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Ceyx -> RE: BDSM Shakespear? (8/26/2005 7:52:53 AM)
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The Taming of the Shrew is an interesting play from the standpoint of dominance and submission, although just try talking about that in the classroom. I think that people today tend to apologize a bit too much for Shakespeare's apparent sexism is this comedy; we can't imagine that our literary icon would hold any but the most elevated views-- notwithstanding the fact that the obedience of wives to husbands was commonplace and expected by his contemporaries-- and so we often read his plays looking for 'modern' subtleties that aren't always there. The play is far from simple in the way that it sorts power between Katarina and Petruchio. Shakespeare was always thoughtful, even when he was accepting the party line. Still, if it's too easy to say that Shakespeare condemns spirit in women and glorifies the 'breaking' of an uppity bride, then it's probably also too easy to say that Katarina ends the play just as she began it, and is merely asserting herself in a more acceptable or manipulative fashion.
My favorite quote is from Petruchio:
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
What, is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel
Because his painted skin contents the eye?
O no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse
For this poor furniture and mean array.
If thou account'st it shame, lay it on me;
And therefore frolic....
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