IV. At home: the falcon strategy

Petruchio planned a strategy before he met Kate, but he sees his job a bit differently now in a soliloquy directed to the audience:

Thus have I politicly begun my reign,
And 't is my hope to end successfully.
My falcon now is sharp and passing empty,
And till she stoop she must not be full-gorged.
For then she never looks upon her lure.
Another way I have to man my haggard,
To make her come and know her keeper's call;
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
That bate and beat and will not be obedient.
She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat;
Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not;
As with the meat, some undeserved fault
I'll find about the making of the bed;
And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster,
This way the coverlet, another way the sheets:
Ay, and amid this hurly I intend
That all is done in reverent care of her;
And in conclusion she shall watch all night:
And if she chance to nod I'll rail and brawl,
And with the clamour keep her still awake.
This is a way to kill a wife with kindness;
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak: 't is charity to show.
(4.1.188-211)

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Note that a falcon is trained, not broken. Once a falcon hawk is obedient, its fierce nature works for its handler. As we continue, let's see whether Petruchio trains or breaks Katherine, and whether we like him or not.

A. In 4.1, he carries out his strategy by acting outrageous on the trip home (so that she begs him to be patient ) and denies her food and rest (by saying nothing is good enough for her).

B. He withholds new clothes to her sister's wedding but he not only tells her that abnormal behavior is not important, but says he is willing to take the blame

Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your father's,
Even in these honest mean habiliments [poor clothing].
Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor:
For 't is the mind that makes the body rich;
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
What is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful? . . .
O, no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse
For this poor furniture [clothing] and mean array.
If thou account'st it shame, lay it on me;
And therefore frolic:
(4.3.175-182, 185-188)
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V. Trained or broken?

A. On the road (4.4), Petruchio tests whether she is willing to agree with him and obey him even when he is obviously inaccurate (for instance calling the sun the moon) and even when it is embarrassing to act on his misapprehension (greeting a dignified total stranger as though he were a young girl). By treating the command to greet Vincentio as a joke, she obeys Petruchio (like a falcon?), has fun and doesn't offend Vincentio. (Consider what the scene would have been like if she obeyed in a sullen, unimaginative way.) (Note: In the Exploration on Staging, you can see a student production of this scene.)

B. Outside Lucentio's house (5.1)

1. Now the observers are Kate and Petruchio (unlike Lucentio as observer in 1.1). What they (and we) observe is not only the happy outcome of the Bianca plot, but another example of someone (Vincentio) having a role thrust upon him. Vincentio's case is almost the opposite of Sly's--from a respected, rich merchant to a madman. Vincentio strenuously objects, and he is saved from the imposed role by the love and obedience of his real son, Lucentio.

2. Kate kisses Petruchio, despite it being unseemly, ab-normal behavior. She defies convention.

C. At Bianca's wedding

1. A changed Kate is stung by the Widow's insult about her shrewishness based on what Kate used to be like.

2. Kate passes the test of obedience (because she is well-trained, but also, being third in order, she has a good idea there is some game afoot and she chooses to play on Petruchio's side).

3. Winning the bet for Petruchio also gives her the satisfaction of being ordered to drag in Bianca and the Widow as disobedient wives. Same forceful behavior, but now societally approved since she acts with Petruchio.

4. Her final speech sets out (in an exaggerated way, I feel) the rationale for wives being obedient to their husbands:

Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame [reputation] as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown;
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
Then vail your stomachs [contain your pride], for it is no boot [use],
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready; may it do him ease
(5.2.152-95)

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I like the way Taylor and Burton played this scene in Zeffirelli's movie of Taming. Taylor appeared to say it straight, but at the end she zoomed off and Burton, sputtering, hurried in search of her. Unlike Sly who is vulnerable because he accepts the imposed role, and unlike Vincentio who is saved from the imposed role and never has to think about it, Kate accepts an imposed role thoughtfully and recognizes that the role is not necessarily the same as the true person beneath.

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