The Taming of the Shrew is not a sexist play if we heed Shakespeare’s technique of conveying his meaning

Did Shakespeare write a sexist play? There is good evidence he did not. The evidence comes from the thematic resonance in The Taming of the Shrew that echoes relentlessly from start to finish. Let us take a closer look.

In practically all his plays, Shakespeare conveys his meaning through three unique techniques: cohesive unity, thematic resonance, and focused allegorical scenes. To discern Shakespeare’s meaning correctly, it is crucial that we take heed of these three unique Shakespearean techniques. 

The thematic resonance in The Taming of the Shrew is literally incessant. It begins with the Induction, where Shakespeare arranges for Sly, to be fooled by circumstances into playing the role of a lord, surrounded by attendants playing their required roles in the elaborate deception, watching a troop of players playing their respective roles in the play-within-a-play.

Then we find the characters in this main action of The Taming of the Shrew also playing roles according to their circumstances and schemes. Tranio plays the role of Lucentio, while the real Lucentio plays the role of Cambio, and Hortensio plays the role of Litio. Biondello is roped in to play the role of servant to the fake Lucentio, and later the travelling merchant plays the role of Lucentio’s father, Vincentio. Petruchio, even though he is not impersonating someone else, is clearly also role-playing for the purpose of subduing Kate, as he clearly informs us in his many short soliloquys. Throughout the play, we see instances of characters role-playing in accordance with their circumstances and desires.

By this meticulously crafted thematic resonance on role-playing throughout the play, Shakespeare is suggesting that Kate herself is going to end up also role-playing to adapt to the circumstances that she is beset with. Kate discovers that the only way to obtain what she wants from Petruchio is to play the role of a submissive wife. She ends up, in fact, doing exactly what Petruchio himself is doing: role-playing. 

Petruchio’s scheme in trying to tame Kate, however, is a double-edged sword. Kate’s own role-playing now forces Petruchio to fulfill what he offers to Kate for her “submission.” He no longer has the choice of not doing so; otherwise, Kate will revert to being disagreeable, and all his prior role-playing will have achieved little.

There are numerous reasons for Kate to deliver that final long lecture on the role of a wife: her realization of the futility in openly crossing Petruchio; her desire to get even with the widow for her earlier insult to Kate; her desire to turn the tables on Bianca by being the more obedient wife; the novelty of winning the contest, with Petruchio as a partner; as well as the likelihood that Kate is beginning to fall in love with the only man who has ever desired her for a wife. Kate is certainly to some extent playing a role in accordance with these circumstances.

In delivering the long speech in the final scene, Kate is certainly not doing so in a submissive manner. She is actually on the attack. In that one sense, Kate’s character has not changed. She is still a vigorously headstrong woman. Shakespeare is also telling us—from the similar behaviour of the other role-players—that Kate’s role may change again if her external conditions are altered, something Petruchio should be wary of.