Taming of the Shrew: Act 5

1. Analyze Kate's final speech. Is she sincere or ironic? Should we take her at her word? Or should we imagine a gap between what she says and what she means? Does the context of her words change their meanings? What are different possibilities in performing this scene? 

I honestly can't really tell if she's being sincere or ironic, but from the reaction Petruchio gives, she must be sincere at least to a certain extent. It is obvious from the end of Act 4 into the beginning of Act 5 that the character of Katherine is completely different from who she was in the beginning. She has been "tamed," and she is now wrapped around Petruchio's finger. If she didn't mean the things she said, she wouldn't have come when he called for her in the first place; she would've simply stayed back like Bianca and the Widow did when they were summoned. I think we should take her at her word because she is now a changed woman - she let love in, or what is on the road to becoming love - and it changed her, honestly for the better.

In performing this scene, body language is key, especially if the audience is questioning Kate's sincerity within her final speech. It should also be taken into account the way that she acts around Petruchio and the way she speaks around him. Does she seem to be acting? As long as the body language, her tone, and her actions all seem consistent, then I'd be positive she's sincere with her words.

2. What happens to the power dynamics in this scene - between men and men, women and women, men and women? 

The gender roles of this time period are brought into perspective by none other than Kate herself. Directly before she begins her final speech, the audience is shown the way the men act when they are alone together. They treat their wives like pieces of furniture that they own and boss them around like they control every aspect of their lives. The most obedient wife wins their bet, which is extremely sexist but pretty normal for the time period. The women mostly stick together, if not only for the aspect that they all have to be loyal to their husbands, but not to the extent that Katherine was. She eventually turns on them and lectures them on the importance of being loyal to their husbands because it is their job to do so, just as Petruchio wanted. Basically, the men ruled everything and women were playthings - fun to have their way with and even more fun to boss around, but if they step out of line, there are dire consequences. 

[I'm totally leaving that up there because it was a really good answer.~]

In the beginning of the play, Baptista had the most power because he controlled when Bianca could be married. This shifts in the end to Petruchio having the most power because he married Katherine and made it possible for Bianca to be married.

Bianca had the most power in the beginning, female wise. This shifts to Katherine having the most power in the end.

Among the men and women, the women are all submissive by the end of the play, which is an especially big change for Katherine who was beating people with instruments and giving snarky, rude responses in the beginning. The men are their superior lords.

Taming of the Shrew: Act 4

1. How is Petruchio's masculinity represented? Examine his treatment of servants, Kate, etc.

Petruchio is presented as an all-powerful man that seems to be in control of everyone, including the servants and a very somber Kate that is being unknowingly controlled. He treats the servants horribly, belittling their work and their positions in the world. He threatens them and strikes several of them, all the while acting mostly nice toward Kate and claiming his irateness is entirely out of love. He is giving Kate a taste of her own medicine and letting her find out how it feels when she acts this way toward other people. He is forcing her to see the error of her ways. 

2. Many critics mark the sun/moon scene in the road to Padua (scene 5) as the turning point in the play which indicates Kate's taming. What is different about this scene? If she is tamed, what is she submitting to? Is it really a "submission," or can it be interpreted in other ways?

This scene is different because in every other scene where Petruchio has challenged Kate, she has always argued back with a witty retort, but this time she doesn't give any. In fact, she doesn't even bother to try and argue with him at all and simply agrees to whatever he says. If, and that is a very big if, Kate is tamed, she is submitting to Petruchio's rule - i.e., she goes along with whatever he says, agrees with him completely, and other things of that nature. I don't think this is really a submission, though. One possible interpretation could be that Kate is simply sick of the way Petruchio has been treating her and is eager to visit her father's home because at least there she will get to eat. Maybe she only goes along with the things Petruchio says because she is desperate for a break from him already, considering that he is getting into her head already.

Taming of the Shrew Acts 2 and 3

1. How does Petruchio "tame" Kate? Consider how he seems to define their roles. Petruchio "tames"Kate by getting into her head. Everything insulting she would say to him, he would turn into something romantic and respond in that manner. He outwitted her, basically. He saw it as his job to be wittier, to twist her words and get inside of her head and "tame" her.

2. How does Katherine act in the scenes where she says little or nothing? For example, in Act 2, scene 1, how does Katherine behave when Petruchio reports on his success in wooing Kate and in their plans for marriage? Because the text provides little explanation, you must decide how she would act based on your interpretation of her character from previous scenes. I think Katherine is acting rather careless about the whole thing. She doesn't think it's right for her father to force her to marry someone whom she just met and whom is obviously playing a part to get something out of her. She knows he doesn't love her, as they just met, and she knows he wants something. Most likely money. However, I think she does like him maybe just slightly. He's witty and sharp tongued just like she is, which I believe is something that would draw her to him. 3. Imagine viewing this play in the Elizabethan era. Identify 4 moments of comedy. The conversation between Kate and Petruchio is comedic because of the insults they sling at each other and the way Petruchio twists her words so easily. Petruchio showing up crazily dressed to his own wedding was comedic because it's just so completely opposite of how he was expected to dress, and he was probably planning on a hasty exit.  When Bianca begins to translate and says things along the lines of "I don't know you" and "I don't trust you" in response to Hortensio telling her he loves her is purely comedic.   The argument at the wedding is comedic because of the way that Petruchio says he is pretty much honored, not to stay with Katherine, but to leave anyway. 4. Disguise is a major theme in TotS. What famous Bible story involves deceit and disguise? [I honestly have no idea at the moment and will fill this answer in when I think of it.] The story of Jacob and Esau is full of deceit and disguise.

The Taming of the Shrew: Induction and Act 1

Induction and Act 1

Describe each character:

• Katherine - She is a "shrew," meaning she is a strong minded, stubborn woman who doesn't let the men around her walk all over her. She's the more outspoken of the sisters, the one who speaks her mind without a filter and refuses to let her father pass her off as a whore regardless of whether she's married or not. She has no interest in marriage or men and would rather beat them for the way they treat women.
• Bianca - She is the softer of the two sisters. She is a "perfect" lady, raised to be gentle and loyal and quiet. She seems to be the more beautiful of the two as well, as she is followed around by several different suitors. Bianca likes to be off by herself playing music and reading, but she isn't adverse to marriage. She's just waiting for her sister to find someone first then she can find her person.
• Gremio - An older man and suitor of Bianca. He is stubborn and determined to win Bianca's hand in marriage. He devises a plan with Hortensio to find a suitor for Katherine so they can have Bianca.
• Hortensio - Another older man and also another suitor of Bianca. He, too, is determined to win her hand in marriage and devises a plan with Gremio to find Katherine a suitor so they can have Bianca.
• Petruchio - A wealthy man from Verona, he has been left with his deceased father's fortune and wants to find a rich wife, money being his only concern in life. Katherine fits this description, considering she is rich, so Petruchio sets his sights on Katherine.
• Lucentio - A young nobleman who comes to Padua to study philosophy but is side tracked when he falls in love with Bianca at first sight. He then dresses up and passes himself off as a tutor, intending to win Bianca's heart as he gets to gradually spend more time alone with her.
• Compare Katherine and Bianca to modern day people - Katherine certainly relates to a lot of modern day women that I know in the aspect that she refuses to let the men label her and would rather put them down for their ill treatment of women than let them chase after her all the time. I don't really know anyone like Bianca who isn't simply playing a part to attract men. It seems like the dainty, gentle, noblewoman routine is more of an act than a real personality.

1.

The Induction portrays role-playing. Who acts the part of whom? Why? How does such role-playing address issues of gender and class? What effects might these representations have on the play? In the Induction, Sly is unknowingly playing the role of a Lord, Page is playing Sly's wife, and Lucentio is playing the role of a tutor. Sly is having a joke played on him, which Page is being a part of. Luciento is trying to win over Bianca's heart. A drunkard playing a Lord shows that social class is really a mental thing; by just being given lavish things, Sly is placed in the mindset of being a noble Lord. Page playing a woman shows that there really isn't much different between the genders. He is able to successfully pass himself off as both male and female, which is apparently an easier task than most people think it would be. These representations could change the focus of the play; nobody is really who they say they are, so people could focus more on that storyline than the Katherin storyline.

2.

From the outset, we learn from Bianca's suitors that Katherine is the less desirable of the two sisters. Examine and question this claim. How are Biance and Katherine different? What makes Katherine rather than Bianca the shrew?  This claim is directly made by Bianca's suitors, who are obviously biased since they favor Bianca more. What gives them the right to make such claims? Bianca and Katherine seem to be polar opposites. Bianca is a gentle, quiet, proper young woman raised to be a model wife someday. Katherine is a violent, stubborn, strong minded woman who has no problem voicing her thoughts or shutting down the authority of men. Katherine refuses to let men label her or let her own father pass her off as a whore because she is unmarried. She honestly has no interest in love or marriage, unlike her sister who is waiting patiently to get married someday. This makes Katherine the shrew simply because she is seen as undesirable because of her temper, personality, and her actions. I personally like Katherine more than Bianca. c:

O Movie Review

[Side note; I didn't proof read this because my brain feels like it's going to explode ... and there are probably typos and dumb sounding sentences ... enjoy~!]

Goodbye Cyprus war-fields, hello high school! The cinematic masterpiece, O, (the movie adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello) finds Shakespeare’s original characters modernized and thrust into teenage lives complete with romance, basketball, and drama. This film is parallel to the original Shakespearean work, adding some extreme violence and even more extremely mature situations. Gun use is one of the main reasons why the film’s debut was pushed back so far – in the wake of the Columbine tragedy, it was too raw and too soon for the film to be seen by the public. Nevertheless, the film finally debuted and has received mixed reviews by several critics. 

The title character, O, called Odin in the movie, is a young black man, a basketball star on scholarship playing for the Hawks, his all-white school’s team. He is the mirror of Othello, the war commander from Venice in the original story. In the film, the character is younger and an athlete instead of a war veteran. O is the star of the team and seems to be liked by everyone around him. He is in love with a white girl called Desi, the coach’s daughter and the love interest of seemingly many boys. Her affections lie with O, of course, much to the dismay of certain others, especially Hugo. It is this love that is chronicled throughout the film, and it is this love that drives Hugo crazy enough to murder several people. 

Character wise, the movie is packed with characters almost identical to those in Shakespeare’s original work. Hugo, Odin’s supposed best friend, is identical to Iago, the scheming mastermind. In both the movie and the play, this character feeds on Odin/Othello’s desire to keep his one true love and sabotaging it, crushing it and ultimately influencing and persuading him to commit unspeakable crimes. Hugo is helped along by his friends Emily (parallel to Emilia) and Roger (parallel to Roderigo). Just as in the play, Hugo creates a master plan and enlists the help of his friends to take down the object of his wrath. 

The film preys on the emotions of the audience with its twists and turns. Take for example the motel scene that takes place between O and Desi. Nowhere in the original play do the characters make love, but Othello does slap Desdemona, injuring her pride more than anything. This is shaken up and crafted into a love scene in the movie, which ultimately results in the rape of Desi when she tells O to stop and he does not. This metaphorically slaps her in her pride, just as he physically harms her. The pain she feels from this is enough to make the viewers’ hearts heavy. And it’s an all too real part of society that light is cast upon in the movie, making it even realer for some viewers. 

Speaking of scenes that prey on emotions, the entire film is chalked full of them. From the very beginning to the end, the viewer feels like they are part of the school and that they are part of everything that happens. They get to feel the heart-wrenching agony of watching a good relationship crumble and get ripped to shreds simply because of a personal grudge. They get to see the inner workings of Hugo’s mind, the mind that conspires to kill and feel no remorse whatsoever about it. 

The final scene of the movie is the most enticing part, the part that will probably draw in more viewers. Hugo has a rather long soliloquy that is capable of sending chills down just about anyone’s spine. His final words are reminiscent of bitterness; he has just committed unspeakable crimes and is being hauled away in a police car, but vows that one day people will see and understand him. If a cold hearted, murderous, angry man isn’t spine tingling, I don’t know what is!

To put it simply, O is almost identical to Othello, with several twists and turns added in for dramatic effect. Things such as making the characters teenagers, adding in angst and mature sexual content, and drug and alcohol use make this film relatable and hard hitting for actual teenagers. Modernizing the play into this film makes it feel much more realistic for the viewers; they get to live – and die – along with the characters and accompany them on the roller coaster thrill rides that their lives become. O is sure to keep viewers on the edge of their seats and hanging on each and every word, just waiting for more to come.