The Taming of the Shrew

Late post? Yes.

The Taming of the Shrew irked me in several ways, although in general I tend to be fond of Shakespeare's comedies. It was comic and soap opera-esque as befits his comedies, but the lack of apparent passage of time was irritating, in that after the marriage of Katherina and Petruchio, it suggested that she was essentially "tamed" over the course of the night.

Furthermore, despite the title of the play, the play was very nearly entirely settled around the marriage of Bianca and whoever her suitor would turn out to be. (Lucentio.) The beginning was a desperate discussion of who would marry Katherina so that Baptista would allow one of the men, Hortensio or Gremio, to marry Baptista's younger daughter Bianca. Petruchio sweeps in out of the blue and carries Katherina over his threshold, and 'tames' her, and the arguments, plots, and negotiations for the marriage of Bianca continue.