Analysis of The Taming of the Shrew Essay

The Taming of the Shrew is a play that takes place in the renaissance era, it happens to be a play inside of a play that starts out with a character Christopher Sly then goes into a play which Christopher watches but the book breaks into. Throughout the entire book there is disguises in many shapes and forms. Starting in the introduction Shakespeare shows the readers how important disguises and deceitfulness is in the book. The disguises are important to the story because it shows how it unfolds. The deceit in the story brings people together as well as breaks them apart. The types of disguises is also an important figure in the story, without physical disguises there is much less deceit and without physiological disguises there is no emotional barriers to break through.

You are come to me in happy time, for I have some sport in hand, Wherein your cunning can assist me much(Intro/Shrew) says the Lord to the players in the Introduction of The Taming of the Shrew. These seemingly simple words welcome the deceitfulness of The Taming of the Shrew, setting the context for the story. The introduction is the part of the play that shows you that there is much deceit to come with the tricks played on Christopher Sly. The Introduction focuses our attention on the idea of appearances being deceiving, as well as on the importance of acting and role playing, but then it stops abruptly once The Taming of the Shrew play within the play begins. Why then take the time to introduce us to Sly and the merry jest of the Lord and his household? We can see the Introductions as functioning in a number of ways, but one of its most important purposes is to clue spectators into one of the plays main themes, role playing. In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare provides disguises of all shapes and forms, from obvious physical disguises to more subtle psychological ones, and in the confines of a play within a play allows us to see a world which, not unlike our own, is teeming with role players.

The first and most obvious type of disguise employed in Shrew is the physical disguise. The notion of physical role playing is introduced at the very beginning of the play and continues throughout the play. When Christopher Sly falls asleep, the Lord decides to play a trick on him by having him carried to his manor and dressed as a nobleman. Lucentio, in Act I, Scene 1, assumes the role of Cambio, Biancas tutor, while his servant Tranio disguises himself as Lucentio. Later, at the end of Act II, Scene 1, Tranio/Lucentio realizes he will need to present Vincentio Lucentios father, so he decides he must get a man to play Vincentio. In Act IV, Scene 2, he finds a Pedant to play the part. In Act III we are introduced to yet another masquerader when Hortensio disguises himself as Litio, Biancas music tutor. Aside from proper clothing, the only other thing these role players seem to need in order to ensure their masquerades is someone to back up their stories. Certainly the ease with which these players enact their roles suggests that as spectators both inside and outside the theater we need to be aware that nothing is as it seems and that we are continually surrounded by people who may just be acting a part in order to obtain a desired outcome.

A bit less obvious than the physical disguises are the psychological disguises in The Taming of the Shrew. Both Kate and Petruchio assume psychological disguises. Kate becomes a shrew to compensate for the hurt she feels because of her fathers favoritism toward Bianca. In addition, she refuses to be saddled with an unworthy husband and so assumes the role of a shrew, insulating herself from the hurtful world around her, no matter how much she may secretly wish to join in the fun. Likewise, Petruchio assumes the role of shrew-tamer, punishing Kates bad behavior until she cannot help but see how childish her actions have been. Bianca, too, assumes a psychological disguise, changing her perspectives drastically once she is safely married. Although she appears initially as a pure soul, by the plays end we see that is not the case. As the play draws to a close, we see more and more of Biancas true disposition and learn that, ironically, it is Bianca, not Kate, who really is the shrew. In her case, her psychological disguise provided her the opportunity to appear better than she really was, suggesting again that we must be wary of the role playing going on around us. Physical disguises are fairly easy to detect and defuse, but psychological disguises are quite a different and more complicated matter. That is why one should never judge a book by its cover.

In conclusion disguising and role playing of all sorts fill the scenes of The Taming of the Shrew. In addition to advancing the general plot, the pervasive disguising in the play suggest that role players are not always what they seem. All the deceit and lying in the play is what makes it what it is. From the introduction to the scenes the play is full of disguises, disguises of the physical and physiological variety. The disguises were important to the way the play unfolded. If everyone did not fight to get Biancas love then Kate would not of been as shrewish as the story tells it. In turn Petruchio would not of gone through the trouble of taming her with such extremes. The disguises were what put the irony and comic relief to make the play enjoyable.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. New York: New York American Library, 1999.