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MonkeyNotes-The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
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Historical Information
The play is set in the mid-sixteenth century in Italy (Padua) and
reveals many things about the Italian patriarchal society, where
power and control rested solely with the male. The Italian man
had great freedom, including the freedom to mistreat his wife
verbally, emotionally, and physically; on the other hand, the
female was expected to be subservient, dutiful, soft-spoken, and
beautiful---totally pleasing to the male. Since Katherine is not
any of these things at the beginning of the play, Petruchio feels
behooved to "tame" her into these traits.
Although the setting is supposedly the strange and foreign
location of Italy, the characters are definitely English in their
speech, in their possessions, and in most of their mannerisms.
Since the Elizabethans of ShakespeareÂ’s time believed that
Italians were mysterious, unruly, ill-mannered, and loud-
mouthed, these characteristics are seen in the Italian characters;
but the foods, such as hazel nuts, oysters, and apple tarts, are
clearly British, as are such names as the Pegasus Inn and
Christopher Sly.
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