Fooled into love?

                             The play Taming of the Shrew  was written by Shakespeare but unlike his other novels like Romeo and Juliet the main characters do not fall into “true love”.  In the play, Taming of the Shrew a theme that is emphasized in the play is the disregard for true love and relationships for the economic and social opportunities in marriage and relationships. Petruchio chooses to wed Kate mainly because of her wealth and also to get a good social status. When Petruchio tells Hortensio what kind of wife he is looking for he says she must be “One rich enough to be Petruchio’s wife- As wealth is a burthen of my wooing dance- Be she as foul as was Florentius love, As old as Sibyl and as curst and shrewd as Socrates’ Xanthippe or a worse…” (pg. 27) Petruchio is bluntly stating he doesn’t care who he marries or what she looks like as long as she has money so he can make his father proud. It is depicted that Petruchio only wants to marry for money while Lucentio wants to marry Blanca because it was love at first sight. It is a dichotomy that happens in the play, these two couples have come together for many different reasons. Another text that this theme has shown up in is in the short story, The Tiger’s Bride, the daughter is lost because of money to the Beast, forced into a relationship, but she does eventually find true relationships with the Beast. It is an example of the relationship starting because of economic reasons but ending with true love.    

--Tiana