Flores's ongoing Summary Notes on “Introduction” to The Taming of the Shrew: Texts and Contexts, ed. Frances E. Dolan, Bedford, 1996.
Written between 1590-94
Middle of a period/culture with intense preoccupation with women who threaten patriarchal system (prosecution against witchcraft, disorderly speech, illegitimate pregnancy, child murder—pamphlets/ballads about female violent criminals)—texts on shrews and shrew-taming (ex. The Cruel Shew—photocopy; A Homily of the State of Matrimony)
Shakespeare thus contributes to a topic/problem of cultural interest to his contemporaries that posed such questions as
How is hierarchy to be achieved/maintained if the wife will not submit to her husband but struggles instead to assert equality or mastery?
What if a husband abuses his power?
Are there alternative possibilities for spousal roles? Various texts describe, prescribe, and imagine, resolve, repress
New laws/fictions about disorderly women do not necessarily indicate that more women were disorderly, nor do repeated injunctions that women should be chaste, silent, and obedient indicate that all women were (4-5)—a more mutual companionate ethos might have existed in the private lives of some married couples in contrast to public doctrine of male authority and female subordination—differences between 'literature' and lived experience
TS explores process by which husband and wife negotiate a relationship; disparity between private and public conduct; clash between conflicting ideals; unusual for Sh. to dramatize life after the wedding
Long debate over TS: “Is this the romantic story of two equals who struggle toward marital happiness or the dispiriting tale of a man who swells into a husband and a woman who dwindles into a wife? Does marriage emancipate or defeat Kate? Could the answers to these 'either/or' questions be 'both'?” (6).
Note: most editions based on First Folio of Sh's complete plays (1623)
Possible function/relation to rest of play: characters form identities by playing roles and thus these can be switched—ex. Christopher Sly begins to redefine himself in response to others, and finds it difficult to distinguish dream from reality: “In the process the Induction instructs readers/viewers that class and gender identities are not natural or fixed, but instead are roles—a matter of how one dresses, acts, and is treated—and, as such, can be changed” (Dolan 6).
Idea of mistaken/transformed identity connects Induction with plots of Katharine/Petruchio and Bianca and her suitors (this subplot based on George Gascoigne's play Supposes (1566, trans. from Ariosto). Like Sly, Kate as object rather than agent of transformation—both figures subject to Lord/Petruchio's power to 'suppose' an alteration and perhaps to make it so (7)
Lord's pleasure in Sly's confusion and in own power (analogy to hunting, other sensual delights)—offers example of privileges of rank, including servants, possessions, relations as property.
Note how Sly's lady/wife helps to establish his identity as lord and man: Lynda Boose states “In this play, as is frequently true in gender and class relations in general, beneath every asserted dominance is inevitably an unacknowledged, uncredited, and usually unpaid dependency of the higher on the lower” (“Taming of the Shrew” in Shakespeare Reread 224).
Lady played by boy page Bartholomew, instructed by Lord on how to act like a wife—this reminds viewers that boys played all the women's parts (such as Kate and Bianca), and that such parts are performances. For ex., “Just as the Lord teaches Bartholomew to use an onion to provoke tears, Katharine accuses Bianca of sticking her finger in her eye to make herself cry (Ind.1.121-24; 1.1.78-79). In both cases the 'woman's gift' of tears is a gift of performance” (8). Also parallel of being taught to submit to a husband—Induction thus makes us conscious of play as a play, and of scripts of gender, class, and adulthood that can be imitated/altered. K's final scene performance recalls B's performance as lord's wife.
Also urges reflection on play's form as dream, jest, sport, or kind of domestic history
Shrews and Shrew Taming--Term 'shrew' describes stereotype of a bossy, talkative woman who refuses to submit to male authority—shrew thus threatens to usurp male privileges and mastery and thereby provokes forceful response/punishment: “Dub a dub, kill her with a club,/Be thy wife's master . . . . But if she persist, and will have her will,/Oh, then bang her, bang her, bang her still” (Juniper Lecture). Domestic violence widespread and legal though also critiqued, as sign that a man who resorted to violence has lost control over his wife. Play contrasts Katharine to Bianca's silent comportment, yet Bianca talks more, 'and more assertively” (9) as the play progresses. The “play explores what Petruchio thinks, feels, and does as a tamer more fully than it explores what Katharine thinks, feels, and does as a shrew” (14).
Some critics see P's shrewish strategy as a clever, playful way to prompt K to see how much she values order and to move their relationship to mutuality; others see inequality of P's ability to get away with such behavior (Boose; Hodgdon).
K complains of men's talk of her—P makes a point of refusing to believe such stories and then substitutes his views of her to insist she is not a shrew.
P's violence is indirect—that is, directed/deflected onto Grumio, the sexton, servants, tailor—this may remind K that she too is a subordinate who is subject to P's will and force (19). After marriage, P disrupts bed and board (4.1 ff).
K also resorts to violence or threats of violence with Hortensio/Litio, Bianca, P, and Grumio. Dolan suggests that in her violence Katharine “acts simultaneously out of gender subordination and class privilege; in relation to her younger sister, her age is a factor” (23).
Except for Lucentio's treatment of Tranio as close confidant, the play suggests that those in power often abuse it. “Under Petruchio's instruction Katharine learns not only how to be an obedient wife but also how to assert dominance in more socially acceptable ways. . . . When Katharine uses violence to dominate servants and other women rather than to resist her father or husband, her conduct is presented as laudable” (24).
Few options other than marriage, esp. after the Protestant Reformation closed off religious vocations and convent life.
Pivotal moment of taming process follows K's last self assertion (4.3.73-80), occurring in 4.5, especially with P commanding meaning over time of day and gaining K's agreement to go forward—wife as moon with light from sun/husband and reflecting his power and views, common analogy (31).
Critics differ on this scene (4.5). Some see it as turning point towards mutuality and shared playfulness, with Kate as skilful partner (Novy, Bean, Legatt). Yet though they share cruelty towards Vincentio and amusement over the 'counterfeit supposes' surrounding Bianca's marriage, they continue to struggle for dominance, with P requiring that K overcome her shame at kissing 'in the midst of the street.'
“That Petruchio continues to test and coerce Katharine suggests why many critics see the Sun and Moon scene as one in which Katharine submits not playfully and with pleasure, but wearily, even fearfully (Garner; Kahn; Newman)” (31). “Must we assume that Katharine's feelings correspond to her actions—that she joyously submits—or can we imagine some silent resistance or internal reservation?” (Dolan 32).