964 shakespeare, William
the successful performance of feminine gender. Wit-
nessing Bianca’s agreement to “humbly subscribe”
to the will of her father, Lucentio concludes that
Bianca is “sweet” and wise, while Katherine, dis-
gusted by her sister’s performance, cannily observes
that Bianca would add crying to her act if she could
think of an excuse for doing so. Bianca’s apparent
conformity to Elizabethan standards of femininity
captivates her suitors, while Katherine’s refusal to
conform provokes them to label her wildcat, fiend,
and devil—”too rough” to be courted.
“Too rough” aptly describes Katherine’s deliber-
ate inversion of “feminine” behavior. Instead of the
prescribed soft, low voice, Katherine’s “shrill alar-
ums” are a “rough sound”—discordant and harsh.
Her bristling at insults suggests a rough, prickly
exterior instead of the soft, pliant skin and “weak
body” of a female. Her rough brawls—breaking a
lute over Hortensio’s head and threatening to “comb
his noddle” with a stool for insulting her—are char-
acteristic of offended males. Her indignant refusal
of Petruchio’s adage “Women are made to bear,
and so are you” (2.1.195) overturns the Elizabethan
emblem of marital harmony that depicted wife and
husband as horse and rider; so her refusal to “bear”
a man pegs Kate as a “rough.” “Rough” could even
mean needing a shave, implying that Kate’s behavior
is perversely masculine.
Because she refuses to be commanded by males,
insists on speaking her mind, and retorts rudely
or even violently when insulted, Katherine is con-
sidered “froward.” By Elizabethan standards, her
behavior turns the world upside down, usurping
the authority and “right supremacy” of the stronger,
“wiser” males. No wonder she is angry, particularly
since the “wiser” males are so easily hoodwinked by
Bianca’s performance of submission and obedience.
Enter Petruchio, an astonishing suitor who slides
effortlessly from indefatigable wooer to madcap
bridegroom; from knightly defender of Kather-
ine’s honor (“I’ll buckler thee against a million”
(3.3.111) to choleric master launching trenchers at
his servants; from eccentric shrew tamer to “mea-
cock wretch” begging his wife for a kiss. While the
page, the widow, and Bianca assume the feminine
graces of a gentlewoman to dupe Sly, Hortensio,
and Lucentio into mistaking performance for reality,
Petruchio’s penchant for slipping in and out of roles
leaves his observers reeling. Is he, as the other suitors
believe, a fool for marrying a notorious shrew, or
does he view “shrew” and “henpecked husband,” or
even “masculine” and “feminine,” as roles? His ability
to verbally transform the sun (traditionally mas-
culine) into the moon (traditionally feminine) and
back again, or the old man into a “fair lovely maid”
and back into a “reverend father,” suggests that even
gender is a performance. Perhaps Katherine can slip
from shrew to gentlewoman and Petruchio from fool
to lord as easily as the boy actors become “Kather-
ine” and “Bianca” for each afternoon’s performance.
In the event, just as Petruchio has foretold, the
epithets “shrew” and “henpecked husband” ricochet
away from Katherine and her groom to “maim . . .
outright” the other newlyweds. Refusing their hus-
bands’ entreaties, “sweet Bianca” and the Widow
transform into shrews, their mates into henpecked
husbands; Petruchio transforms into a Lord who,
like Sly, commands his wife to perform; Katherine,
like Sly’s boy “wife,” complies, perfectly executing
“the grace, / Voice, gait, and action of a gentle-
woman” (Induction 1.127–128). The couple exits
triumphantly, leaving disagreement as to how to
interpret their performance. Has Petruchio, as Hor-
tensio insists, “tamed a curst shrew”? Lucentio’s
skeptical retort, “ ’Tis a wonder, by your leave, she
will be tamed so” (5.2.193), suggests that Katherine’s
“taming,” like Bianca’s “sweetness,” is but an act.
LaRue SloanIndIvIduaL and SocIety in The Taming
of the Shrew
Sixteenth-century England demanded strict con-
formity to social norms, particularly in marriage.
Women who did not marry were pitied, outspoken
women were abhorred, husbands who could not
control outspoken wives were ridiculed, and persons
of either sex could not hope to gain social standing
if they were not “gentle.”
The Taming of the Shrew features two decidedly
ungentle characters. Kate, the shrew of the title,
defies her father, excoriates her suitors, ties up and
strikes her sister, and breaks a lute over her tutor’s
head. Her dauntless suitor Petruchio dresses in mot-
ley for his wedding, punches the priest, tosses back