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MontrealPhoenix -> RE: Taming of Shrews (3/25/2008 7:29:37 PM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: softness
The Taming of The Shrew has always been one of my favourite plays by Shakespeare; combination of D/s and slapstick, sexist early modern literature at its best. I have always adored and self identified as Katharina..and secretly desired Petruchio. My personal interpretation of the play has changed as many times as I have read it.
So imagine my delight when I get it read back to me by Sir . We refer back often to her final speech in V.2 (links included here) http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/shrew/14/ as it is the best and most complete model of what we believe a woman's place to be. It is something that has spoken to both of us .. before we met eachother, before we even met the lifestyle.
This thread is not to debate the role of women and the balance of power between the sexes...but something of far greater personal importance to me. I look at the characeter of Katharina ..and see myself... I am more than a little bit of a Shrew.. .. Sir recently described me as "a bit of bulldog, remind me to keep you leashed" .. He says I have rapier like wit ... I know that I intimidate people, and actively exploit their weaknesses. I sometimes look at people and work out how I could crush them like a bug, my favourite way to unwind after work.. is to eviscerate someone in a chatroom or forum thread .. kinky or vanilla... am not too bothered. In fact, looking at it ... I could probably take Katharina in a fight.
So I have frequently struggled to watch her "downfall" into submission ... I have mourned for the loss of her spirit and vim. I have opted for the personal interpretation that she is being ironic in her submission, or biding her time (topping from the bottom if you will). As a scholar ..a serious one .. this is a crappy interpretation .. and beneath me. But I look at the woman she becomes, and it took me along time to see that she was actually happier that way than she was before, it still made me mourn her loss, but i could evetually see her gain by being submissive to her husband. The other day W/we were having and discussion about my pride and needing to be right and He read me this section http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/shrew/12/ .. and for this I fished out my rather battered copy of the play.I took it to bed that night to try to learn her final speech by heart...and in the notes I found this excellent piece of critical analysis.
"The truth is that Kate's greatest victory is, with the help of Petruchio, over herself. She has come to accept that she has enough worth and merit and can be content without having the last word and scaring everybody. She is all that she once was, merely choosing not to direct it at the man who loves her,but for the man who loves her." (R B Heilman,1966)
and then also
"Kate has the uncommon good fortune to find Petruchio, who is man enough to know what he wants, and exactly how to get it. He wants Katharina, but on his terms, as opposed to hers." (Germaine Greer, 1970)
Kate is not the broken version of Katharina ...not the diminished, doormatted version of Katherina. She is every bit of the woman that Katharina was (intelligent, witty, terrifying, powerful) , but Kate has something new, she is also the woman that Katharine could be but was not. Petruchio adores her spirit and passion and bite, he just doesn't want it directed at him.(look at the very beginning ofV.2 for evidence of this) He doesn't kill it, he just directs it elsewhere. He allows Kate to be everything she once was AND to be a happy and contented woman. This gave me great personal comfort, especially when I read it to Sir and He just laughed and said "Finally!..you get it"
So... fellow Shrews ... how does this sit with you? Do you think Kate is a better woman than Katharina?...or has she diminshed in your eyes?
Unshrew like submissives and slaves... how do you feel about Kates in the lifestyle? Dowe have our place?
Aspiring Petruchios.... is this how you want your Kates?... or do you want the unthinking submissive she can also be seen to be?
Dominants... would you want to take this woman and turn her ... or take Bianca and beat some manners into her?
and the secret to breaking a woman?... Petruchio manages it keeping her hungry and sleep deprived ...and horny (sounding VERY familiar to me right now!)
After reading this i just had to write you to thank you. Like you, i mourned the woman Katerina was after Petruchio "broke" her - until i read this. I can now see that Petruchio didn't break her, he made her a better woman. Reading the paragraph i bolded, a light bulb went off, a great big 400 watt lightbulb. I cannot thank you enough for this as Katerina is one of my alltime favorite characters.
Phoenix
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