To Kill a Wife with Kindness: Early modern marriage in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
type: CreativeWork
description: This essay examines Shakespeare’s portrayal of marital issues in his play, The Taming of the Shrew, particularly in light of the significant changes in attitudes towards marriage brought about by the Reformation. Old and brutal methods of wifedisciplining began to be frowned upon and replaced by new ideas presumably more suited to a marriage of equals. These newfangled methods are demonstrated in the play by Petruccio, a boisterous gentleman who purports to know how to “kill a wife with kindness”. The fundamental question is whether the play condones or criticizes his methods. The essay also examines the way in which his wife, Katherine, is treated as a commodity, sold to the first bidder who comes along in what was still a largely patriarchal society, despite the fact that it was ruled by a female monarch. The concept of the shrew will also be discussed alongside the notion that a harmonious and violence free household was dependent on a woman’s submission to the husband. Lastly, this essay looks for signs of violence and maltreatment within Petruccio’s seemingly gentle treatment, primarily by comparing the couple’s often erratic conduct to the psychological behaviour pattern known as Stockholm Syndrome.
abstract: This essay examines Shakespeare’s portrayal of marital issues in his play, The Taming of the Shrew, particularly in light of the significant changes in attitudes towards marriage brought about by the Reformation. Old and brutal methods of wifedisciplining began to be frowned upon and replaced by new ideas presumably more suited to a marriage of equals. These newfangled methods are demonstrated in the play by Petruccio, a boisterous gentleman who purports to know how to “kill a wife with kindness”. The fundamental question is whether the play condones or criticizes his methods. The essay also examines the way in which his wife, Katherine, is treated as a commodity, sold to the first bidder who comes along in what was still a largely patriarchal society, despite the fact that it was ruled by a female monarch. The concept of the shrew will also be discussed alongside the notion that a harmonious and violence free household was dependent on a woman’s submission to the husband. Lastly, this essay looks for signs of violence and maltreatment within Petruccio’s seemingly gentle treatment, primarily by comparing the couple’s often erratic conduct to the psychological behaviour pattern known as Stockholm Syndrome.
author: Ásta Andrésdóttir 1976-
language: en
keywords: Enska, Shakespeare, William, Taming of the Shrew, Bókmenntagreining, Hjónabandið
date published: 2009-05-18T16:06:32Z
date modified: 2026-07-27T21:37:05Z
provider: University of Iceland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Iceland

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/2711