A Study on the Feminist Consciousness of Shakespeare in the Taming of the Shrewd

Gao Jingwen

【Abstract】There are thousands of female characters created by Shakespeare. Compared with those wonderful female characters that have the distinct awakening feminist spirit such as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet， Cordilia in King Lear， Portia in the Merchant of Venice， Catherine in the Taming of the Shrewd is quite different and special. In this paper， I will analyze the personalities of the heroine and combine the religion， culture and social position of women to illustrate the feminist consciousness of Shakespeare.

【Key words】Shakespeare; feminist consciousness; religion

【作者簡介】高婧文（1998.06-），女，汉族，西南民族大学，本科，研究方向：文学、语言学。

As the forerunner of the British realistic tradition and the worlds pre-eminent dramatist， Shakespeare guided people to cherish ones value， dignity and power through his everlasting works. Unlike other plays， The Taming of the Shrewd draws a lot of critics for its patriarchal features. But if we put ourselves back to his time， we will reach to the real purpose of Shakespeare.

From the perspective of the social position of women， in the age of Elizabeth， there was no special law for womens position. But we can get some details from other codes such as marriage， heritage and land-use right. Women shared almost the same social position as men did before they got married. While， after their marriage， all of their legal properties including themselves would belong to part of their husbands properties. Whats worse， if a woman could not get married for some reasons， she would be encouraged to go to abbey. Her legal property would be taken away by church. Either belonged to their husbands or the church， women did not have the right to choose.

Religion was a huge pressure put on womens shoulders. In 16th century， although the reformation started bringing various changes for the whole society， the regulations and attitude towards women stayed the same. It was believed that women were the daughters of Eve and possessed the sinful bodies aiming to seduce men to indulge in sexual proclivities. Such concept was widely accepted even by women themselves. Objectively speaking， the new reformer did bring about some changes to the womens social positions. Women even had the opportunity to receive education. Nonetheless， that didnt break the inferiority of women because the ultimate goal was to make them more obedient.

Besides， in Shakespeares time， the audiences were mostly from the lower class. They watched the play only for entertainment rather than appreciating Shakespeares talent and wisdom. Once they felt the play went against their stomach， they booed to the actors and actress and made a huge mess so that the play could not go on. So the ending of the Taming of the Shrewd that Catherine is finally reduced to a slave to her husband and becomes a model woman in her town is acceptable and justified.

1. A mockery of patriarchy

Shakespeare structured the Taming of the Shrewd into a play-within-a-play. In the prelude， the nobleman plays tricks on a drunken tinker， making him believe he is a noble and he has been dreaming for past fifteen years. The nobleman does everything to make him believe， including helping the tinker bath， dress， calling him master， and even putting a play for him. In that “play”， Peter uses the similar trick to tame Catherine. Shakespeare wrote through a funny way to describe a series of exaggerated characteristics and actions of Peter. In fact， Shakespeare was satirizing the patriarchy of his time in an unnoticeable way.

2. Rebellious Catherine

Catherine was characterized as a traditional shrewd who is always rude， aggressive and never submits. However， the reason for her wild nature is that she does not want her marriage to be arranged and to be manipulated randomly like a puppy. When her father offers abundant dowry to whoever wants to marry her， she completely goes mad. Because she knows that if a woman can not realize how to resist， she will be treated like a fool for her whole life. Although in the end she becomes mild and obedient， she actually is equipped with awakening feminist spirit. The ending of Catherine is only designed to cater to the audiences preference.

3. Conclusion

Whether Shakespeare is a defender or a protester of patriarchy is quite controversial among the critics. From those two female characters in the Taming of the Shrewd， we can see the feminist consciousness of Shakespeare. He shows to the whole world that women should have the same independent personality and dignity.

References：

[1]方平譯.莎士比亚全集（三）[M].北京：人民文学出版社，2000：301-451.