Taming of the Shrew, a Sonnet
Hey! Welcome back to my blog. In this unit in my class, Drama, we read and watched the famous Shakespeare play called Taming of the Shrew. We were focused on what the gender roles were in Shakespeare's time, which was in the mid-1500s. The AP (action project, which is a project that brings together all the information you've learned in the past few weeks) we were told to do is a sonnet, which is a poem of fourteen lines, written in a thing called an iambic pentameter. My sonnet talks to one of the main characters, Petruchio, and how he treats another one of the main characters, Katherine. She is the so-called "shrew" in the title of the play, and he was supposed to "tame" her before they got married. The way he treated her before they got married was cruel and unusual, even though they both had the same personality. But since it was unnatural for women to act that way at that time, Katherine had to be "tamed." At the time of Shakespeare's life, women were known to be submissive housewives, and listen and do whatever their husbands said. If women didn't conform to their husbands' needs, they were called shrews, hence the name of the play. I don't think the last two lines of my sonnet would make much sense to you unless you've read the play, but basically Pertruchio came to Padua, the city that the play takes place in, looking for a wealthy wife. He had asked Katherine's dad, Baptista, if he could marry her. Pertruchio only wanted the money from her, not Katherine.
Here is my sonnet:
1 “Do not call me Kate,” Katherine had said.
2 But you, an arrogant and stubborn man,
3 You think that you are right inside your head,
4 Denying treating her like a good woman.
5 You think you can say and do whatever,
6 Flouting about and such with ease.
7 This ignorant attitude forever,
8 But Pertruchio, Katherine is unpleased.
9 According to you, you’re taming the shrew,
10 Not allowing her to eat or to sleep.
11 And Katherine’s thoughts were left eschew.
12 Leaving mental wounds that are skindeep.
13 Came to Padua with a list of demands,
14 All of this only to impress one man.
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