Online Lecture on Act Two of The Taming of the Shrew This lecture will address the following topics regarding act two:
- Degrading “Kate”
2. “Passing Gentle” and the Woman’s Voice
3. “Curst in Company”: Petruchio’s Abusive Manipulations
Petruchio demeans Kate publicly and privately to break her, like one would an animal. In his very first lines to Katherine, he persistently refers to her as “Kate”, which was a great show of disrespect. By addressing her as Kate, Petruchio does away with the conventions regarding early modern courting and marriage and, as a result, deeply humiliates Katherine.
When addressing Katherine in act two, Petruchio satirically paints Katherine as the soft-spoken woman of the early modern period. We will consider how this portrait is a collection of traits contrary to those seemingly possessed by Katherine.
Finally, Petruchio claims to Baptista that Katherine’s outward unhappiness is only for show, thereby invalidating Katherine’s very real distress. This is only one of Petruchio’s stratagems for “taming” Katherine.
Part One: Degrading “Kate”
Upon meeting Katherine, Petruchio immediately addresses her as “Kate”. Referring to Katherine by using the very informal “Kate ” would have been perceived as a sign of great disrespect. “Kate”, like the use of a nickname, implies an intimacy or closeness. The assumption of this intimacy at their very first meeting is deeply offensive in terms of rules of conduct.
The follow is the dialogue between Petruchio and Katherine when she enters in act two scene one:
PETRUCHIO:
Good morrow, Kate, for that’s your name, I hear. KA THERINE:
Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing. They call me Katherine that do talk of me. PETRUCHIO:
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
(for dainties are all Kates)—and therefore, Kate, Take this of me, Kate of my consolation:
Hearing thy mildness praised in every town, Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded (Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs), Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.
(II.i.190-202)
After Katherine corrects him when he attempts this informality, Petruchio more than doubles down on this insult, referring to Katherine as “Kate” no less than eleven times in the following six lines. He also begins by calling Katherine a liar. Even if these lines are delivered in a comedic manner, the repeated disrespect he shows Katherine here would have been humiliating, especially because he announces in the same breath that he intends to marry her.
Petruchio then proceeds to describe Katherine in terms very contrary to the language flung at her in act one. The “froward” shrew is here transformed into delicate, virtuous, and mild Kate. Petruchio is gesturing toward the early modern idealized female that he develops in full several lines later.
Part Two: “Passing Gentle” and A Woman’s Voice
When Katherine pleads to be released from Petruchio in act two scene one, Petruchio makes the
following observations about her character:
…I find you passing gentle
Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen, And now I find Report a very liar.
For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing
courteous
But slow in speech, yet sweet as springtime flowers. Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance, Nor bite the lip as angry wenches will,
Not hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk.
But thou with mildness entertain’st thy wooers, With gentle conference, soft and affable.
(II.i.257-66)
Note here that in Petruchio’s catalog of a woman’s best characteristics, soft-spoken deference is prized most highly. The ideal woman is “slow” or cautious and easy-going in speech. Her tone must be quiet, her communication with others is “gentle” and “soft”. It is “affable” in that it is pleasing to the ear.
As we’ve seen throughout the semester out-spoken-ness in Shakespeare’s women characters can lead to banishment or even death. In The Taming of the Shrew, it is Katherine’s very voice that must be curbed. Think back to the first lecture on the play in which we examined the terms most
often associated with her character (froward, shrew, scold, etc.). Most of these terms held connotations to do with her out-spoken character. As you will see, attempts to tame Katherine’s voice into mild softness threatens her sense of agency.
Part Three: “Curst in Company”: Petruchio’s Abusive Manipulations
When Petruchio announces to Baptista that he and Katherine have agreed upon a wedding day, Katherine’s protestation is mocked and then ignored all together. This is achieved through Petruchio’s manipulation of the scene and of Katherine in particular.
To make Katherine’s protests appear invalid, Petruchio makes the following claim: “Tis bargained ‘twixt us twain, being alone, / That she shall still be curst in company” (II.i.232-24). In making this announcement publicly, Petruchio casts doubt upon her protestations, calling them an act that disguises her adoration for him. “O, the kindest Kate!”, Petruchio exclaims, “She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss / She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath, / That in a twink she won me to her love” (II.i.326-29). In Petruchio’s wildly revised story, Katherine threw herself at him, and he eventually fell for her. Katherine is the desperate wooer. This image, coupled with the claim that Katherine is only shrewish in company, takes the power she has out of her hands.
At the end of this monologue, Baptista agrees to the marriage with no input from Katherine. She no longer speaks for the rest of the act.
Online Assignment on Act Two of The Taming of the Shrew
- Who is Tranio disguised as and why?
2. What dowry will Petruchio receive if he marries Katherine?
- Analyze lines II.i.178-89. What is Petruchio saying here? Summarize his intentions regarding Katherine as he describes them in these lines.
- Analyze lines II.i.280-93. In what ways does Petruchio treat Katherine as a commodity in these lines? In what ways does he cast her as other here?
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