What is Taming of the Shrew trying to say about the issue of gender

It represents a 16th-century society which strongly despised women and it was dominated by men. A social system called patriarchy is seen to develop through the play where men are central authority’s figures in the society, occupying political leadership roles. As a result of this social system, women had a role of submissive in the English society. The play appears to be considering that gender is a social construction which can be achieved by either men or women. Apart from examining the roles of women alone, Shrew appears to be investigating the masculinity ideal forms and also bonding of men (Henderson). If a woman was found to be rebellious against her husband and also if she did not behave well she was view as aggressively assertive.

For instance, in the play, Kate was a very violent and hot-tempered woman who had sharp tongue; she was completely unwilling to adopt the housewife roles according to the society. This character makes it harder for Kate to get a man to marry her; as a result, she is seen to be a burden to her father financially. Throughout the whole Shrew play, both Petruchio and Kate fight and urge every now and then in order to show the level of power that each one has. When Petruchio married Kate she is seen to be aggressive and rebellious, as Petruchio tries to create in her a woman of good substance and a desirable wife. Women are seen to have no ability to think for themselves.

They have been discriminated because they have no say in the family, for instance in the play the way in way that Kate married Petruchio is politically and socially wrong in the standards of the current world. In 21st century there are certain rules which need to be followed for a marriage to take place. First, there must be love connection between bride and the bridegroom, the etiquette of the groom at the wedding needs to be civilized not what is portrayed by Petruchio and it is not acceptable that the groom is given a reward by the father of the bride for marrying his daughter. The actions which are taken by the family go against all those principles. The play is also about a self- confident woman who is dealing with the principles of how she is supposed to act and live within the society in 1600s.

In order for Kate to be accepted in the society, she must learn and submit to the unwritten principles of the society. Women have been put in a place where they are not supposed to think for themselves Katherine who was not willing to submit to the roles of a housewife, towards the end of the play is seen to have been tamed. She starts to praise her husband Petruchio. The change that Kate appreciates is not a character based but one of altitude. Kate becomes a very bad-tempered woman in order to compensate for the distress and pain that her father made her goes through because he favored Bianca. She is also aggressive and refuses to be married to unworthy husband.