Rudis,

Victoria Rudis
ENGL 657
09/25/2015

Love is a delicate game. The ways to woo a woman or man are seemingly endless and
success is based purely on personal preferences and desires. For some it is a constant romantic
battle of fragrant flowers and passionate letters. For others the battle is less neat; their own
personal demons create a bond filled with sarcasm and hostile appearances. For Petruccio and
Katherina, is is the battle of wits. Here they find a perfect match, made surely not in heaven,
where words are wielded more carefully than weapons. These two verbally explore each others
boundaries violently, tearing down psychological barriers and demanding respect from one
another. It is not a game of cat and mouse but of cat and cat. Through learning each others
boundaries, Katherina and Pertuccios relationship turns and blossoms into an intimate
understanding of respect for one another while they are on the way to Katherinas sisters
wedding.
Katherina is hungry for respect, as seen in the very beginning of the play. There are
several suitors at her house for her sister and her father, Baptista, is desperate to be rid of
Katherina because he knows he has to give up money for her dowry, but he gains money for her
more pleasant sister, Bianca. Katherina yells out at Baptista: I pray you sir, is it your will/To
make a stale of me amongst these mates? (The Taming of the Shrew, 1.1.57-58). Here stale is a
wordplay on both day-old/used goods and a prostitute or decoy. She feels as though her father
views her as worthless compared to her sister Bianca, and that, like a prostitute, she is being sold

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to the highest bidder for her goods. Her public acknowledgment of this to the suitors and her
father is her way of calling him out and demanding a better form of respect.
This lack of respect creates a psychological barrier in Katherinas mind. Her constant
defensive stance shows that she wont let anyone in unless they can give her real respect. In Act 2
scene 1 she is even suspicious of her own sister. She ties her up and tries to force her to speak the
truth on which suitor Bianca loves. When Bianca feigns innocence Katherina exclaims: Minion,
thou liest. Ist not Hortensio? (The Taming of the Shrew, 2.1.13). Minion is another word for a
hussy or whore. Kate is accusing Bianca of going against her perfect appearance and having
secret motives. A few lines down Katherina says belike you fancy riches more which accuses
Bianca of only going after the money her suitors have again questioning her motives (The
Taming of the Shrew, 2.1.16). The greed of both Baptista and Bianca has taught Katherina to
push everyone away until their motives can be determined.
Likewise, Petruccio is desperate for his own brand of respect. He is asked if he will be
successful in wooing Katherina and replies with a list of heroic, and seemingly untrue, feats of
strength he has accomplished that will make this seem easy. Think you a little din can daunt
mine ears?/Have I not in my time heard lions roar? (The Taming of the Shrew, 1.2.196-197).
Think you is a direct challenge of their loyalty and trust in his ability. It is forcing them to
either respectfully admit he can or show themselves to be not his friend and disagree. Have I
not is another challenge but this one challenges them to dare to stand up to him. Its said 4 times
in this speech of bravado and each one dares them to go against him. While these feats of
strength are probably fake, he is still very powerful and very formidable and here he is
demanding respect of his followers before he goes into this battle to obtain Katherina.

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But Petruccios barrier doesnt end with the lies he maintains. This outward appearance is
an attempt to live up to a name left by his father Antonio. When asking Baptista for permission to
court Katherina, Petruccio shows the weight of his father: Petruccio is my name, Antonios
son,/A man well known throughout all Italy. (The Taming of the Shrew, 2.1.68-69). He himself
is not well known but rather his father and while this gains him access into Baptistas confidence,
it is also not done on his own merits. Baptistas response to this is further telling: I know him
well; you are welcome for his sake. (The Taming of the Shrew, 2.1.70). Pertuccio doesnt get in
on his own merits, Baptista only takes him in on his fathers merits. This is despite an earlier
speech where Petruccio grandly displays his good intentions and abilities to Baptista. It it only at
the mention of his father that Petruccio is let in to do his taming. This creates a psychological
barrier in Petruccio that is always trying to live up to his fathers name and cant trust anyone to
want to know the real him.
Katherina and Petruccios exploration and relaization of each others problems happens
mainly in their first and only conversation alone together. Petruccio begins by attacking and
poking fun at her name. He calls her Kate when he greets her. She then demands that she be
called Katherine to which Petruccio responds:
You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,
And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst.
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,
Kate of Kate Hall, my super dainty Kate- (The Taming of the Shrew, 2.1.185-188)
By using a pet-name, Petruccio attempts to cast Katherina in all the lights she can be perceived.
He starts with plain, then bonny, then curst, and the but is the turn to how he intends to
see her. He wants her to see that she is perceived as plain, or simple in appearance, curst, being

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under a curse or evil spell, and bonny, having a homely beauty, but she doesnt have to be and he
can tell thats not who she is (Oxford English Dictionary Database). He is trying to explore her
barriers; to find and break them down in order to get her to reveal her true self, not the defensive,
angry woman she shows the world.
Katherina later on in the scene returns the attack on his identity. She hits him, in part to
gauge his response and also to reprimand a particularly scathing pun. Petruccio jests: What,
with my tongue in your tail? Nay come again, good Kate, I am a gentlemen- which is
contradictory for a gentleman would never suggest something so racy as oral sex to a lady who
was not his wife (Taming of the Shrew, 2.1.216-217). Her hitting him is to show him he has gone
too far in disrespecting her. He threatens to hit her back if she does it again and she boldly calls
him out on it So you may lose your arms./If you strike me, you are no gentleman/And if no
gentleman, why, then, no arms. (The Taming of the Shrew, 2.1.220-222). Arms is a play on
both his physical arms and the coat of arms that would show his noble status. She is saying his
actions currently show him to not be a gentleman, and if he continues he would further damage
his reputation as a noble gentleman. She goes on to joke that the crest on his coat of arms is a
cock and goes straight for his prideful exterior with: you crow too like a craven (The Taming
of the Shrew, 226). A craven is a cock that wont fight when forced to in a cockfight game. This
shows that she is challenging the sincerity behind the personality he shows her. She is declaring
that she knows who he is and he cant hide from her. She is also showing him the kind of respect
she demands and deserves.
The turn in their relationship occurs on the road to her sisters wedding. They have
Hortensio (a gentleman friend to Petruccio) with them on their journey. Katherina and Petruccio
are still constantly fighting and in one line Hortensio changes the tone of their relationship. He

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turns to Katherina and says Say as he says, or we shall never go. (The Taming of the Shrew,
4.6.11). Her response is silly and annoyed-sounding, but she finally gets the game hes playing.
He wants her to follow him and respect who he is by publicly being on his side. He needs to
know she wont ridicule him to the people around him. The have a small argument about the
moon and sun that Katherina ends with her own small but clear demand for respect: What you
will have it named, even that it is,/And so it shall be for Katherine. (The Taming of the Shrew,
4.6.22-23). She uses her full name and he doesnt respond by calling her Kate. This is the first
glimmer we see of them beginning to understand the delicate dance they have been playing.
Petruccio wants to be able to be himself with her and be who he needs to in public without her
betraying him, and Katherina needs to be herself to him as well. This submission to his will by
using her full name is her true submission to him and trust that he will do the same for her.
He continues to test the level to which she truly understands his need for respect. He tells
her to greet a man who they meet on the road and refers to him as a lady. She goes along with it,
but when Petruccio corrects her and recants, saying the man is not a lady, she doesnt simply
agree. She jests back that her mistaking eyes,/That have been so bedazzled by the sun/That
everything I look on seemeth green. (The Taming of the Shrew, 4.6.46-48). This is a joke, that
only he would get, at his earlier test about the sun. She is saying that it is his light that she sees
these strange things and makes these mistake and none other. He gives no direct response now,
but once they are in the city, he tests again: First kiss me, Kate, and we will (The Taming of the
Shrew, 5.1.125). He is asking her to kiss him in the middle of a crowded street; a very public
show of her affection. She is taken back by this test because of how public it is. He gently
threatens to go home, trying to get her to understand that once again, he wants to see where her
loyalty is. When she kisses him, his response is Better once than never, for never too late. (The

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Taming of the Shrew, 5.1.134). This is him respecting her part in this too. It is a combination of
better late than never and it is never too late to mend. It shows his hope that they would come
to this understanding of one another, his willingness to respect her, and his ability to have some
patience with this process.
Kates final speech to the wedding guests is the verbal acknowledgement of their mutual
respect. She details the ways ones husband ought to be respected and how this actually benefits
the wife: dart not scornful glances from those eyes/To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
(The Taming of the Shrew, 5.2.137-138). She tells the other wives to not look on their husbands
with scorn or contempt but not simply because they owe him honor, doing so would blot(s) thy
beauty and Confound(s) thy fame (The Taming of the Shrew, 5.2.139,140). Their adverse
treatment of their husbands will cause them to appear ugly to others who see and it will ruin their
reputations. This is a call to respect because then they will be respected, not just by their
husband, but also by the people around them. This relationship is meant to be a give and take.
While the man is clearly in charge, the woman is also meant to be well-taken care of: Such duty
as the subject owes the prince,/Even such a woman oweth to her husband (The Taming of the
Shrew, 5.2.155-156). No prince worthy of rule would simply abandon his subjects. He knows
that in order to keep peace and to keep his power, he must be a firm and benevolent ruler.
Likewise, subjects in England who knew that Kings and princes had divine right to rule, should
know better than to challenge the authority of such a ruler. This declaration may sound like it
simply instructs the women, but it also tells the men the nature of their roles as well. Just as
Katherina submits to Petruccios will as his subject, so too should Petruccio kindly and wisely
lead Katherina, respecting her needs as well as his own.

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Katherina and Petruccios relationship is an unusual one. Some might say that Petruccio
is merely abusing her and breaking her down, but he has his own share of problems that
Katherina doesnt hesitate to bring to light. Their psychological needs and desires are so similar
that it makes them the perfect candidates for understanding each other. This exploration process
is tricky. It takes a lot of time and a lot more arguing, but they do come to see the truth about
each other. In the process of respecting each other they are able to demand respect from the
people around them, the ones who wronged them in the first place, thereby conquering their
demons at last. Their partnership wields them more power than either would have ever had alone.