Obedience In A Marriage Theme

A main theme that I identified in the play is stressing the importance of obedience in a marriage. It was greatly over dramatized, but the point remains. The theme of possessing obedience is exemplified in several places throughout the movie and script. The best examples are towards the end of the story. One example in particular is the scene in which Petruchio and Kate are returning to Padua. Petruchio points out how brightly the moon is shining, in the middle of daytime. Kate then corrects him, but Petruchio then tells her, “It shall be moon, or star, or what I list.” (Shakespeare). Kate listens and then agrees that the sun is indeed the moon. The reason I have always loved watching plays, and other performance art, is that I love how they
take normal things within society then blow them up into more dramatic situations. Obedience, a simple element of a relationship is turned into a very interesting set of events and unrealistic situations. While I do not believe that it is necessary to deny someone food and sleep in order to build this obedience, it is important that two members of a committed relationship are obedient to one another. I also thought the ending scene where Kate is addressing the other wives fits this theme well. “Such duty as the subject owes the prince, Even such a woman oweth to her husband;” (Shakespeare). It is also important to note that obedience is only for the wife to possess. The husband must love her and have an obedience to her as well.