Oct 13, 2008

The Taming of the Shrew | Appearance versus Reality in Taming of the Shrew

A selection of critical excerpts exploring the contradiction between appearance and reality, which constitutes a central issue in The Taming of the Shrew and figure in many discussions of the play's other themes and of the development of its characters.

Contradictions between appearance and reality constitute a central issue in The Taming of the Shrew and figure in many discussions of the play's other themes and of the development of its characters. In 1963, Cecil C. Seronsy, in an essay excerpted below, asserted that its structural unity derives from the playwright's ingenious development of the theme of "supposes." Petruchio, the critic contended, succeeds in transforming Katherina by "supposing" that her appearance of shrewishness does not represent her "real" nature. Seronsy links this theme of transformation in the main...