Play Analysis: Who Is Katherina Minola?
Saunders 1
Kim Saunders
18 April 2013
Katharina the curst!
A title for a maid of all titles the worst. Gremio
Who is Katherina Minola?
As I sat listening to the first read thru of Taming of the Shrew I started hearing answers to this question, through the descriptive words of the other characters. The words were not complimentary. This led to my next question… why is she perceived this way and is it true?
This complicated lady I was about to play shows her true nature in her own words (if you listen closely) The story is that of the wealthy Minola family. Senor Baptista has 2 daughters Katherina the eldest who is known for her bad temper and sharp tongue and the youngest Bianca known for her …show more content…
It is left to the actors and director to decide how long the mother has been dead. This would leave Katherina with the responsibility of the household as well as the rearing of the younger sister. Also in many households when a younger child is born the elder child feels abandoned and acts out. If the younger child has a more moderate temperament that might cause a parent to become more distant from the one acting out and it becomes a vicious cycle.
We see how others (mostly men) see Katherina through their conversation. Gremio calls her “a fiend of hell” and says “she 's too rough for me”. He also does not believe anyone could love her as he says in these next 2 statements. “I say, a devil, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?” and “I had as lief take her dowry with this condition, to be whipped at the high cross every morning”. Hortensio confirms this when he tells her: “no mates for you, unless you were of gentler, milder mould”. He also calls her a devil and though he believes someone will marry her it is only for her money as in this statement” “though it pass your patience and mine to endure her loud alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough”. To add insult to injury Katherina’s own father calls her: “thou helding of a devilish spirit” and at our first meeting of this family we find Baptista …show more content…
Saunders 3
“Gentlemen, importune me no farther,
For how I firmly am resolved you know;
That is, not bestow my youngest daughter
Before I have a husband for the elder:
If either of you both love Katharina,
Because I know you well and love you well,
Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.”
Katherina expresses jealousy about her father’s treatment of her
Kim Saunders
18 April 2013
Katharina the curst!
A title for a maid of all titles the worst. Gremio
Who is Katherina Minola?
As I sat listening to the first read thru of Taming of the Shrew I started hearing answers to this question, through the descriptive words of the other characters. The words were not complimentary. This led to my next question… why is she perceived this way and is it true?
This complicated lady I was about to play shows her true nature in her own words (if you listen closely) The story is that of the wealthy Minola family. Senor Baptista has 2 daughters Katherina the eldest who is known for her bad temper and sharp tongue and the youngest Bianca known for her …show more content…
It is left to the actors and director to decide how long the mother has been dead. This would leave Katherina with the responsibility of the household as well as the rearing of the younger sister. Also in many households when a younger child is born the elder child feels abandoned and acts out. If the younger child has a more moderate temperament that might cause a parent to become more distant from the one acting out and it becomes a vicious cycle.
We see how others (mostly men) see Katherina through their conversation. Gremio calls her “a fiend of hell” and says “she 's too rough for me”. He also does not believe anyone could love her as he says in these next 2 statements. “I say, a devil, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?” and “I had as lief take her dowry with this condition, to be whipped at the high cross every morning”. Hortensio confirms this when he tells her: “no mates for you, unless you were of gentler, milder mould”. He also calls her a devil and though he believes someone will marry her it is only for her money as in this statement” “though it pass your patience and mine to endure her loud alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough”. To add insult to injury Katherina’s own father calls her: “thou helding of a devilish spirit” and at our first meeting of this family we find Baptista …show more content…
Saunders 3
“Gentlemen, importune me no farther,
For how I firmly am resolved you know;
That is, not bestow my youngest daughter
Before I have a husband for the elder:
If either of you both love Katharina,
Because I know you well and love you well,
Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.”
Katherina expresses jealousy about her father’s treatment of her