Love, Marriage and Money In The Taming of the Shrew
In this comedy, Shakespeare creates two contrasting
marriage plotlines that comment on each other. The first,
is Petruchio’s courtship and taming of Katherina. The
second, which is shorter but deserves plenty of attention,
is the romance between Lucentio and Bianca. On the
surface, it seems like Petruchio and Katherina's
relationship is purely about Petruchio's desire for riches
and that, in contrast, Lucentio and Bianca's love is pure
and true. However, a closer look at the two plots reveals
that Petruchio and Katherina's marriage is more likely to
endure happily than Lucentio and Bianca's. The two
marriage plot lines demonstrate the need both for
meeting social requirements and finding love in forging a
successful marriage.
In both the plots, money is an important and
necessary for marriage. Hortensio barely has time
to mention Katherina's name and the fact that she
is rich before Petruchio swears that he will marry
her. His goal is to wive it wealthily in Padua; / If
).77-76I.ii.wealthily then happily in Padua" (
Attracted by Katherina's fortune, he disregards all
warnings about her disagreeable temper. Lucentio's vow
to marry is nearly as quick as Petruchio's, except his
comes from seeing Bianca's face instead of hearing about
her fortune. Although Lucentio's love seems like pure
"love at first sight," financial motives are still present in
the set-up. Before Lucentio can marry Bianca, his servant
Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, must convince Baptista that
he is wealthier than the other suitors. Although he isn't
the one desiring money, Lucentio isn't allowed to marry
Bianca without being the heir to his father’s fortune.
In the same way that money affects marriage at the
interpersonal level in “The Taming of the Shrew," it also
plays a basic role in deciding how socially acceptable a
marriage is. It is unthinkable to most of the characters in
the play to marry outside their own class. For example,
Hortensio is put off when he realizes that Bianca loves
Lucentio more than him, but he is equally amazed that a
noblewoman like herself would be interested in just Latin
teacher.
The characters marry within their own class, Baptista
makes it clear that money is needed to win his
daughter's hand when he tells Tranio, disguised as
Lucentio, "I must confess your offer is the best; / And,
let your father make her the assurance, / She is your
). If they decide to ignore their 433-431II.i.own" (
families and get married anyway, they face
banishment from their social class.
In addition to highlighting money as necessary for a
successful marriage, Shakespeare examines the need for
practical love. Lucentio and Bianca's courtship fails at the
practical level. After one glimpse of Bianca on the street,
Lucentio declares that he will burn, pine, and perish
). 159-158I.i.unless he can wed the young, modest girl (
Their only other meeting on stage is while Lucentio is
disguised as Bianca's teacher. This meeting is largely
flirtatious and mostly consists of Lucentio repeating his
poorly articulated but burning love for Bianca.
Though they end up marrying, they are not happy
together and there is no indication that their
relationship will improve. As Petruchio points out
Hortensio and Lucentio in the play's last scene, "We
). No 208V.ii.three are married, but you two are sped" (
one can disagree.
Best wishes, Amjad Al-Qarni
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