Role of Marriage in a Shakespearean Comedy

Shakespearean comedies follow a similar story arc and ending. A couple is kept apart by society or the will of their parents. Through disguises, mistaken identities, or magic, the couple eventually change the minds of those who opposed their match and marry. If the audience follows Bianca’s story, they will find a traditional Shakespearean comedy. Baptista’s rule that Katherine must marry before Bianca keeps Bianca and her lovers apart. Bianca’s suitors disguise themselves as school teachers in order to get close to her. The play ends with Bianca’s marriage to Lucentio after Lucentio reveals everyone’s identities.

On the other hand, Petruchio and Katherine’s story defies many tropes of comedy. Petruchio and Katherine are not kept apart by society, but rather by Katherine’s harsh temper. Petruchio never disguises himself or his intentions. He even explicitly tells the audience his plan to break Katherine like a falcon in a soliloquy. Their marriage takes place in act III, at the turning point of the play rather than at the end of the play.

The unusual structure of Petruchio and Katherine’s story suggests that their tale has an atypical message for a comedy. It could be a tragicomedy like Romeo and Juliet, in which the marriage is in the middle of the play so that the audience can see a tragedy occur after the marriage. In The Taming of the Shrew, the tragedy would be the death of Katherine’s spirit at the end of the play. It could also mock the perception of marriage as an end point. Unlike Bianca’s marriage, which is an end in itself, Katherine’s marriage is not complete until she gives her speech at the end. In this speech, Katherine tells the other women to “vail your stomachs,” which means subdue your pride. Katherine chooses to relinquish her pride in order to be in a happy marriage with Petruchio. Then, Petruchio repeats his line from act II, scene I (“kiss me Kate”) when he describes their pending marriage to which Katherine did not consent. The first time Petruchio says the line, he is speaking for her and imposing his will on her. The second time, Petruchio frames the words with “come on, and kiss me Kate.” In using this language, he allows her to choose to kiss him and proves that they are equals in their marriage. The moral of their marriage becomes more about how to inhabit a marriage as equals rather than the “happily ever after” marriage that Bianca achieves.

Historical Context

The inspiration for this play came from popular, Early Modern folktales about husbands brutally taming their disobedient wives. While contemporary readers rightly view the concept of “taming” as aggressive and misogynistic, it was a very common practice in Elizabethan England. “Shrew” is a derogatory term for a woman who has a sharp tongue, bad temper, and independent mind. In other Elizabethan tales, shrews will scold, nag, tease, or badger their husbands and suitors. Because these were seen as extremely undesirable traits, men were legally allowed to beat this willfulness out of their wives. Many disobedient women were beaten and then wrapped in salted skin until they agreed to be obedient to their husbands. Other punishments included wearing a metal helmet called a “Scold’s Bridle” that used a metal tongue depressor to keep the woman from speaking, or strapping the woman to a stool and repeatedly dunking her in the river until she yielded. In light of these common and harsh bodily punishments, it is interesting that Petruchio chooses to use words as his primary means of breaking Katherine’s will. The only violent physical harm Petruchio causes is when he beats his servants for “offenses” against his mistress.

The play was originally performed without much scenery or props. The actors would have heightened the physical comedy and distinguished their characters by costumes. All parts would have been played by men and skilled boys, as Elizabethans believed that women were unfit for the stage.

Twenty years after Shakespeare’s play opened, John Fletcher released “The Tamer Tamed,” or “The Woman’s Prize,” in 1611. This play, a response to Shakespeare’s original, demonstrates the popularity and ubiquity of The Taming of the Shrew. In Fletcher’s play, Petruchio is a widow who marries again. Yet this time, it is his wife who breaks Petruchio and dominates the marriage.

Modern Adaptations

The myriad adaptations of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew since its original performance in the 1590s demonstrates its popularity with audiences. Some adaptations have chosen to highlight the so-called battle of the sexes trope and portray Petruchio and Katherine as equals, while others have highlighted Petruchio’s cruelty to make a social point about unequal gender roles. Below are some of the most popular adaptations of Shakespeare’s play.

Catharine and Petruchio (1754)

This adaptation by David Garrick is one of the most popular adaptations of the play. In it, Bianca is already married to Hortensio (instead of Lucentio) and the play focuses on the taming plotline. This is the first adaptation in which Petruchio uses a whip, a prop that would follow his character into the 20th century. The dialogue of this play gives more agency to Catharine. She tells the audience that she will marry Petruchio in order to tame him in her own way. Garrick also shortens Catharine’s final speech and ends with Petruchio’s vowing to take off the mask of “lordly husband” so that they can live in harmony together.

Taming of the Shrew (1929)

This was the first film adaptation of a Shakespeare play. Mary Pickford plays Katherine and Douglas Fairbanks plays Petruchio. Petruchio wields a whip in this version, making him a rather ruthless version of the character. However, Katherine winks at the camera during her final speech to show the audience that she has not, in fact, been tamed. The film combined lines from both the Shakespeare play and the Garrick play.

Kiss Me Kate (1948)

Cole Porter’s adaptation Kiss Me Kate follows the play-within-a-play trope of the original Shakespeare play. The story follows a group of musical theater personalities as they stage a musical version of The Taming of the Shrew. Fred Graham, the director, producer, and star of the musical in the movie, has a contentious relationship with his ex-wife, Lilli Vanessi, who plays Katherine in the musical. The actress playing Bianca also has problems with her boyfriend, Bill, who is involved with gangsters.

Zeffirlli’s The Taming of the Shrew (1966)

Zeffirelli's filmed version of the play stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, a real-life married couple. The film was famous not only for the performances and accurate portrayal of Shakespeare’s original dialogue, but also because of how Taylor and Burton’s actual relationship resembled their on-screen antics.

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

Set in a Seattle high school during the 90s, this teen romantic comedy adapts Shakespeare’s work by turning Katherine into an angsty teenager and Petruchio into a social outsider. The movie touches on some of the themes surrounding gender and social roles. It adapts the theme of class to consider how judging people by their popularity within high schools create social hierarchies.

Although there has been much debate, Shakespeare is now believed to have composed The Taming of the Shrew between 1592 and 1594. Although a play named The Taming of A Shrew was published first in the so-called “bad quarto” of 1594, Shakespeare’s own version was not published until 1623 when the First Folio of his works was compiled. The pirated version is thought to be a fast transcription, not without some embellishment, of Shakespeare’s play as it was performed.

The first known performance of The Taming of the Shrew was held at Newington Butts on June 13, 1594 by Shakespeare’s own company, the Chamberlain’s Men. Shakespeare himself played the part of Vincentio (a confined role) alongside the very popular actor Richard Burbage, who played Lucentio. However, there is a reference (not a record) in the “bad quarto” to earlier performances by the Earl of Pembroke’s Men, a troop which disbanded in 1594 due to financial troubles.

The Newington Butts stage was located one mile south of London Bridge in one of the Liberties, so called because they lay outside of the city limits where strict municipal laws did not affect the theater. Londoners regularly traveled outside the city proper to see their favorite plays, except during plague years when the theaters were closed for the public’s safety. The Globe, Shakespeare’s famous playhouse, was likewise located in the Liberties. When it burned down, Shakespeare’s company was forced to move into London to Blackfriars and other playhouses.

The Taming of the Shrew enjoyed instant popularity. Its pirated copy was republished in 1596 and 1607. Shakespeare’s version of the play was even performed in the court of Charles I by the King’s Company on November 16, 1633 at St. James Palace.

It should be noted that all plays performed before 1642 required an all-male cast since women were not allowed on stage. Only after the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in 1660 were women permitted to act. In its first known performance, for example, the actors Alexander Cooke, Robert Goffe, and Samuel Gilburne played the parts of Katharina, Bianca, and the Widow respectively.

Shakespeare’s play has maintained its popularity right through to our own time, but not in its original form. Various playwrights have adapted Shrew to suit the taste of their times. The original play has been transformed from comedy into both farce and tragedy. This is not surprising since Shrew contains elements of each.

Three versions of the play have outstripped Shakespeare’s original in popularity. Its biggest success has been David Garrick’s adaptation titled Catharine and Petruchio, first staged in 1754 but running into the next century in over 300 performances. Garrick’s version employed only the main plot of Shakespeare’s play, as the title reflects, and it was used only as an afterpiece to a play that received first billing.

Another great success was John Lacy’s adaptation named Sauny the Scot, first performed in 1667 but published later in 1698. Lacy’s version omits the framing plot but stays close to Shakespeare’s original and the farcical nature of the character Grumio, Petruchio’s idiotic servant. Though this play also was copied and adapted, Shakespeare’s original, except for the Induction, has finally come back into vogue in this century. It has been filmed several times. Unfortunately for the dedicated student of Shakespeare, only one film version has ever employed the framing plot of Sly, and its availability is uncertain. It was directed by Henri Desfontaines for Eclipse Films, and released in the United States in 1911.

Currently, The Taming of the Shrew ranks alongside The Tempest in popularity, though several Shakespearean plays enjoy greater success, such as As You Like It, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night. Of course, Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear are performed far more than any of Shakespeare’s plays.

Warwickshire

In the heart of England's Midlands, Warwickshire is not only the birthplace of William Shakespeare but also a backdrop that enriches the narrative of "The Taming of the Shrew" through its vivid sociopolitical tapestry. The induction scenes unfold against this setting, outside a tavern and within the refined confines of a lord’s country estate. References to local villages like Greet, Wincot, and Burton Heath ground the play in an authentic landscape. This setting brings to the fore contemporary issues such as land enclosure, which juxtaposes the tavern against the lord's hunting preserve. The narrative also highlights themes of vagrancy and sumptuary laws, as evidenced by Christopher Sly's transformation from a beggar to a mock lord, starkly contrasting with the opulence of the lord's life filled with abundant resources and servants.

Padua

Moving to Italy, the bustling city of Padua serves as the main setting for Shakespeare's comedy. Borrowed from Ludovico Ariosto’s Italian tale, "I suppositi," the city becomes a playground for disguises and clever plotted schemes. Within the fluid boundaries of the Elizabethan stage, scenes shift seamlessly from bustling streets to elegant reception rooms where Petruchio pursues Kate. This vibrant cityscape portrays a thriving mercantile environment where wealth is measured by material possessions and trade success. The urban backdrop of Padua artfully displaces the audience from the familiar English setting to a theatrical realm where the drama of social status morphs into exploration of gender dynamics.

Petruchio’s Farmhouse

In contrast to the cosmopolitan aura of Padua, Petruchio’s farmhouse near Verona offers a rustic and tangible setting. Located just forty miles west of Padua, this property is defined by its muddy paths and busy servants. Here, Petruchio's robust masculinity stands in stark contrast to the sophisticated Italian demeanor of the Padua citizens. His farmhouse is not just a home but a stage for transformation; within its walls, the superficial layers of social pretensions are peeled back as Petruchio embarks on his mission to "tame" Kate. The farmhouse, with its distinctly English air, underscores the cultural and thematic contrasts that permeate the play, emphasizing the raw, unrefined reality over the polished facade of urban life.

Modern audiences often grapple with two issues in The Taming of the Shrew. The first issue is the mysterious disappearance of Christopher Sly. Shakespeare creates an intricate frame story to present The Taming of the Shrew, but then seems to abandon this frame, leaving Sly's fate unresolved. As part of a prank by a lord and his servants, Sly is tricked into watching the inset play (The Taming of the Shrew). However, Sly loses interest and is never mentioned again. Audiences anticipate that the joke on Sly will eventually be revealed, with him reverting to his true identity. When this closure is not provided, viewers are left feeling somewhat disappointed.

A contemporary play, The Taming of a Shrew, does offer this closure. In it, Sly comments critically on the inset play's action and resumes his normal life at the end. The Taming of a Shrew is either considered a source for or an imitation of Shakespeare's play. It is also speculated that The Taming of a Shrew could be a bad quarto version of Shakespeare's work or a play based on the same source material. Regardless of the exact relationship between the two plays, key questions remain: did Shakespeare originally include Sly in the ending, with this part somehow lost during printing, or did he intentionally exclude Sly for a different reason?

Since Shakespeare's Christopher Sly, unlike his counterpart in The Taming of a Shrew, shows little interest in the inset play, it is likely that Shakespeare never intended to resolve Sly's storyline. The audience is left to imagine Sly's transformation back to his true self. This approach also invites viewers to ponder the transformation of another character in the inset play who does not revert to her "true" self: Kate.

Modern audiences often grapple with the question of Kate's true identity. Many readers of The Taming of the Shrew are unsettled by Petruchio's severe treatment of Kate. On stage, Petruchio's actions often appear less harsh than they do in print, as the actors portraying Kate and Petruchio frequently show a mutual affection that many believe exists between the characters. Despite this, Petruchio still humiliates and starves Kate, compelling her to agree with his absurd statements. It is disconcerting to witness Kate, a spirited and outspoken woman, reduced to a mere shadow of her former self by the play's conclusion, acting like a puppet whose sole purpose is to please her husband. However, why should we assume that Kate has undergone a complete and irreversible change when all the other characters shed their disguises and return to their true selves?

Lucentio adopts the guise of Cambio, a schoolmaster, and Bianca falls in love with him, which leads Hortensio to abandon his own disguise as the music teacher, Litio. Hortensio expresses his disapproval of Bianca for being attracted to such a lowly individual, chiding her for leaving "a gentleman, / And makes a god of such a cullion" (IV.ii. 19-20). Lucentio must relinquish his disguise and reveal his true status to gain the approval of Bianca's father, Baptista. In V.ii.65-70, Vincentio highlights Tranio's affected manner of dress, which is absurd since Vincentio knows him to be his son's servant. The pedant, characterized by an obsession with trivial details, is an inappropriate role for Vincentio, who should exhibit love and concern for his son, emotions that starkly contrast with a pedant's detached existence. Even Petruchio abandons his role as the shrew tamer and reverts to what the audience assumes is his true persona as a witty, playful courtier. While each of these characters only temporarily steps outside their natural roles, it appears that Kate undergoes a complete transformation, losing her outspoken and self-assertive nature seemingly beyond recovery.

Modern interpretations of the play that challenge the notion of Kate's complete transformation argue that Elizabethan audiences would have cheered Petruchio's effort to mold Kate into something contrary to her nature. While it is true that Elizabethan viewers found the idea of silencing women in public more humorous than contemporary audiences do, both Elizabethan and modern audiences might speculate about the lives of Sly and Kate after the play concludes. Perhaps Kate has not been truly tamed any more than Sly has become a lord, Lucentio a schoolmaster, Tranio his master, or the pedant Lucentio's father, Vincentio. If the men believe Petruchio when he claims, "Tis bargain'd 'twixt us twain, being alone, / That she shall still be curst in company" (II.i.304-05), why should the audience trust these same men when they celebrate Kate's seemingly "proper" subservient attitude at the play's end? Kate might be deceiving them just as Petruchio has.

The Taming of the Shrew may prompt modern readers to reflect on times when, like many characters in the play, they have assumed roles that hide their true selves to achieve specific goals, whether romantic or otherwise. How often do people pretend to be something they aren't to obtain what they desire or believe they desire?

Kiss Me Kate. MGM, 1953.
This film adaptation of Cole Porter's 1948 musical, inspired by The Taming of the Shrew, follows two divorced actors who struggle to keep their personal lives separate from their stage roles as Katherina and Petruchio. Distributed by MGM/UA Home Entertainment and Facets Multimedia, Inc. Runtime: 110 minutes.

Kiss Me Petrucho, New York Shakespeare Festival, 1982.
A documentary detailing the New York Shakespeare Festival's production of The Taming of the Shrew. Distributed by Films Inc. Video and Professional Media Service Corp. Runtime: 58 minutes.

The Taming of the Shrew. Pickford Corporation, Elton Corporation, United Artists, 1929, re-edited 1966.
The earliest film adaptation of the play, this early talkie stars real-life couple Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks. Distributed by Nostalgia Family Video and Critics' Choice Video. Runtime: 66 minutes.

The Taming of the Shrew. Columbia, 1967.
A grand screen adaptation featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, directed by Franco Zeffirelli. Distributed by Columbia Tristar Home Video, The Video Catalog, and PBS Video. Runtime: 122 minutes.

The Taming of the Shrew. International Film Bureau, 1974.
This short film presents two scenes from the play: Petruchio's vow to marry Katherina and the beginning of his "taming" process. Distributed by International Film Bureau, Inc. Runtime: 13 minutes.

The Taming of the Shrew. NET, 1980.
A performance by the American Conservatory Theatre at the Geary Theatre in San Francisco. Distributed by WNET/Thirteen Non-Broadcast. Runtime: 120 minutes.

The Taming of the Shrew. Cedric Messina, Dr. Jonathan Miller, BBC, 1981.
Featuring John Cleese and Sarah Badel. Distributed by Ambrose Video Publishing, Inc. Runtime: 127 minutes.

Sources

Bevington, David, ed., The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Third Edition. Glenview, IL, 1980. [1]

Further Reading

Baldwin, T. W. The Organization and Personnel of the Shakespearean Company. Princeton, 1927. [1]

Berek, Peter. “Text, Gender, and Genre in The Taming of the Shrew.” In “Bad” Shakespeare: Revaluations of the Shakespeare Canon, edited by Maurice Charney, 91-104. London, 1988. [1]

Boose, Lynda E. “Scolding Brides and Bridling Scolds: Taming the Woman’s Unruly Member.” Shakespeare Quarterly 42 (1991) 179-213. [3]

Fineman, Joel. “The Turn of the Shrew.” In Shakespeare and the Question of Theory, edited by Patricia Parker, et al., 138-59. New York, 1985. [4]

Haring-Smith, Tori. From Farce to Metadrama: A Stage History of “The Taming of the Shrew,” 1594-1983 (Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies, 16). Westport, CT, 1985. [1]

Hodgdon, Barbara. “Katherina Bound; or, Play(K)ating the Strictures of Everyday Life.” Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 107 (1992) 538-53. [4]

Holderness, Graham. “Production, Reproduction, Performance: Marxism, History, Theatre.” In Uses of History: Marxism, Postmodernism and the Renaissance, edited by Francis Barker, et al., 153-78. Manchester, 1991. [3]

Howard, Jean. “Women as Spectators, Spectacles, and Paying Customers.” In Staging the Renaissance: Reinterpretations of Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama, edited by Kastan and Stallybrass, 68-74. New York, 1991. [1] A longer version of this article titled “Scripts and/versus Playhouses: Ideological Production and the Renaissance Public Stage,” appears in Renaissance Drama 20 (1989) 31-49. [3]

Howard-Hill, T. H., ed. The Taming of the Shrew: A Concordance to the Text of the First Folio (The Oxford Shakespeare Concordances). Oxford, 1969. [1]

Huston, J. Dennis. “‘To make a puppet’: Play and Play-Making in The Taming of the Shrew.” Shakespeare Studies 9 (1976) 73-87. [1]

Levine, Laura. “Men in Women’s Clothing: Anti-theatricality and Effeminization from 1579 to 1642.” Criticism 28 (1986) 121-43. [1]

Mikesell, Margaret. “‘Love wrought these miracles’: Marriage and Genre in The Taming of the Shrew.” Renaissance Drama 20 (1990) 141-67. [1]

Moison, Thomas. “‘Knock me here soundly’: Comic Misprision and Class Consciousness in Shakespeare.” Shakespeare Quarterly 42 (1991) 276-90. See especially 276-82. [2]

Newman, Karen. “Renaissance Family Politics and Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.” English Literary Renaissance 16 (1986) 86-100. [3]

Orgell, Stephen. “Nobody’s Perfect: Or Why Did the English Stage Take Boys for Women?” The South Atlantic Quarterly 88 (1989) 7-29. [1]

Perret, Marion D. “Petruchio: The Model Wife.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 23 (1983) 223-35. [1]

Sirluck, Katherine A. “Patriarchy, Pedagogy, and the Divided Self in The Taming of the Shrew.” University of Toronto Quarterly 60 (1990-91) 417-34. [3]

Traub, Valerie. “The (In)significance of ‘lesbian’ desire in early modern England.” In Erotic Politics: Desire on the Renaissance Stage, edited by Susan Zimmerman, 150-69. New York, 1992. [3]

Weller, Barry. “Induction and Inference: Theatre, Transformation, and the Construction of Identity in The Taming of the Shrew.” In Creative Imitation: New Essays on Renaissance Literature, edited by David Quint, et al., 297-329. Binghamton, 1992. [1]

Wells, Stanley and Gary Taylor. “No Shrew, a Shrew, and the Shrew: Internal Revision in The Taming of the Shrew.” In Shakespeare: Text, Language, Criticism, edited by Bernhard Fabian, et al., 351-70. New York, 1987. [1]

Wentersdorf, Karl P. “The Original Ending of The Taming of the Shrew: A Reconsideration.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 18 (1978) 201-15. [1]

Literary Commentary

Berry, Ralph. "The Rules of the Game." In Shakespeare's Comedies: Explorations in Form, pp. 54-71. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1972.
Berry contends that while The Taming of the Shrew can be seen as a "brutal sex farce," it also subtly depicts two individuals negotiating the dynamics of male-female interactions.

Boose, Linda. "The Taming of the Shrew, Good Husbandry, and Enclosure." Shakespeare Reread: The Texts in New Contexts, edited by Russ McDonald, pp. 193-225. Ithaca Cornell, 1994.
Boose connects the play's exploration of social and sexual hierarchies to the socioeconomic transformations and class struggles in early modern England.

Bradbrook, Muriel C. "Dramatic Role as Social Image: A Study of The Taming of the Shrew." Shakespeare Jahrbuch 94, (1958): 132-50.
Bradbrook investigates Shakespeare's adaptation of traditional character roles in earlier versions of the shrew story, with a particular focus on his development of Katherina and Petruchio.

Brooks, Charles. "Shakespeare's Romantic Shrews." Shakespeare Quarterly 11, No. 3 (Summer, 1960): 351-6.
Brooks compares the characters of Katherina and Bianca to other female characters in Shakespeare's works.

Coghill, Nevil. "The Basis of Shakespearian Comedy." Essays and Studies 3 (1950): 1-28.
Coghill presents one of the first essays arguing that Katherina, rather than Petruchio, masters "the art of practice of matrimony."

Dusinberre, Juliet. "The Taming of the Shrew: Women, Acting, and Power." Studies in the Literary Imagination 26, No. 1 (Spring, 1993): 67-84.
Dusinberre highlights how the play draws attention to the Elizabethan practice of using boy actors for female roles and examines its impact on the portrayal of gender relations.

Duthie, George Ian. "Shakespeare and the Order-Disorder Antithesis" and "Comedy." Shakespeare, pp. 39-56, 57-88. London: Hutchinson's University Library, 1951.
Duthie interprets The Taming of the Shrew through the lens of Elizabethan beliefs about a divinely ordered hierarchy of creation.

Greer, Germaine. "The Middle-Class Myth of Love and Marriage." The Female Eunuch, pp. 195-215. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1970.
Greer briefly discusses The Taming of the Shrew within the context of evolving ideas about marriage in late sixteenth-century England.

Heffernan, Carol F. "The Taming of the Shrew: The Bourgeoisie in Love." Essays in Literature 12, No. 1 (Spring, 1985): 3-14.
Heffernan analyzes the play's depiction of emerging middle-class values and critiques the materialistic nature of Elizabethan marriage arrangements.

Heilman, Robert B. "The 'Taming' Untamed, or, The Return of the Shrew." Modern Language Quarterly 27, No. 2 (June, 1966): 147-61.
Heilman argues against modern interpretations of the play that transform this "free-swinging farce" into "a brittlely ironic comic drama."

Jayne, Sears. "The Dreaming of 'The Shrew'." Shakespeare Quarterly 17, No. 1 (Winter, 1966): 41-56.
Jayne suggests that the dramatic events from Act I, scene ii, onward in The Taming of the Shrew represent a wish-fulfilling dream of Sly.

Leggatt, Alexander. "The Taming of the Shrew." In Shakespeare's Comedy of Love, 41-62. London: Methuen, 1974.
Highlights that although Petruchio seems to defy conventional ideas of decorum with his odd behavior, he ultimately teaches Katherina to value social graces and to cherish "peace ... and love, and quiet life" (V, ii, 108). Additionally, the critic draws attention to the numerous sporting images, particularly blood sports like "hunting and hawking," linked with Petruchio's taming of Katherina.

Mack, Maynard. "Engagement and Detachment in Shakespeare's Plays." In Essays on Shakespeare and Elizabethan Drama in Honor of Hardin Craig, edited by Richard Hosley, pp. 275-96. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1962.

Newman, Karen. "Renaissance Family Politics and Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew." English Literary Renaissance 16, No. 1 (Winter, 1986): 86-100.
Argues that by emphasizing its own theatrical nature, The Taming of the Shrew challenges Elizabethan social and gender norms by exposing them as artificial constructs.

Novy, Marianne L. "Patriarchy and Play in The Taming of the Shrew." English Literary Renaissance 9, No. 2 (Spring, 1979): 264-80.
Explores the connection between game-playing and the play's reinforcement of male dominance.

Ranald, Margaret Loftus. "The Performance of Feminism in The Taming of the Shrew." Theatre Research International, n.s. 19, No. 3 (Fall, 1994): 214-25.
Offers a brief review of the play's performance history, focusing particularly on how the relationship between Katherine and Petruchio has been depicted.

Shapiro, Michael. "Framing the Taming: Metatheatrical Awareness of Female Impersonation in The Taming of the Shrew." The Yearbook of English Studies 23 (1993): 143-66.
Examines how the Elizabethan practice of using boy actors for female roles might have influenced audience perceptions of the play's female characters.

Shaw, Bernard. "Chin Chon Chino." The Saturday Review 84, No. 2193 (November 6, 1987): 488-90.
Commends the play as a "realistic comedy" but criticizes the final scene as deplorable.

Traversi, Derek. "The Taming of the Shrew." In William Shakespeare: The Early Comedies, pp. 14-22. London: The British Council, 1960.
Asserts that The Taming of the Shrew supports the notion that male dominance over women is a natural order.

Ulrici, Hermann. "Criticisms of Shakespeare's Drama: 'Much Ado about Nothing'—'Taming of the Shrew'." In Shakespeare's Dramatic Art: And His Relation to Calderon and Goethe, translated by A. J. W. Morrison, pp. 289-99. London: Chapman Brothers, 1839.
Discusses the connections between the Induction and the main body of the play.

Webster, Margaret. "The Early Plays." In Shakespeare without Tears, pp. 135-58. New York: Whittlesey House, 1942.
Interprets the play as illustrating an ideal couple's negotiation of a "marriage of true minds."

West, Michael. "The Folk Background of Petruchio's Wooing Dance: Male Supremacy in The Taming of the Shrew." Shakespeare Studies: An Annual Gathering of Research, Criticism, and Reviews 7 (1974): 65-73.
Analyzes the similarities between the play and folk courtship traditions, suggesting that the main source of the play's "imaginative appeal" is its vivid portrayal of sexual initiation rites.