The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Solidifies my theory that Shakespeare didn’t write any great plays in the first seven years of his career, with the possible exception of Love’s Labour’s Lost (and even then I find that play hard to like). Emma Smith makes a good case for the fundamental ambiguity of whether Katherine is in fact tamed by Petrucio – the text leaves options open for different stagings. For what it’s worth, Katherine’s extended capitulation speech at the end of the play suggests to me an acceptance of her fate, rather than an ironic and hostile attitude to it. Shakespeare would grow out of the urge to humble his active and opinionated heroines, and his plays became better for it.

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