Taming Of The Shrew Gender Essay

Gender is a social construct, as in what is considered normal for each gender is determined by society, not nature. Thus, it is not strange to say that it is performed by both men and women. The performative nature of gender becomes very literal when considering that all actors, or players, during Shakespeare’s time were men, with female roles typically assigned to boys and younger men. This is also emphasized in The Taming of the Shrew, with the inclusion of an acting troupe in the outer plot of the play that is involved with tricking Sly. The Lord has a player act as Sly’s wife: “Enter the PAGE as a lady, with attendants” (Induction.1.84.1). The player’s performance is quite convincing to the point where Sly confesses that he is sexually
Returning to the festival culture model of interpreting The Taming of the Shrew, it proposes that the occurrences of the play occur in an alternate reality, or a fictional universe, where such events and characters are plausible. In other words, what happens in the play, stays in the play. Also, at the end of the play, Shakespeare seems to restore order by having all the characters paired off into marriage, Kate married and seemingly tamed, and Sly returning to his true status. It could be argued that Shakespeare does this in order to appease his contemporary audience who may have been upset over his subverting traditional roles. Because his thinking was too anachronistic for his contemporaries, it is understandable for Shakespeare find a need to please his audience in order to avoid controversy and have them return for his other plays. And that is exactly what it is; while Shakespeare restoring order is simply a means of placating his audience, it does not prove that he agreed with his audience. In fact, it could be seen as the playwright apologizing for being