Fate Post # 2--Taming of the Shrew

After reading The Taming of the Shrew, I was initially rather perplexed when contemplating fate's role in the play. While it may not charge directly to the forefront as it does in a relatively obvious fashion in Richard III, fate nonetheless looms in a more subtle manner over The Taming of the Shrew. Shakespeare evidences its presence during Petruchio and Kate's first conversation, in which Petruchio counters each of Kate's arguments, turning the conversation into a battle of wits. Kate, a woman of intelligence who gained an education through stuyding with tutors, finds herself absolutely perplexed at Petruchio's ability to verbally spar with her and even more shocked at his tendency to successfully counter her insults. She asks Petruchio, "Where did you study all this goodly speech?" to which he replies, "It is extempore, from my mother's wit" (II.1.263-264). "Mothers wit" is understood as natural intelligence, implying that Petruchio has, unlike Kate, never needed to feed or mold his intellect through study. From the outset of their relationship, then, Petruchio has been destined to defeat her, and though at this point Kate does not acknowledge her defeat, this theme continues throughout the play. This concept of naturality--in this case, naturality meaning Petruchio was simply born, and more specifically born as a man--determining Kate's fate creates, therefore, a sense of predetermination that hovers over the play for these two characters. Despite Kate's own intellect, which she clearly possesses, and her attempt to use that intelligence to shape herself into a successful and independent woman, preexisting social values have already determined her place in society--a commodity to strike a business deal between two men. Her human agency, the ability to act and make independent decisions in her society, is taken from her. Her standing as "a shrew," which might one may as well interpret as a woman who rebels against the current social order, is unacceptable. She is fated to either agree with and submit to Petruchio or literally die. A larger question, though, should ponder Kate's fate in relation to all women of this time. Are they all determined to submit simply due to gender? The relationship between fate and gender during this time is undeniable, and it is difficult to acknowledge one without the other. Lucentio's love for Bianca seems sincere, but his attempt to force her to obey while participating in the gambit between himself, Hortensio, and Petruchio along with his "wonder" at how Petruchio has "tamed" Kate suggests that he will perhaps attempt to control Bianca in a similar fashion as Petruchio does Kate. Hortensio himself attended Petruchio's "taming school" in order to learn how to shape his new wife in a similar fashion. Finally, Kate's speech at the wedding signals the way in which England's patriarchal society should function, stating "Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, / Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee / ...And craves no other tribute at thy hands / But love, fair looks and true obedience..." (V.2. 152-153, 158-159). All of the married women, therefore, carry this expectation to serve their husband as one would a "sovereign," no matter their intellectual potential. This potential, their "lances," are, as Kate perceives them, nothing more than "straws." Though I would not claim that Shakespeare himself endorses this social ideology, he presents in The Taming of the Shrew the predetermined roles of both men and women in Renaissance England with an extreme example of a manipulative and cruel man conforming a strong and intelligent woman to a preexisting social construct.