Love and Money (The Taming of the Shrew)

Love and Money (The Taming of the Shrew)

Love in the Taming of The Shrew is not sincere, but rather for the purposes of money and success for an individual. A man named Petruchio comes to Padua in hopes of finding a wealthy wife; no matter how much of a “shrew” she is. “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; if wealthily, then happily in Padua.” (Shakespeare 53) Everyone has goals in life which they are constantly trying to reach and Petruchio’s happens to be becoming wealthy. His reasoning is clarified by him saying this. If he is wealthy, then he is happy despite whatever consequences there are. “I know she is an irksome, brawling scold. If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.”  (Shakespeare 61) Petruchio is someone who is willing to live in the moment. He is very confident that he will be able to tame his “irksome, brawling scold” of a wife while becoming rich at the same time. That is, in fact, his reasoning for coming to Padua. The unconditional happiness that wealth could supply to Petruchio evokes a sacrificial attitude in him that the audience sees. He will not stop at anything to get the wealth that he wants. A work of literature that holds a similar theme would be “A Story” by Li-Young Lee. The father in this poem tries to think of stories to tell his son in hopes of gaining his love. It is as if the child will only love him if he entertains him. This theme is comparable to that of the one in The Taming of the Shrew because they both have the idea of love in exchange for something. In both texts, an apparent theme is that there needs to be something in return for love.

-Matison Music