Essay on Contrasting Couples in The Taming of the Shrew

Use of Contrasting Couples in The Taming of the Shrew William Shakespeares comedy, The Taming of the Shrew illistrates the difficulty of trying to tame a headstrong, stubborn, and a high-spirited woman so that she will make a docile wife. The one attempting to tame Kate, the shrew, is Petruchio. They contend with each other with tremendous vitality and have a forced relationship. In contrast, there is another romantically linked couple who seemingly possess an ideal relationship. These young lovers, Bianca and Lucentio, share a love that is not grounded in reality, but in fantasy. These two sub-plot characters are stock characters and Shakespeare creates the irony of the play through the differences between the two couples. It†¦show more content†¦He is a somewhat colorless suitor, devoted to Bianca from first glance (Cane 356). Their marriage is not one of simple connivance, but one of true love. The relationship between Kate and Petruchio is completely different from the love of Bianca and Lucentio. Kate is a neglected, hurt, and humiliated daughter who disguises her grief from herself as well as others with a noisy shrewish temper (Craig 342). She has a fiery disposition and a reputation for reacting violently to people. The challenge of capturing her is Petruchios real attraction to her. He can be seen as a rough, unfeeling, greedy, swash-buckler who cares nothing for Kates feelings (so long as she has money). Incontrast to Biancas and Lucentios love, their relationship is not built around romance (Snider 327). At the beginning, the two do not even like each other. Their marriage is unusual because they are forced to have this harsh relationship. The differences between the two couples contributestowards the element of irony in the play. After both marriages, the couples begin to make drastic changes in their, previously, ever so constant personalities. Now the characters seem to make a total switch in behaviors. Bianca becomes a disobedient wife and her disregard for Lucentios wishes as a newlywed leads to speculation as to what her behavior may be when they have been married longer (Hazlitt 321). This is shown at a banquet where