User:Alpha Group 1/The Taming of the Shrew Act 2 Analisis

Plot

All literature works are composed of a plot, sequence of events that make up a story. A plot is composed of 5 elements: exposition, which is a introduction of the story; rising action, events that lead of to the climax; the climax, is considered the high point or the most exciting part of the story where all conflicts in the story reach a peak. Followed by the falling action, that are consequences of the climax and at last the resolution. William Shakespeare’s plays are said to be an excellent example of plot structure, due to the fact his elements are usually easy to identify. Act 2 of The Taming of the Shrew, is composed of various actors: Katherine, Petruchio, Baptista, Bianca, Gremio, Hortensio, Litio, Cambio, Tranio, and Biondello; who reunited in Baptista’s house in Padua. At the beginning of the act, Gremio, Cambio, Petruchio, Litio, Tranio, and Biondello arrive to Baptista’s house with the purpose of Petruchio meeting with Katherine and asking Baptista if he could marry her, as for the others, they all had a plan with the intention of conquering Bianca’s heart and demonstrate Baptista who was the best suitor for his daughter. All men involve in conversation, each with a special task, when Baptista decides to let Petruchio meet his daughter Kate. From the moment in which they meet, the conversation Petruchio and Katherine had was fighting with each other; Petruchio trying to pursue Kate into marrying him and Kate being herself and insulting him in every way possible. After a long time of discussion between them, Baptista, Gremio and Tranio enter interrupting their scene, with the interest of seeing how Petruchio was doing in trying to pursue his daughter into marrying him. In this moment is where the climax is seen, when Petruchio lies and answers that Katherine has agreed of marrying him and that the wedding date was decided. Due to the event that occurred in the climax, now Bianca was suitable for marriage and all the suitors started discussing trying to demonstrated they where the best to marry Baptista’s youngest daughter. At last, it was decided that Tranio was the gentlemen who was going to marry Bianca.

Setting

The story is set in a city called Padua, Italy during a time that is unsure but is thought to be during the Italian Renaissance. In that period, Padua was a prominent town with universities who had fathered people like Galileo Galilee. Due to the concentration of knowledge of this town, it is thought that Shakespeare placed the play here deliberately to teach a lesson. Padua also housed the upper middle class which clearly affects the play because every character excluding the servants are wealthy. In this play specifically the author excludes any prominent figures or historical events and focuses more on the shrewdness of woman.In this act Shakespeare places the play in the house of Babtista, father of Bianca and Katherina. Throughout the play we have a disgruntled Katherina creating conflict wherever she goes. This especially create the mood of the act which is an extreme tension between the characters. After a few scenes the author also presents the scene where Katherina and Petruchio are verbaling fighting but in actuality seems more of a dance between both and in this particular scene we start to see a change in Katherina. She is now unwillingly starting to fall for him and we know this is so because after the discussion, Petruchio denounces his marriage to her and his leave to another town and she doesnt try to stop him instead she remains silent. The setting in this and in every type of story is fairly important due to the fact that it helps create a mood and re-force the theme of the play, novel, story, etc.

Characters

Authors present the characterization techniques in a play by the actions and the speech of the characters. To facilitate the comprehension of what a character is trying to portrait, the author may use: stage directions, names of places and of the characters, discourse of characters, stage business, para-linguistic factors, silence and sound, plot development, ambiguity, unspoken discourse of the stage, amongst others. In “The Taming of the Shrew”, Shakespeare uses several of these factors. For example, in stage directions, he indicates clearly when and where characters should be positioned in the acts and the scenes. In the discourse of the characters, Shakespeare integrates the commentary of the characters to describe Bianca and Katharina. Also, the actions of Katharina, such as she hitting other characters, show her personality. In “The Taming of the Shrew”, Katharina is the protagonist. In act II, the main characters are: Katharina, Bianca and Petruchio. The secundary characters are: Lucentio, Gremio, Tranio, Hortensio, Biondello, Sly and Bartholomew. In act II, the static characters are Katharina, Bianca, Petruchio, Lucentio, Gremio, Hortensio, Biondello and Bartholomew. The dynamic character is Baptista. Bianca is a stereotype of a “lady”. Bianca: She is a beautiful, young, delicate, sweet, considerate and modest lady. She is the youngest daughter of Baptista and Katharina’s sister. She has three suitors: Hortensio, Gremio and Lucentio, but her father has decided that she can’t marry until her elder sister does. Until this happens, Bianca’s father won’t let her interact with any of her suitors, she will only receive visits from tutors that will educate her. Bianca is victimized by her sister, since Katharina constantly offends her and since Bianca is forced to wait for her marriage because of her sister. Bianca appears initially in act II, where she shows how she’s frustrated due to Katharina.

Katharina: She is the eldest daughter of Baptista and Bianca’s sister. The “shrew” that the title of the play refers to is Katharina. She tends to be rude, immodest, violent and spoiled. However, at the beginning of act II, Katharina shows a different side. She presents sensitivity while manifesting to her father that she truly wants to be heard and loved. Then, as the act continues, she returns being violent and offensive with the people that surround her, this happens when she’s with her tutor and with Petruchio. Katharina’s life is influenced by Baptista, who is searches a husband for her; and Petruchio, who throughout the play will cause a significant change in her.

Petruchio: He is a rich young man from Verona, Italy. He’s greedy and mischievous; and on the other hand, he’s secure, smart, perseverant and charismatic. He’s suiting Katharina despite the negative qualities he hears of her because he’s interested in Baptista’s money. He manages to respect, tolerate and even complement Katharina’s offenses and attacks. Money is his motivation.

Hortensio: He’s a young man that suits Bianca. He finds Katharina a suitor: Petruchio, action that will enable him to marry Bianca. He’s a smart, perseverant and at the same time, mischievous man. With the help of Petruchio, he pretends to be a tutor of music and mathematics, changes his name to Licio and says that he’s from Mantua so that he can be able to request tutoring Bianca and therefore, see her. During act II, Petruchio presents Hortensio as Licio. He is permitted to tutor Baptista’s daughters, and when first tutoring Katharina, she hits him. Hortensio is influenced by Bianca, who is his motivation and Petruchio, who throughout the play will have an impact on him.

Baptista: He’s is the father of Katharina and Bianca. He lives in Padua, Italy. He’s a rich, just, caring, intelligent and considerate man; respected and admired by the men that surround him. On the other hand, his family situation isn’t very pleasant, for he constantly grieves for his eldest daughter’s behavior. In act II, he’s surprised that Katharina has a suitor and even more astonished that she’ll get married. Then, as the act continues, he fairly accepts that Lucentio (played by Tranio) will marry Bianca for he is the one that can offer her the most. Bianca and Katharina are who influence Baptista’s life.

Gremio: He’s a rich, old and honest man that suits Bianca; he was her first suitor. He’s also Baptista’s neighbor. In act II, he presents Cambio to Baptista. At the end of this same act, he, disappointed, looses Bianca because he isn’t able to offer her as much as Lucentio (played by Tranio). Bianca was what influenced Gremio.

Tranio: He’s Lucentio’s servant. Tranio is a loyal, serviceable and respectful man. Due to the orders of his master, Tranio pretends to be Lucentio for some time so that Lucentio himself can pretend to be someone else. In act II, Tranio visits Baptista and in a very convincible manner comes as Lucentio to claim that he’s suiting Bianca. He successfully makes Baptista accept him as the husband of Bianca since he was the one that offered the most. Tranio’s influence was his master Lucentio.

Lucentio: He comes from Pisa, Italy. His father’s name is Vicentio, a rich well-known man. Lucentio’s a perseverant, charismatic, creative, rich and young man. He falls in love with Bianca and to be able to see her, he pretends to be a tutor in Latin, Greek, music and mathematics and changes his name to Cambio. In act II, Gremio presents him as Cambio to Baptista who allows him to enter and tutor his daughters. Lucentio’s influenced by his love for Bianca.

Themes

Economy and Marriage

Act two of “The Taming of the Shrew” accentuates the relationship between economy and marriage. The economic stability of the suitors of Katherine and Bianca is what determines who they are going to be married by. The decision of marriage is negotiated in base of the economic aspect of the suitor rather than the mutual love or passion between the couple. Act two presents the theme of economy and marriage when Katherine is said to marry Petruchio and when Bianca’s husband is chosen. Before presenting Katherine to Petruchio, Baptista had first asked him about his economic stability and since he mentioned to be wealthy he was permitted to meet Katherine which leaded to the arrangement with Baptista to marry her saying that: ‘Tis bargain’d twixt us twain’, even though Katherine never consented the marriage. The decision of whether Gremio or Tranio (as Lucentio) was going to marry her was based on what each of them had economically available to offer. Tranio is chosen to marry Bianca because he out-vied Gremio’s offerings. But if Gremio would’ve had more properties or wealth to offer then he would’ve been the one to marry Bianca.

Social Roles

The social role theme is really important in the act two of the play “The Taming of The Shrew”. Each character of the act carries out a specific social role within the play. Society defines the social position of a character depending on his or hers apparel, education, gender, age or wealth. The social role of a character is mostly determined by the apparel because it is what other characters notice in the first instance. The characters in act two that change apparel to appear to have another social role are Lucentio, Hortensio, Tranio and Biondello. By simply modifying their appearance Lucentio pretends to be Cambio (a language tutor), Tranio pretends to be Lucentio, Hortensio pretends to be a musician, and Biondello pretends to be a schoolmaster. Each of them have an original social role in which Lucentio is really a wealthy young student, and Tranio and Biondello are Lucentio’s servants. Katherine and Bianca are characters with the social role of high-class young maidens.

Stage Directions

A stage direction is an instruction written into the script of a play to indicate stage actions or movements of performers. In act II of "The Taming of the Shrew", the stage directions informs the reader the actions of the characters that cannot be perceived in the dialogue. Some of the most common used stage directions are the ones in which they tell the reader who enters or exits the scene and the ones that state a character’s action. These types of stage directions are used plenty of times in act II. An example is when Baptista enters the room in which his daughters are having a discussion; the stage direction informs the reader that Baptista enters the scene. Another way the stage direction is used in Act II is when Katherine slaps Bianca and Petruchio. This tells the reader the action that Katharina is doing, if this was not to be present, the situation would be incomplete and the reader could not imagine or perceive the action. By reading this act it can be seen that the stage directions play an important role in the development of the play because it permits the reader to know what is going on so he or her could imagine what is happening. In conclusion, a stage direction helps the reader understand and see better what is happening beyond the dialogue. In this Act the stage directions serve as a guide to tell who is entering or exiting the scene and to tell what action a character is doing. Stage directions may be seen useless, but they help complete the whole situation in the play

Synopsis

The act begins at Baptista’s house with an argument between Katherine and Bianca. Katherine is furious and had Bianca tied by her hands because she wanted to know which suitor Bianca prefered to become his wife. Bianca responds that she does not fancy any suitor, but Katherine insists to know if she likes best Hortensio or Gremio. Then, Bianca mentions to Katherine that she envies her because Gremio suites her and not herself. This infuriates Katherine and leads her to strike Bianca. In that instant Baptista enters defending Bianca by separating Katherine from her side; both sisters leave irritated. After the fight, Baptista is visited by Gremio, Lucentio, Petruchio, Hortensio, Tranio and Biondello.Gremio enters with Lucentio who was in the habit of a mean man, Petruchio enters with Hortensio who was dressed up as a musician, and Tranio enters with Biondello who pretended to be a tutor. Petruchio does not lose time and quickly presents himself to Baptista as a gentleman from Verona, which by hearing of Katherine’s beauty wanted to meet her; at the same moment he presents Hortensio as a music instructor for Katherine. Gremio interrupts Petruchio to present Lucentio as a language schoolmaster named Cambio cunning in Greek, Latin and other languages also offered to tutor Baptista’s daughters. Last, but not least Tranio presents himself to Baptista as Lucentio and as a suitor for Bianca, he offers Biondello for a tutor, with a lute and books. Lucentio, Hortensio and Biondello are leaded to tutor Baptista’s daughters while Petruchio stays with Baptista talking about wooing Katherine. Hortensio returns from being with Katherine with his head broken because she struck him in the head with the lute while he was teaching her. Petruchio demonstrates not being discouraged after this, on the contrary he mentions that knowing of this action he loves her ten times more and is anxious of chatting with her. Baptista brings Katherine to Petruchio so he could meet her. Katherine directs exasperate comments to Petruchio. He, in turn, responds smartly to every comment by contradicting her all the time. Their conversation turns into a one with the use of puny words from each of them until Katherine gets infuriated and strikes him, but they continue arguing and Petruchio states that she should only be married to him and that she should not deny marring him to her father. Baptista returns to Petruchio accompanied by Gremio and Tranio to see how he speed with his daughter. Petruchio lies and assures Baptista that Katherine and he concluded that they would get married upon the next Sunday, even though they never actually concluded anything. For some reason Katherine did not refute this. At this instant Gremio and Tranio see the so anticipated opportunity of marring Bianca and they ask Baptista about it, since her older sister was going to get married this meant Bianca was finally available. Baptista answers them that whoever can assure his daughter greatest dower shall then have Bianca’s love. This meant that Bianca’s marriage depended on who was wealthier. Gremio was the first one to step in, proposing Baptista his house in the city, which was richly furnished, his farm, which had one hundred milking cows, sixscore fat oxen, and an argosy, and if he died it would all be of Bianca. On the other hand, Tranio (as Lucentio) listed to Baptista three to four houses within rich Pisa walls and two thousand ducats by year of a fruitful land, all which shall be her jointure. He also mentions that his father had three argosies, two galliasses and twelve galleys and that he would assure her twice as much whatever Gremio offered. Evidently Gremio was out-vied permitting Tranio to marry Bianca.

Historical Aspects of Act II

When writing the play The Taming of the Shrew, William Shakespeare relied on different literary works from the past, as well as historical events that had happened before. Shakespeare wrote the play within the genre of shrew literature, which was popular in medieval and Renaissance times, appearing in almost every form of literature. Most of the themes that appear on the play where based on past references. Specifically in the Act 2 of The Taming of the Shrew, only a few elements where found that influenced the reason of the authors writing, whereas the elements where used to compare Katherine with the respective ones. This comparison was observed first around the middle of the act, where after Petruchio and Katherine had stopped abusing each other verbally and Kate started to leave. In the moment she starts to turn, Petruchio stops her and starts speaking of how gentle she was and compared Katherine with Diana, the Roman goddess of hunting and virginity. Diana, when studied, relates a lot with the behavior and character of Katherine, starting with the fact they both disliked men. The Roman goddess, known as the child of nature, embodies to her role of hunting protecting and killing the animals that tried to take away her dignity; this can be compared to the way Kate kept fighting with Petruchio in Act 2 in order to state her opinion towards him and to let him know her true personality and thoughts. Also, the goddess known as the virgin remains uncorrupted, maintaining her energy, symbolizing the desire to create brand ideas and methods of working. This last description of Diana also related to Katherine’s way of being, because Kate strongly held to her opinions no matter what Petruchio tried to impose and she always worked in her own way, as she did when she tied Bianca’s’ hands to force information out of her sister’s mouth instead of simply asking. Another element found is when Petruchio is describing Katherine again as someone good and gentle and he compares her with Grissel, the patient wife in Decameron by Boccaccio and in “Clerk’s Tale” by Chaucer. Grissel was a woman who’s patience was tested removing one by one everything she posed and yet after being left with nothing, she always remained patient. Petruchio states that Katherine will become another Grissel and that nothing will ruin her patience, a part of her personality that is seen is not correctly functioning, because he wants to demonstrate to his Baptista, Kate’s father, she has agreed with him to marry each other. In the same speech mention before, where Petruchio is describing Kate to Baptista, another element of historical reference is perceived, when Petruchio compares her to Lucrece, a Roman woman who killed herself after she was raped. Here Petruchio mentions Lucrece to describe how Katherine will be related to sexual allusions and that she will never be involved in such panorama. As William Shakespeare has done before in his other literary works in The Taming of the Shrew he based his work with elements form the past to use them as historical references in order to demonstrate the reader a better description of what he is referring to. On Act 2, the author uses 3 different references form the past when describing Katherine, as a way to describe his character behavior and way of being.

Adaptations:

References

Anonymous (n.d.). Roman goddess diana. Retrieved from http://www.goddess-guide.com/diana.html

Brown , C. (n.d.). Katherine of the taming of the shrew.. Retrieved from http://www.enotes.com/taming-of-the-shrew-essays/katherine-taming-shrew-second-grissel

Filippone, B. (2011, September 11). Patient grissel- introduction. Retrieved from http://bradfilippone.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/patient-grissel-introduction-3/

Pavis, P. (1998). Characterization. Dictionary of the Theater: Terms, Concepts, and Analysis [electronic version]. Canada: University of Toronto, http://books.google.com.pr/booksid=tIXwrduoDMoC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=characterization+techniques+theater&source=bl&ots=8jiSZhXK1v&sig=FJxwebXLWF7q3sBE9im5hlcl91g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UTEqUfjODJOg8gTWv4DwDw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=characterization%20techniques%20theater&f=false.

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