Marriage The Heavy Weight

    The Taming of the Shrew provides an interesting outlook on marriage.  Marriage is only seen as a motive of love for Luciento.  Most other characters see marriage as a must-have to look good.  When Petrucio first arrives he states he has come to find a wife.  He makes marriage appear to be something that only the lowest of the low don't have.  In the end Katherine who has been a shrew all her life comes to the decision that marriage is more important than independence.  In the play marriage is set up as an economic factor too.  The main reason Signor Baptista accepts Luciento as Bianca's suitor is that Luciento offers more money than Hortensio for Bianca's hand.  The fact that the suitors pay to marry the bride shows how unacceptable being a bachelor in that society truly is.  These topics all add up to the theme that marriage is strongly influenced by social pressures and the idea of marriage causes people to change themselves rather than be an outcast.