the Shrew, beg analysis and social critique. This comedic farce, by William Shakespeare, creates an elegant depiction of a modern life and romantic love with all of its masks and pretensions. It is easy to assume the positioning of a psychotherapist while witnessing the drama of Katherine and Petruchios love affair unfolding. Concepts like emotional repression and therapeutic catharsis neatly fit the taming scenario. In fact, this diddle offers many new insights into what it takes to create an enduring, viable marriageif one understands it from a very contemporary, psychotherapeutic or even spiritual point of view. If one is disconcert by the recent feminist perspectives of this play, it is easy to miss the integrity and practicality expressed in Katherines final exhortation to women on how to love their men Thy economise is thy lord, thy life, thy kee per, Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee, And for the maintenance commits his body To painful labour both by sea and land, .I am ashamed that women are so simple To offer fight where they should kneel for peace.. (Act V, ii, (150-153), (165-166) Viewed through the lens of a one kind of feminist critic, we could ask wasnt Kates taming the result of a brutal teach by a manipulative Petruchio who was a kind of shrewd behavioral psychologist? For at the close of the play, in this passage especially, Kate appears to have metamorphosed from an intractable, ill-tempered woman into a subdued, submissive Stepford Wife for Petruchio. And wasnt her final speech a humilia... ...nt to creating a deeper, more harmonious relationship involved a mature acceptance of the dark, can sides of Kate. The baggage of her wounded past with all of its unmet needs had been waiting to be loved and transformed. In the radical courtship of Kate and Petruchio, all buttons got pressed, character armor was released, and in the mirror of lover and beloved, childhood vulnerabilities eventually diminished freeing up enormous reserves of creative energy. It is in this light that I appreciate Kates final impassioned speech to the other women who, in their selfish defiance of their new husbands had acted immaturely. For here, Shakespeare ironically exposes Bianca as the real, untamed shrew and reveals a very keen and loving Katherine. Works CitedShakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. David Bevington. New York Longman, 1997