| The Taming
of the Shrew, one of Shakespeare's
earliest comedies, shares with The Merchant of Venice an uncomfortable
fit with the literal attitudes of the
21st century. What are we to make of a
play that vacillates between high farce
and sentimental romance and that seems
to celebrate man's dominion over woman?
Do we dismiss this play as the product
of its time? Or do we find in it, as
Harold Bloom did, "the subtly exquisite
music of marriage at its happiest"? Do
we find in Kate's apparent surrender to
the amiable ruffian she has married a
hidden triumph, not only for her, but
for all women through the ages? Do we
find comfort in the knowledge that her
"duty" to her husband encompasses only
"true obedience" to his
"honest will" and not blind
submission to his arbitrary whim? Four
hundred and fifteen years after its
first production, these and other
questions remain. They have not kept
this from being one of the bard's most
popular and frequently performed plays.
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