Taming of the Shrew
Petruchio woos Katherina
A comedy by William Shakespeare in which a headstrong woman, Katherine, is "tamed" into an obedient wife by her suitor Petruchio through psychological manipulation and deprivation.
The play's gender politics have made it controversial in modern times, with productions variously playing it as farce, satire, or cautionary tale.
She's a shrew who needs taming alludes to the play's premise.
- Elizabethan EnglandBritain under the first Elizabeth
- BiancaItalian for white
- stageRaised performance platform
- dowriesWealth given at marriage
- gender rolesExpected behaviors by sex
irony · farce · slapstick · Petruchio · marriage · wedding night · courtship rituals · transformation · metaphor · sun and moon · obedience · rebellion · slap · A Midsummer Night's Dream · conformity · social hierarchy · soliloquy · patriarchal society
- Classic BooksPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Moby-Dick, Great Expectations
- ShakespeareRomeo, Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello
- Classic PlaysHamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet
- Shakespeare FilmsHamlet, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear
- Literary AdaptationsOliver Twist, Les Miserables, Doctor Zhivago, Count of Monte Cristo, Treasure Island
- Italian InfluenceRomeo and Juliet, Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Venice, Verona
Taming of the Shrewtragedy
Disastrous or sorrowful event
Shakespearean tragedy · King Lear · Hamlet · Macbeth · Othello
Taming of the ShrewA Doll's House
Ibsen's feminist stage work
The Awakening · The Feminine Mystique · feminist literature · Antigone · Medea
Taming of the Shrewwildness
Untamed, uncontrolled state
defiance · nonconformity · One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest · untamed · unbroken
tame, tamer, tamest, tamely, tameness, untamed, tames, shrew, shrews