The Taming of the Shrew 965the communion wine as if he were at a pub, and lec-
tures the wedding guests on the Tenth Command-
ment as he “rescues” his bride from their clutches.
Though audiences find Petruchio and Kate lively,
irrepressible, and witty, their fellow Paduans con-
sider them rude, offensive, and risible. If Petruchio
and Kate wish to escape being regarded as objects
of ridicule and laughter, they must attain some
standing and respect in society, preferably without
compromising their lively spirits.
Despite her disdain for the social constraints
on female speech and unruly behavior, Kate wishes
to conform to the societal dictum that women are
meant to marry. Although she angrily objects to being
auctioned off to a suitor, the prospect of remaining a
spinster while her younger sister marries so infuriates
Kate that she ties up Bianca and hits her; and when
it seems that Kate’s fiancé has jilted her, thus render-
ing her unmarriageable, she weeps. Still later, Kate is
reluctant to challenge social norms of modesty and
seemliness by complying with her husband’s request
to kiss him in the middle of the street.
Despite his bluster and bravado, Petruchio is also
sensitive to social mores. When wooing Kate, he is
quick to announce that he is a gentleman, a state-
ment that she challenges by striking him, confident
that a gentleman will not strike back. But Kate fails
to recognize that the chief distinguishing mark of
a 16th-century gentleman is his ability to capably
tame, or “gentle,” his hawk, hounds, and wife. When
she later insists that a stylish new cap is appropriate
for a gentlewoman, Petruchio replies that when she
is gentle (well-mannered), she shall have one, too.
Both Kate and Petruchio wish to be respected
by their peers, and each desires the other’s respect as
well; but Petruchio will not be respected socially if
he appears to be henpecked, and Kate will continue
to elicit catty remarks as long as she is considered
shrewish. In a society where men are considered
superior to women, both partners must work for
the same goal—respect for the husband. In the final
scene, the stakes are made clear when the other
males smugly assume that Petruchio is henpecked:
Tranio: ’Tis well, sir, that you hunted for
yourself: ’Tis thought your deer does hold
you at a bay.Baptista: O ho, Petruchio! Tranio hits
you now.
Lucentio: I thank thee for that gird,
good Tranio.
Hortensio: Confess, confess, hath he not
hit you here? (5.2.59–63)But when the three bridegrooms square off in a
betting contest to prove which husband garners
the proper respect from his wife, Petruchio wins.
Kate carries out his commands with alacrity as she
masterfully drives the outraged “froward wives”
onstage—“prisoners,” as Petruchio puts it, “to her
womanly persuasion.” No one dares to interrupt
when, in the longest speech awarded to any char-
acter in the play, Kate labels the recalcitrant wives
“froward and unable worms” and lectures them on
seemly behavior. Speaking for the establishment,
Kate can at last speak to her heart’s content.
In publicly enacting the only socially approved
roles for a married couple, Petruchio and Kate posi-
tion themselves as winners and their smug rivals as
losers. Because he can successfully command his
wife’s obedience, Petruchio becomes more “manly”
than the other two bridegrooms, just as Kate’s will-
ing submission to this “manly” husband renders her
more “womanly” than her rivals. Despite this out-
ward conformity to social mores, the two retain their
lively individuality. Under the aegis of manly com-
mand, Petruchio can now encourage Kate’s spirited
volubility without fear of social ridicule, while Kate’s
uninterrupted performance of the longest speech in
the play reassures us that she has her fondest wish—
to “be free / Even to the uttermost, as I please, in
words” (4.3.88–89).
LaRue SloanSex and SexuaLIty in The Taming of
the Shrew
Opening with Christopher Sly’s demand that his
“wife” come to bed and ending with Petruchio’s
“Come, Kate. We’ll to bed,” The Taming of the Shrew
uses sex and sexuality to illustrate the “right suprem-
acy” of males in marriage. Throughout, “froward”
(unruly) women who speak their minds are com-
pared to horses, hawks, hens, and wasps that must be
tamed socially and sexually by their husbands.