The Taming of the Shrew (Lecture 2/7/12)

My goal in working with The Taming of the Shrew is to track the transformations of identities in various characters over the course of the play. An unusual number of characters either chooses to change their identities or others effect changes in their identities. I listed the seven most significant transformations below. I intend to further explore the function of these transformations of identity in an extended explication thereafter.

1. In the Induction, Christopher Sly becomes a lord.

2. In the Induction, Bartholomew becomes Lady Sly.

3. Katherine becomes various manifestations of Kate.

4. Hortensio becomes Licio.

5. Lucentio becomes Cambio.

6. Tranio becomes Lucentio.

7. A pedant from Mantua becomes Vincentio.

8. Petruccio leaves bachelorhood to be married and arguably, finds his unlikely match in Katherine.

In many ways, the Induction sets up the stage for the main play. Christopher Sly’s temporary transformation into a lord foreshadows the multitude of transformations that take place within the major plot of The Taming of the Shrew. The humorous quality of the Induction serves as a warm up for the less immediate humor and increased drama of the major play. As with Lucentio and Tranio, Christopher Sly’s transformation is rooted in the relations amongst social classes. His transformation provides a way for a commoner to imagine that he can transcend social classes, which wouldn’t have been feasible in Shakespeare’s England. The idea of transcending social classes probably would have appealed to Shakespeare’s middle and lower class audience. This concept is further explored in the main play through the switch-up of Lucentio and Tranio.

When Lucentio falls in love with Bianca at first sight, he devises an outlandish plan to woo her. He is extremely close with his right hand man, Tranio. Together, they plot to trade identities with one another. Though Tranio is not as wealthy as Lucentio, it is clear that the two men were raised alongside each other and have similar training because of Tranio’s ability to act as Lucentio would act. Lucentio is equally comfortable acting as the schoolteacher Cambio. The experiment shows that Tranio can function as the wealthy upper class gentleman just as well as Lucentio. The facility with which they exchange positions makes me think that having a certain status in Shakespeare’s historically hierarchal society is rather arbitrary. Although Tranio and Lucentio have very similar backgrounds and educations, Lucentio’s wealthy family allows him to dictate Tranio’s future. I think that Shakespeare uses this exchange to show the arbitrariness of class status as well as the problems of this hierarchy. The ease with which Tranio adopts Lucentio’s position shows that, if given the opportunity, at least some persons could transcend class boundaries and earn their wealth. Here, Shakespeare reveals the problem within this dynamic, which is that movement amongst social classes was pratically impossible in his time.

Significantly, it is Lucentio and Tranio who help the pedant from Mantua transcend class boundaries. When Lucentio needs someone to pose as his wealthy and well-known father, Vincentio, he employs the man specified only as the pedant from Mantua to fill the post. The pedant seemingly relishes his stint as Lucentio’s prominent father. Throughout a heated argument with the real Vincentio, the pedant of Mantua insists that he is the genuine Vicentio. At one point, he claims boldly that Lucentio will not need one hundred pounds for as long as he, Vincentio, lives (19-20). The pedant’s light and humorous adoption of a higher status would have provided humorous escape for Shakespeare’s audience.

Hortensio becomes Licio for similar reasons that Lucentio becomes Cambio. Hortensio is one of the original suitors of Bianca. He disguises himself as the schoolteacher Licio in order to spend more time with Bianca. Unfortunately, the change in identity does not fare as well for Hortensio as it did for Lucentio. Lucentio gains Bianca’s affections because he is able to communicate his high status to her in secret. Lucentio’s success shows that, ultimately, even disguises do not allows someone to fully eradicate class boundaries.

Male bonds are highly regarded in the social context of The Taming of the Shrew. Tranio eliminates the last possibilities that Lucentio may have to compete for Bianca against other suitors. Tranio persuades Hortensio that Bianca is uninhibited with her affections, and that Hortensio would do better to marry the widow whom he knows loves him dearly. Regardless, once all the disguises are put aside, both men are successful in a sense. Lucentio gains the ultimate prize of Bianca, but Hortensio marries a woman that loves him, the widow.

Katherine’s multifaceted identity throughout the The Taming of The Shrew is arguably the transformation most central to the development of the tale’s themes. It stands by itself as significantly as it parallels the changing identity of Katherine’s future husband, Petruccio. Katherine is at once Bianca’s evil older sister, Baptista’s less liked daughter, and the many personalities attributed to her by Petruccio. Petruccio calls her “…plain Kate,/And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst,/But Kate, the priettiest Kate in Christendom,/Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate” (183-186). As Bianca’s older sister and Baptista’s daughter, she is always referred to as Katherine. She becomes Kate once Petruccio “tames” her. Though she is never likely thought of as “bonny Kate,” Petruccio’s love for her transforms her into a milder version of herself, which he terms “Kate.” From this, I realized that even the play’s title associates itself with the transformation of identities – from shrew to wife, in Katherine’s case. Katherine the shrew becomes Kate the wife. Petruccio’s transformation is much subtler. He is a lonely man who seeks money. In his quest for a wealthy wife, however, it seems that he finds a woman who is as much an outsider as he. In their meeting, both Katherine and Petruccio are transformed by their union as they find matches as unusual as themselves. This interpretation makes The Taming of the Shrew more romance than farce as I promote it as a presentation of love and transcendence rather than a farce of taming and obedience.