The Taming of the Shrew

This play is one of the many of William Shakespeare’s comedies. In general, the play contains a total of five acts, which in turn comprise of twelve or so scenes. In the first scene, first act, the play takes to introducing the audience to Baptista Minola, who is a father of two other characters in the play - Katherina and Bianca. Bianca is perceived as being a woman who every man wants for a wife. The basic theme of the entire play revolves around the fact that Baptista would not marry off his daughter Bianca before Katherina, her eldest sister.

In the second act, the men who are after Bianca’s hand in marriage are depicted to be approaching Petruchio to have him marry Katherina so that they can in turn marry Bianca. In the subsequent acts, Katherina and Pertuchio finally agree to marry as the suitors commence with their respective plans of asking Bianca’s hand in marriage. This plan commences amid the already taken place Katherina’s marriage. Katherina is later perceived as having been tamed, and the play then wraps up with Lucentio marrying Bianca as the taming of Katherina continues.

 In the total structure, the play contains 16 characters, whom Shakespeare used to convey the message to the audience as well as the readers. It is almost a certain fact that the author of the play used the characters in a manner which proves hard to follow since there are certain mix-ups of these same characters, which translates to the overall theme.

 It is worth indicating that Shakespeare used his wit in writing the play so that to present various themes within the same act. It is very interesting to note that the differences in the manner in which these themes are conveyed are depicted through the various characters in the play, so that through Katherina, for example, readers are made to understand that the only place a woman is allowed to occupy when married is that of taking care of her husband and in turn be provided for by the husband.

 A married woman is depicted as a form of property to her husband to whom she is married. Generally, a woman is supposed to be at the back, while a husband leads. This is clearly reflected by the fact that she owes everything to her husband, who in turn is expected to take care of her.

 Another interesting feature to note within the story is the element of deception, which revolves amongst most of the characters in the play so that they in turn use it to achieve their respective objectives. For instance, in the first act, the drunkard is duped and made to believe that he is indeed a nobleman as he is treated and dressed to depict the same. It is so deceptive that Petruchio transforms into a humane character that marries and treats Katherina with a questionable level of kindness. In the very first instances, Pertuchio is depicted as a cruel man, who beats and rebukes his servants to submission so that they are made to fear and dread him. There is also an element of deception when we are allowed, as readers, to perceive the fact that many marriage suitors took to falsifying their respective identities with an aim of getting the access they so much need to reach Bianca. For instance, Hortensio and Tranio fake their identities so that they are allowed access to Bianca, later the two become weary of chasing after Bianca for a hand in marriage, especially when they find out that Bianca is in a secret relationship with Lucentio, whom she kisses; hence, Hortensio seals his marriage quest and instead decides to marry a wealthy widow (Act IV, Scene II).

Another interesting feature to note within this play is the “love at first sight” phenomenon, which has been used by Shakespeare to depict the love infatuations people possess about others. There are many suitors who have fallen in love with Bianca just because they were astonished by her “extraordinary” level of beauty. Among the characters that fall in this category are Hortensio, Tranio, and Lucentio, who later managed to marry Bianca. When Lucentio first saw Bianca, he was filled with love, and as a way of portraying this extraordinary form of love, he “falls head over heels”.

 Bianca is also perceived to portray exaggerated kindness, while in real sense, she is depicted to be possessing self- interests as well as material gains in that matter. All the same, she also works towards deceiving the characters into believing that she is what they expect her to be when she is married. It is safe to postulate that the entire play unfolds through the various aspects of love which the various characters portray. Romance is depicted as the main way through which Shakespeare chooses to portray the various forms of love which are present throughout the synopsis of the play.

 Among the interesting elements of the play is a special language used by the author. It has been noted that the play comprises of one of the most utilized tools used by William Shakespeare when formulating his way of conveying the messages he purports to pass to the readers as well as the audiences in that matter. The way through which Shakespeare uses language somehow creates a barricade to the readers. The use of this form of difficult language is one of the William Shakespeare’s rubber stamps used in order to distinguish his works from the rest of literature materials or rather plays written by different authors.