The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew

I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;
If wealthily, then happily in Padua

 

 

“Romeo and Juliet” is a story about two young lovers of opposing great houses, both destined to die from the moment of their first meeting.  A tragedy of Romeo and Juliet who, though each loves the other deeply, know their parents will not ever stand for them to be married, and thus forces them to hide their marriage from their families. Yet when Romeo is banished for the killing of Tybalt, and Juliet is forced to agree to marry Paris, it takes a desperate plan from Friar Lawrence to give hope for the two ever uniting again. This plan, though it does its part in uniting them, leads them both only to death. On the other hand entirely is “The Taming of the Shrew”, a Shakespearian comedy about the wish of so many young men to marry the wonderful Bianca, but before doing so, must first get her sister Katharine the Shrew a husband. When Katharine is married to the odd Petruchio, he goes about “taming” her by obscure means. The story ends anti-climatically, with a speech by Katharine about the proper behavior of a wife, showing Petruchio she truly is tamed. These two plays are very unlike one another, in so many ways one would not think to even compare the two. The common grounds of marriage still stand between the two plays, though with Romeo and Juliet, and Katharine and Petuchio being fairly opposite to one another. The main couples of each play are drastically different, where Romeo and Juliet are blindly devoted to one another, Petruchio and Katharine are not even very fond of each other at all and marry only for money, and where Romeo and Juliet die tragically at the end to be with one another again, Katharine lives with Petruchio as his obedient pride only to be spared the psychological games he played with her, and perhaps most striking is the pure opposition personality wise Romeo and Juliet have with Petruchio and Katharine.

 

Juiliet and Romeo can be said to be overly devoted to one another, almost to the point of being stupid, and sickeningly sweet. “Good Night, Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow." Romeo and Juliet could not find a logical way to be together under their parents’ eye, so they interact in secret with one another, concocting plans to be together, and giving their confidence only to Friar Lawrence in the end. Even when Romeo kills Tybalt, Juliet’s own cousin, after he murdered Mercutio, Juliet will not bring herself to spite him, and speaks in opposites as is done often through the play, showing her dueling feeling towards Romeo as Tybalt’s murder. “ Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! Dove-feathered raven! wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of divinest show!” Though she quickly dismisses her split thoughts, and gives grievance for speaking ill of her love.   “Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangled it?” Though it could be said Juliet is rash for dismissing Romeo’s murder, it speaks highly for how devoted she is to him. She even defied her own father by refusing to marry Parris, rather dyeing in the streets then being unfaithful to her husband. Petruchio, though, seeks a wife only for the money in her dowry, as he says himself.  “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua” He cares not who he marries as long as he gets money in the process, and thus not devoted to any one in particular. He states often how the prospect of marrying a shrew is no problem for him, if her dowry is likable, and he explains in length how he plans to humble her, by starving her and keeping her without sleep, all on the pretense of love, until she gives into his will. “And be it moon, or sun, or what you please. And if you please to call it a rush candle, Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me”

            Throughout the play it is made clear what a hopeless, dramatic, immature romantic Romeo tends to be. He goes into depressing bouts at numerous points in the story, first when Rosalind fails to return his love, then when he receives banishment for killing Tybalt, at which point he threatens to kill himself after an emotional complaint of banishment. “Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say 'death;'” The most mature we ever see Romeo, really, is at Juliet’s death bed. Though for all Romeo’s faults, he can be said to be a likeable character. Petruchio though, is not nearly as likeable, if only because he has not Romeo’s innocent faults. Petruchio is sly and conniving, but witty beyond all else. His treatment of Katharine is inhumane and ugly, whilst Romeo’s love of Juliet is endearing. They have no real relatable qualities between them, making them almost foils of each other.

            Juliet is seen as the rasher of the two lovers, and the smarter as well, though she can be just as immature as Romeo, specifically when she learns of his banishment. Unlike Romeo, though, she actually finds ways to overcome her troubles, even if the plan is not entirely wise, as she shows when committing to take the potion to feign her own death. Even her refusal to marry Parris shows how beyond her years she is, and her ability to know when to lie and hold her tongue. It also portrays how defiant she is, an individual who will not always comply. Katherine is seen as a ‘shrew’ a bitter, intolerable women who is hard to deal with. She often disregards others, and refuses to be placid as women are expected to be. She speaks her mind openly, to others dislike, and is quiet rash and violent. She shows this by tying her sister’s hands behind her head, and smacking her, as well as beating her own tutor with a lute. She also is smart, though she does fall to Petruchio’s will in the end, it is only to save herself from the distress he put her through, wise enough to know when to give up.  

            The most contrasting, perhaps, is how the two plays end, one with the two lovers committing suicide after finding each other dead, unable to live without the other with them (This is followed by the two opposing families making up, but that is less important) and the other with a wife abandoning her values to say what a wife owes to a husband, if only to live in peace with him. Both endings revolve around sacrifice, Juliet’s and Romeo’s sacrifice for each other, and Katharine’s sacrifice for her greater good. The only one who does not suffer at all is Petruchio, who actually gets exactly what he wants all through the play.

            There are so many differences between these two plays that go beyond the fact that one is a comedy and one a tragedy. Where Romeo and Juliet are blindly devoted to one another, Petruchio and Katharine are distastefully married, where Romeo and Juliet commit suicide because of the other’s death, Katharine gives in to Petruchio just to deal with him, in their personalities Romeo and Juliet are so completely different then Petruchio and Katharine,  the two couples actually complement one another quiet well. The differences of the plays are obvious, even in their recurring themes. In “Romeo and Juliet”, opposites and duality is a common trend, whilst in “The Taming of the Shrew” pun and wordplay heavily influences the text. Though each has the common feel of Shakespeare in the smooth and memorable way it’s written.