Shakespeare's Comedy: The Taming of the Shrew

"Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow, / And dart not scornful glances from those eyes, / To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor: / It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads, / Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds, / And in no sense is meet or amiable. / A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, / Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty; / And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty / Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it. / Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, / Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee, / And for thy maintenance commits his body / To painful labour both by sea and land, / To watch the night in storms, the day in cold, / Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe; / And craves no other tribute at thy hands / But love, fair looks and true obedience; / Too little payment for so great a debt. / Such duty as the subject owes the prince / Even such a woman oweth to her husband; / And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour, / And not obedient to his honest will, / What is she but a foul contending rebel / And graceless traitor to her loving lord? / I am ashamed that women are so simple / To offer war where they should kneel for peace; / Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway, / When they are bound to serve, love and obey. / Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, / Unapt to toil and trouble in the world, / But that our soft conditions and our hearts / Should well agree with our external parts? / Come, come, you froward and unable worms! / My mind hath been as big as one of yours, / My heart as great, my reason haply more, / To bandy word for word and frown for frown; / But now I see our lances are but straws, / Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare, / That seeming to be most which we indeed least are. / Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, / And place your hands below your husband's foot: / In token of which duty, if he please, / My hand is ready; may it do him ease."

This speech finalizes Katherine’s character transformation. She makes a complete turnaround from being the “shrew,” totally against men and relationships in the beginning of the play, and at the end, during this speech, she actually defends the role of a wife.
Some of the main points which Katherine is arguing in this speech are that the husband is the “lord,” “king,” or “governor” in the relationship, and a wife who is “peevish” or “sullen” is a traitor to her ruler. It is the husband’s job to provide protection, support, and comfort to the family/relationship, while it is the wife’s duty to be obedient, loyal, and loving. Finally, she explains how these roles in the relationship are only natural, for the male body is strong and capable, mainly to provide the protection and support he owes to the wife and family. The woman’s body, on the other hand, is softer and weaker, able to provide love, yet not fully able to stand up to the husband.
But why does Katherine change her position so drastically? It is possible she simply gives up and become totally submissive to her husband, Petruccio. She may have just realized this was her only option, seeing as how Petruccio was not going to ease up on “taming” her. She may also have been jealous of Bianca, for men were attracted to Bianca, rather than herself. Katherine therefore dealt with these emotions as bitterness, almost hostility, towards all men. Once Petruccio comes along and chooses Katherine, however, she feels acceptable and is able to let her guard down. The most probable cause of this change, however, is Kate’s realization that the only way she can be happy is if she allows herself to accept the role she play in society, and that everything will fall into place afterwards.

The method Shakespeare uses to make this play a comedy is simply outrageousness, and completely ridiculous scenarios. The switching of roles and identities sets up for inevitable chaos, which in itself is humorously entertaining – to see others accidently set themselves up for awkward situations, trying to wiggle their way out, is funny! Not only do these characters alter their identities, but they all have such similar names ending in -io, which makes the situation even more overwhelmingly chaotic. In order to keep all of these characters straight the viewer/reader would be stressed, so all one can do is laugh at the absurdity.
Also, Katherine’s behavior is so out of character (for a woman) that it is shocking. It is entertaining to see something other than the norm, especially when they are making a fool of themselves. In Shakespeare’s time, this play must have gotten even more laughs out of the audience, for the Christian, patriarchal society of the times would have contrasted more with Katherine’s behavior than our, more progressive, society does today.

I enjoyed this play because it was honest humor. There was nothing stupid, distasteful, or referencing something that I had to look up. Shakespeare just jokes about typical human nature, which everyone can relate to. Reading something a little light-hearted and comical in school is something new to me, and was definitely a welcomed breath of fresh air. Normally, I’m trudging through a book with my brow furrowed, troubled by some tragedy that inevitably leads to a not-so-happy ending. Comedy is a genre we students are not all that familiar with or exposed to. It is very interesting to analyze what we find funny and why, and how authors like Shakespeare are able to understand this and make us laugh. I believe this genre deserves a bigger role in literature in school.