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Taming of the Shrew Act 3
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Information on author :William Shakespeare was an English poet baptized in Warwickshire in April 23 1564. He Married Anne Hathaway in 1582. He is often regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. His works consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, two epitaphs and several other poems. They are translated into every major living language. Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 in Warwickshire, England and was outlived by his wife and children. Historical aspects :It is thought that shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" could have been inspired by "Suppositi" written by Ludovico Ariosto, a play written long before the taming of the shrew. Another possible inspiration is found in "Supposes" by George Gascoigne. :Th reason behind Katherine's character may simply be the fact that Shrewish wives were a very common theme in sixteenth century plays. This could explain why shakespeare icluded the character and made her such an important character. :This shakespearean play had quite an impact on its contemporaries. Most of these people criticized the play for portraying abuse and misonogy. It was very disputed if the point of it was to satyrise that sort of behaviour or if it actually condoned it. For this very reason it was a very disputed and controversial play. Synopsis :Undercover as tutors, Lucentio and Hortensio compete for Bianca’s love. While giving Bianca Latin lessons, Lucentio reveals his true identity to his loved one. She hesitates, but gives him reasons to hope. On the other hand, Hortensio delivers a love note to her during their music lesson which she does not receive so well. He decides that Bianca’s interest in Lucentio is a mark against her good taste. If she persists, he will no longer try to court her. : On Sunday, Petruchio, shows up late at his wedding to Kate, dressed as a madman. During the delay, Tranio tells his master Lucentio of his plans on finding a replacement for Vincentio, Lucentio’s real father. Baptista, father of Bianca, wishes to discuss with Vincentio the terms of Bianca’s economic position when marrying Lucentio. : After the wedding is over, Gremio, outraged, comments to Tranio the behavior of both Petruchio and Kate at their wedding. The Petruchio cursed and beat the priest, and gave Kate a kiss that echoed throughout the church. : To further provoke his newlywed, Petruchio refuses to allow Kate to assist to her own wedding feast. Challenging, but unable to resist, Kate went off to Petruchio’s country home. Major components Plot <big>Scene I</big> :This scene starts with the argument between Lucentio and Hortensio, respectively disguised as Cambio and Litio, and Bianca choosing Cambio’s lesson first. Then, Lucentio, as Cambio, declares his love for Bianca through a fake translation of a Latin phrase. She responds with a fake translation of the same phrase saying that she does not believe him, but she might later. She then asks Litio to give her his lesson. Hortensio, as Litio, also declares his love to her with a gamut, or scale. Bianca says that she does not like it. A servant enters and says that she must leave. Everyone leaves except Hortensio and he says that whoever wants Bianca can have her. <big>Scene II</big> :This scene starts with everyone desperately waiting for Petruchio, the groom, to arrive to the wedding. Katherine, the bride, runs away because she thinks that Petruchio has left her. Then, Biondello arrives to the wedding and announces, to Baptista and Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, that Petruchio is coming with his servant and that both are dressed in an awkward fashion. Petruchio finally arrives. Baptista and Tranio, as Lucentio, ask Petruchio to change clothes before he marries Katherine, but he denies. Petruchio and Grumio, his servant, leaves to look for the bride and everyone else goes with them except for Tranio and Lucentio, who begin talking about what they need for Lucentio to marry Bianca. Gremio enters and explains the disaster that Petruchio caused at the wedding. Then, everyone from the wedding arrives. Petruchio says that he must go and even though they try to make him stay, he leaves with Katherine and Grumio. Everyone resumes the dinner and Bianca and Tranio, as Lucentio, take the seats of the bride and the groom. <big>Elements of a Play’s Plot</big> :According to Dr. Trumbull, E. W. (2008), the plot of a play is divided into Rising Action and Falling Action. Inside the Rising Action we can find the Exposition, the Conflict and the Climax. In the Falling Action we find the Resolution. Even though this is just one act of the entire play, we can find some elements of a play’s plot. : In Scene I, the plot starts with the exposition of a conflict between Lucentio and Hortensio. Then, we have the climax when Bianca chooses Lucentio first and both, Lucentio and Hortensio, declare their love for her with the fake translation and the gamut. Finally, the resolution is seen when she responds to each and they all leave the room. : In Scene II, the plot starts with the exposition of the problem that Petruchio is not there. The conflict then turns out to be the behavior and outfit of Petruchio. We see the climax when Petruchio goes to look for Katherine and they get married, but his behavior is still bad. The falling action is found when Petruchio decides he must leave with Katherine and does so. : Act III is located in the climax of the main plot and subplot of the play. According to the description by Dr. Trumbull, E. W. (2008), the plot of the play is episodic, because it has many characters, subplots, comic reliefs, and short fragmented scenes. Taming of the shrew Setting <big>Scene 1</big> :The characters are located in Baptista Minola's home. In this scene all the major characters are wealthy people. Bianca, as a lady, behaves the way a young maiden should, according to what society dictates. Also, she is obtaining education, which is expected from a girl born to a prosperous father. If one were to ignore the disguised suitors, the picture would seem as that of an ordinary flush sixteenth century girl taking her day's lessons. The suitors change the whole ambience though. There is tension shown between Lucentio and Hortensio as both of them attempt to court Bianca. Even though, the atmosphere is endearing between Bianca and her wooers, there is a more rivalistic environment shown in the suitors' behaviour towards each other. Hortensio also shows suspicion towards Lucentio, although he is ignorant of the situation. <big>Scene 2</big> :The characters seem to be at the location at which wedding reception will be held. The locality in itself does not change throught the scene, but another site, the church is reffered to through conversation. At the beggining they're anxious and awaiting to see if Pertruchio will leave Katherina at the altar. Their anxiety, though, is quickly replaced by dissappointment when everyone saw Pertruchio and the way he was dressed. Obviously everyone expected more out of his wardrobe since he was, in fact, a rich man about to marry a wealthy woman. From then, to the wedding which is held at the church and on, the predominant feeling is shame and embarrassment towards all of Pertruchio's actions. Everyone seems unnerved and surprised by his rude, fortright behaviour. The guests also seem confused. As can be observed during a conversation between Lucentio and Gremio they don't know who is regarded as worse in their society; Pertruchio, the madman, or Katherina, the shrew. Characters : In Act 3 we start getting to know the characters better. The main characters, Katharine, Petruchio, and Lucentio, appear in Act 3 and we can see some change in their behavior. The biggest change in behavior would be Petruchio’s. In this act, Petruchio seems to even surprise himself. He is not superficial and selfish. Apparently he wants to marry Katharine not just for the money, because if all he wanted was the money, why would he show any type of interest in trying to tame Kate? Clearly he sees beyond the surface and knows that Katharine’s behavior is just a tough exterior that covers her true desire of being loved and valued. He knows this real Katharine can be brought out and that it will compliment him well. Another aspect we can see about Petruchio is how he ignores what society considers a good behavior, particularly when he is trying to help Katharine let go of her rough exterior. For instance, he arrives late to the wedding wearing inappropriate clothes, and then he asks Katherine to leave early when the wedding ended, giving her no time to speak with her friends and family. By this part of the story, we start to notice the change in Petruchio. Money is not really his goal now, we can see that he wants someone that can challenge him and value him, that’s why he starts taming her. Petruchio is a round and dynamic character. On the other hand, Katharine doesn’t change as much as Petruchio in Act 3. We can still sense her shrewish behavior. However, the wedding is the beginning of her transformation. She is presented in previous acts as an un-happy volatile woman. Through the marriage she goes from egocentric misery to mature happiness. She is definitely a round and dynamic character. In contrast to Katherine and Petruchio, Lucentio’s behavior doesn’t change in this Act. He remains lovesick and bold. However, in this act we can see that the plan of pretending to be the latin tutor Cambio is working, when Bianca showed she preferred him over Hortensio. Lucentio is a dynamic and static character. : The main characters have complex and different personalities. However, we as readers have to assume what they are feeling and who they really are by analyzing different events in the story. Since William Shakespeare used indirect characterization, he doesn’t describe the characters. We know each character’s personality by his or her actions and what other characters say about him or her. Shakespeare uses dialogue and monologue so we can get to know each character. For instance, Pertuchio says, ::“To me she's married, not unto my clothes: ::Could I repair what she will wear in me, ::As I can change these poor accoutrements, ::'Twere well for Kate and better for myself. ::But what a fool am I to chat with you, ::When I should bid good morrow to my bride, ::And seal the title with a lovely kiss!” :At this moment we start assuming Pertuchio’s true feelings for Katharine, which is not explained nor described by the author, Shakespeare. :Apart from the main characters, the secondary characters that appear in the Act are: Bianca, Hortensio, Gremio, Grumio, Tranio, Sly, and Baptista. The shadow characters that appear in the act are: Bartholomew, Servant, and Biondello. From all the characters mentioned in the act, Bianca and Lucentio are stereotypes. Lucentio is the handsome romantic young male or in other words “prince charming”. Bianca is soft-spoken and sweet, she is the stereotypical lady. Definitely, in Act 3 we start discovering most of the characters’ true intentions. Theme :In Act III, a variety of themes are found. In the first scene, there is a contrast between the way that Lucentio and Hortensio try to pursue Bianca’s love. By using a mock translation in Latin to express his feelings, Lucentio represents the simplicity and superficiality of his admiration towards Bianca. Hortensio uses complex and well placed words to impress Bianca, yet he does not succeed. Here we see a comparison in their ways of perusing her and how Bianca favors Lucentio over Hortensio. Bianca’s innocence is shown through this action. In scene II, Petruchio and Kate’s wedding, ideas about pride, matrimony and other topics are shared. The costume that Petruchio wears for his wedding symbolizes his indifference towards the superficial aspect of Kate and his resolve to defy her expectations. Petruchio’s attitude in his wedding is a symbol of defiance and rebellion to society’s standards and also shows that he is willing to lose his dignity in order to gain Kate’s love. Also, Petruchio uses a list of objects to represent his dominance over Kate in the following lines: ::“I will be master of what is mine own- ::She is my goods, my chattels, she is my house, ::My household stuff, my field, my barn, ::My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything." :Here we see a part of Petruchio’s point of view on marriage and the man’s role in it. In conclusion, themes such as superficiality, marriage, rebellion, pride and genre roles are portrayed in this act. Stage directions :An actor, as good as he might be, will always find himself in need of stage directions just like a great sailor finds himself in need of a compass to be able to reach his destination. Stage directions are instructions written in a script, indicating stage actions, movements of performers or production requirements. In the play “The Taming of the Shrew”, the stage directions given by the playwright, William Shakespeare, mainly indicate when is a character is impersonating another one. An example of this indication is when, in the play, it states “Lucentio (as Cambio)”, for example. Another specification often used in this play is the setting. It is usually stated at the beginning of an act or a scene, usually written like this: “Padua. Baptista’s house.” Other directives, such as sounds made by the characters, mainly referring to music, and expressions they have to do, for example weeping or talking aside, are also very common in this play. To whom is a character talking is also repeatedly used by Shakespeare since in this act in specific there are various character present on stage at the same time. All of the previously mentioned stage directions contribute to the atmosphere given in a specific moment of the play; for example, when a character talks aside, it creates the atmosphere of secrecy and so forth every detail given in stage directions helps the actors deliver just the perfect play. Adaptation :The movie “10 things I Hate About You”, directed by Gil Junger, is an adaptation of the play “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare. The main difference between the movie and the play is the time period, since the play takes place in the XVI century and the movie takes place in the XX century. Since the movie is an adaptation of the play, they have almost the same plot. Some of the characters in the movie even have the same, or similar, names as the ones in the play, for example: Katarina (Katherine), Bianca (Bianca) and Patrick (Petruchio). The characters have the same, or similar, personalities, for example: Katarina and Katherine are both shrews. The characters also try similar strategies, for example: Cameron and Lucentio both gave language lessons the respective Bianca. Like it is mentioned before, since one is the adaptation of the other, they have many more aspects in common than the ones we can contrast. 
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