Monday, January 28, 2013
Theming of the Shrew
In the play, The Taming of The Shrew, a major theme that can be found is that marriage is an economic institution. This theme can be found in multiple places throughout the play such as the marriage choices of Petruchio and Hortensio. Petruchio marries Kate for her father's money, and Hortensio also marries a rich widow. Another example that emphasizes this theme is when Baptista wants to make sure that Lucentio has enough money to keep Bianca alive if he was to die. These two examples convey the themeby showing that Petruchio, Hortensio, and Baptista were all looking for people that had money for their marriage. This theme does not connect to any other piece of literature that we have read because in none of these pieces of literature is marriage shown to help be an economic gain.
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Rahul- this is a great start. Do you think that the same is true for the women in the play? Do you think that they are interested in marrying for money? I would also ask if you think there are any exceptions to this rule in the play. In other words, how does Shakespeare complicate the notion that marriage is an economic institution? Lucentio, for example, does not want to marry Kate even though doing so would make him a rich man. If he prefers Bianca, doesn't that imply that he is interested in more than just money?
ReplyDeleteGood theme. There can be exeptions to this them when lucentio marries bianca, but to ask a question, would he have thought of her as buetiful if she didn't have the money?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that part of the reason that Lucentio wanted to marry Bianca was because of her money or was it just based on beauty and personality?
ReplyDelete