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The Taming of the Shrew (1591). By William Shakespeare. Introduction to The Taming of the Shrew. Shrew = a sharp-tempered scolding woman
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The Taming of the Shrew(1591) By William Shakespeare
Introduction to The Taming of the Shrew • Shrew = a sharp-tempered scolding woman • Impossible to date the play exactly but evidence marks it as one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies (most likely written in the late 1580’s or early 1590’s). • Written 8-10 years before Much Ado about Nothing (often compared with Shrew)
Each play highlights a bold and saucy pair of protagonists who enter into the battle of wits. • Since much of the cleverness and verbal acumen found in Much Ado is already apparent in Shrew, it is believed that even early in his career Shakespeare was extraordinarily skilled character development, able to pit a headstrong hero and heroine against each other with fantastic results.
Sources for The Taming of Shrew • The primary plot, the story of Katherine and Petruchio, finds its roots in folk tales and songs common in Shakespeare’s day. • In fact, while growing up, Shakespeare was surrounded by a very public debate over the nature of women, including specific arguments on a woman’s duty and role in marriage and family.
The idea of Love, Sex and Marriage during the 17th Century • The term ‘family’ commonly used in the Renaissance to denote a household (including servants) and in this age the law regarded women ‘as either married or to be married’ to be in one • It is quite common for girls to married at the age of 12 and boys at 14 in the 16th century (a practice less tolerated during Shakespeare’s time) • Hence courtship and matrimony involved emotional and personal significance as well as prime public importance
Nonetheless entry into a married state was not as rigidly controlled as one assumed • Girls and boys are allowed to be married once they reach their teen and parental consent is not required • Regardless of where Shakespeare drew the basis for the text, the fact remains that he masterfully presents us with a well-founded, carefully developed drama.
Marriage in the Renaissance England • Marriage statistics indicate that the mean marriage age for the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras was higher than many people realize. Data taken from birthdates of women and marriage certificates reveals mean marriage ages to have been as follows: • 1566-1619 - 27.0 years • 1647-1719 - 29.6 years • 1719-1779 - 26.8 years • 1770-1837 - 25.1 years
The marriage age of men was probably the same or a bit older than that of women. (In 1619, it was about 23 for women, 26 for men.) The age of consent was 12 for a girl, 14 for a boy, but for most children puberty came two or three years later than it does today. • Oddly enough, there seems to be a period in the late sixteenth century when the mean marriage age of women in and around the area of Stratford-on- Avon dropped as low as 21 years: the mean marriage age from 1580 to 1589 was about 20.6 years, and it was in this decade that Shakespeare, at the age of eighteen, married Anne Hathaway.
The reason for late marriage among labourers and the middle class was simple enough: it took a long time for a couple to acquire enough belongings to set up housekeeping, even in a room of their parents' home. • Young love, however romantic, had to be kept in check if the two lovers were to survive in a world where subsistence earnings would not purchase a roof over their heads and put food on the table. • Children of noble birth ran a great risk if they tried to marry without the approval of their parents, since they would be left without resources. Perhaps the caution of young Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing has something to do with the fear of acting without permission: he is careful to make sure that his loved one, Hero, is the sole heir to her father's estate (see 1.1.242-243).
Induction in the play • The induction (part of the play which lies outside, but leads into, the main action) of the play also has its roots in popular debate. • Although inductions were common in 16th and 17th dramas, Shrew is the only play in which Shakespeare features this framing device. • For the Shrew’s induction, Shakespeare features the tale of a beggar who finds himself mysteriously in power in a rich man’s world. • Regardless of where Shakespeare drew the basis for the text, the fact remains that he masterfully presents us with a well-founded, carefully developed drama.
Performance history (Renaissance) • The play has experienced great popularity through the years because of themes addressed (marriage, duty, identity, family). • It is also the most potentially offensive since it addresses issue on submissive woman. • Its popularity made it difficult to trace its exact performance history.
John Fletcher created a sequel to Shakespeare’s work with his 1611 play The Woman’s Prize, or The Tamer Tamed. • Aside from contemporary spin-offs, in 1663 the Restoration stage became home to a popular production of Shakespeare’s Shrew. • After 1663, though, Shrew slipped off the boards, and no record of a production in its original form again until 1844.
Reviews of the play “TTOTS is a remarkable example of Shakespeare’s repeated attempts to make the public accept realistic comedy.” George Bernard Shaw, 1897 “There is no doubt at the end of TTOTS that he or she who gives most, not in terms of the contract of love, must inevitably get most .” John Russell Brown, 1957
The Taming of the Shrew (1967) - Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton
