Katherina In The Taming Of The Shrew

In many cases throughout history, as well as in modern times, women have been oppressed and portrayed as “lesser” than men. This was undoubtedly the case in William Shakespeare’s time, as well as in his play The Taming of the Shrew. Throughout the play, Katherina, the daughter of a rich gentleman, is referred to as a commodity and is the “shrew” referenced in the title. However, Katherina has many admirable qualities, such as being intelligent, reasonable, and modest. The one of many admirable qualities Katherina has is intelligence. This is noticeable early on in the book when she says: “A pretty peat! It is best put finger in the eye, and she knew why”, when talking about Bianca (1.1. l.78). She is the first one to mention something negative
Being “the shrew”, she is treated very unfairly throughout the book but is still able to stand up and demand the basic necessities for herself. This is shown when she says, “I pray you sir, is it your will to make a stale of me amongst these mates” (1.1. l.57-58). Here, she is being insulted by two of her sister’s suitors but still kindly asks her father (evident by the use of the word “pray”) to help her. Katherina is simply asking not to be mistreated which is a very basic demand. She also shows a reasonable amount of care to others, even servants. When Petruchio strikes a servant bringing a bowl of water and reprimands him for dropping it, Katherina stands up for him and clarifies that “[it is] a fault unwilling” (4.1. l.138). The fact that she is standing up for a servant even when it is her husband who is reprimanding him shows the sense of justice that Katherina has, and how she is willing to make sure everyone gets fair treatment. Last but not least, she shows a reasonable amount of respect to Petruchio. At Bianca (her sister’s) wedding, the 3 recently wedded men decide to have a competition to see which one of their wives are the most obedient. The other two husbands unsuccessfully try to get their wives to come to them, but Katherina immediately arrives, even asking “what is your will sir, that you send for me?” (5.2. l.100) Showing up when someone asks for you is a very simple request,
Up until the end of the book Katherina is known as a “shrew” for which the modern translation would be “bitch”, but though these traits we can see that this is not the case. She exhibits many positive characteristics that were not expected for women in Shakespeare’s time and goes against the gender norms present in that time period. Even now, gender norms largely dominate media, business, and advertising, and it is important that we look past