Taming of the Shrew: a tale of changing beliefs.

                An overarching idea that repudiates itself to the real world in the drama, Taming of the Shrew, is the concept of transforming ideals to make an individual think of you in higher respects, gain their trust, and overall receive a flattering view of yourself through the eyes of the other person.  Act 2 of the play illustrates this theme, because Petruchio makes himself seem humbling, wealthy, and an amazing human being overall, in order to convince him to allow himself to gain Kate’s hand in marriage.  This shows his change in his personality, in his ideals, to gain a wealthy wife. Another example in the drama is when Kate recites a speech in which she confesses what she has “learned” from her beloved Petruchio, being a woman is a possession to her man and a woman must do everything in her power to satisfy her husband, regardless the deed (sexually, in terms of laboring, or what have you).  This scene demonstrates Kate’s full transformation, because she used to be a strong, independent, self-spoken young woman, into a timid, scared, introvert. The play revolves itself through the ideal of changing yourself to mold you into someone else’s version of perfection, in order to gain something that person had to offer.  

-Edita Michelle Dyer