Friday, May 18, 2018

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

The Shrew Katherina by Edward Robert Hughes (1898)
The Taming of the Shrew
William Shakespeare
c. between 1590 and 1592
1/5 stars


Baptista Minola of Padua has two lovely daughters: Katherina and Bianca.  Bianca has many suitors, being retiring and maidenly.  Katherina, on the other hand, is a shrew, short of temper and sharp of tongue. Baptisa vows that he will not allow Bianca to marry until her older sister has.

Petruchio comes to Padua, intent on finding a rich wife. Katherina is just such a prospect, and he quickly arranges with Baptista to marry her, and then sets about to tame her.

I tried to view this play through 16th century eyes, rather than 21st century sensibilities, and to take into account that it is a farce, but I still did not care for it.  I even watched a version (my review here), hoping that seeing it staged would make it better, but to no avail.

To begin with, it starts as a play within a play, but that subplot is dropped immediately and never mentioned again.  Then, the humor, even ignoring it's outdated-ness, does not appeal to me.

Also, there is Kate herself; a such termagant is hard to pity.  Petruchio is not a character with whom one can sympathize, either, and is certainly not a hero to be admired. Next, we have the actual taming, psychologically cruel and degrading, which no one deserves, however much a shrew.

The bottom line is that I found nothing enjoyable about the play, and I'm surprised that it continues to be performed.