¶ … shakespeare's, "The Taming of the Shrew" Katherine is made to wed Petruchio in order for a suitor to wed her younger more attractive sister, Bianca. Over the years there have been many adaptations of the play and even though it is a comedy, it still covers serious and all too somber subject matter. Women and their role in society has recently undergone a series of transformations. No longer are they expected to stay at home and raise the young, at least in modern societies. They can work and make their own living. However, in "Taming of the Shrew," Katherine is tranformed into an obedient wife through a series of "abusive" strategies that removed any semblance of resistance she once possessed. This family tension of husband and wife along with the tension of sisters (Katherine's at times harsh treatment of Bianca) provides the means of modifying and altering for changing audiences. As the times change, the adaptations adjust to the level of society and how they view the position of women in it.
As the adaptations go, they change in terms of how the shrew is portrayed in Katherine and how she is tamed. One of the last scenes of the play in where the newly wed husbands make a wager of how obedient their wives are by sending a servant to fetch them and Katherine in the end explaining to the other wives the importance of being obedient, this is altered in the adaptations. The importance of obedience is emphasized in the original play as women back then possessed hardly any rights and were seen as crazy or a "shrew" if they resisted their pre-ordained roles. However as the years went by and women gained more and more rights, the "obedience part of the play differed.
Katherine in the play has always been "hotheaded" and resistant. This does not change. The way in which she resists differs as in the later adaptations she appears less "shrewish" and more ill-tempered. Petruchio begins as a (what some may perceive as abusive) man with an agenda, using reverse psychology to woo her and then refusing her food and clothing when they are married. In the later adaptations the treatment is not as severe and he becomes lustful...
It is the desire of marrying Bianca off only if Katherine is, that begins the ill-conceived plans of Petruchio and the other men. The tension, to be labeled, is the "challenge of taming the shrew" and all that comes with it. As adaptations change the setting, the professions of the men, the character traits of Petruchio, the taming still remains the main source of tension.
In conclusion, "The Taming of the Shrew" is what some believe to be a mysognist tale of obedience. The roles of women in this area are clearly shown to be that of a submissive and agreeable wife at the mercy of the husband's decisions and actions. This is what becomes the tension of the play and its later adaptations change it in order to suit the evolving tastes of the audience.
Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" and George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" deal with class and manners within British society. British people as a whole are a very ironic people.They do not mean what they say and add a level of complexity in communication to hide the true feelings they possess or to cover up their true motives. "The Importance of Being Earnest" has the protagonist, Jack Worthing (Ernest) falling for an upper class woman named Gwendolen. Although he is of unknown origins, he wishes to marry her. Lady Bracknell, obsessed with class and status, does not approve of Ernest/Jack and he later on through good fortune, finds his true origins to be upper class in being Algernon's older brother and the first born. Even when Gwendolen says she can only marry a man truly named Ernest, it is discovered he would have been named Ernest would he have never been mistakenly placed in the handbag.
This sadly is a story that confirms the need for people within British society, to adhere to certain norms and rules in order to have what they want. Jack does not come from humble origins and because he indeed came from upper class origins, he could wed the girl he…
