battle of wits: Petruccio's educational methods

Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2, University of Kassel (Anglistik), course: W. Shakespeare - The Taming of the Shrew, language: English, abstract: Shakespeare explores the theme of comic sexual warfare between men and women in The Taming of the Shrew, says Francois Laroque (1997, p. 64). Shakespeare's play consists of a frame tale which introduces two interlinked plots. The frame story deals with a poor tinker, Christopher Sly, who is found drunkenly by a nobleman. This nobleman enjoys to play a joke on the poor tinker's expense making him believe he is a nobleman with all the luxury of servants, a wife, fine food and drink at his command. In this way, Christopher Sly comes into the joy of watching a troupe of players enact a "e;comedy of courtship and marriage involving two lines of action"e; on the order of the true nobleman. The first line of action is concerned with Katherine, the elder sister of the Minola siblings, who "e;is 'tamed' by a strong-willed, fortune-seeking suitor named Petruchio"e; (Howard, J.E., 1997, p. 133). The second, however, deals with Bianca Minola, the younger daughter of Baptista Minola, the father of the two. She is wooed by three different adoring suitors at a time and "e;eventually elopes with one of them without her father's knowledge or consent."e; (Ibid). Catherine Bates (2002, p. 108), however, regards The Taming of the Shrew as being a brisk comedy which is laid on to entertain the drunken Christopher Sly. Edward Berry (2002, pp. 123-138), nevertheless, sees Katherine being the shrew who is "e;mocked, abused, and tormented into submission by Petruchio (Ibid, p. 124). Edward Berry also states that "e;the play in which Katherine is tamed is a play within a play, performed at the request of a hunting lord, who uses it to show the beggar, Christopher Sly, how grand it is to live his kind of life"e;(Ibid, p. 132).