Revision Cards - The Taming of the Shrew: A Level, Themes

Revise the key points

Lucentio’s response to seeing Bianca is unreal, courtly exaggeration.
Bianca’s and Kate’s first dialogue concerns who Bianca ‘lov’st best’.
Baptista’s brief aside that Petruccio must win Kate’s heart – ‘That is, her love; for that is all in all’ – can be viewed at face value (he wants his daughter to be happy) or as a mere throwaway line.
Consider the central importance of the kisses between Petruccio and Kate: do they signify real affection or submission?

Themes

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

Note that there are three very different marriages at the end of the play: Petruccio/Kate; Lucentio/Bianca; Hortensio/‘wealthy widow’.
Bianca has three suitors, all of whom represent different types of love: Lucentio, Gremio, Hortensio (plus Tranio in disguise).
Marriage is seen as a financial transaction, with bidders at an auction.
The play possibly echoes old ideas about marriage; wife as ‘fair game’ for beating.

Themes

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

Petruccio arrives with a clear aim: ‘to wive it wealthily’. (I.2.74)
There is an explicit sense of what wealth buys you in the Induction, and in Petruccio’s house.
Lucentio is accepted as a son-in-law because of his background, despite his deception.
Note the strong sense of the status of servants and masters in the play, although reversals (e.g. Tranio) temporarily suggest alternatives.

Themes

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

At the start, the Lord (with Servants and Players) deceives Sly.
Bianca’s display of submissiveness and obedience is turned on its head at the end of the play.
Several characters disguise themselves: Tranio as Lucentio; Lucentio as Cambio; Hortensio as Licio; Pedant as Vincentio.
There is an alternative idea of deception: is Kate self-deceived (her shrewishness is not her ‘real’ self)?

Themes

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

The establishment of the relationship between major characters and their fathers drives much of the action of the play.
Lucentio’s first words tell us that he is permitted to see the world ‘by my father’s love and leave’. (I.1.5)
Petruchio’s father is ‘deceased’ which frees him ‘haply to wive and thrive as best I may’, casting aside his father’s death for enjoyment rather readily! (I.2.53–5)
Katherina’s role and narrative journey is defined by her father’s wish to rid himself of her, and by her understanding that Bianca is his favourite: ‘now I see/She is your treasure’. (II.1.31–2)