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| Character | Katherine | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Female | |
| Age Range(s) | Young Adult (20-35), Adult (36-50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Angry, Scolding, Persuasive, Descriptive | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Renaissance | |
| Genre | Comedy | |
| Description | Katherine gives a speech on the duties wives have towards their husbands | |
| Location | ACT V, Scene 2 | |
Summary
The play is about Lucentio, a young man who goes to Padua with his two servants Tranio and Biondello to study at the university. As soon as he arrives he falls in love with a sweet and beautiful young woman, Bianca. The problems that he encounters to win her heart are her other two suitors, Gremio and Hortensio, and her father Baptista who has decided nobody will be able to court Bianca until her ill-tempered older sister Katherine finds an husband. He disguises himself as her tutor to court her. Eventually Hortensio's friend Petruccio manages to win Katherine's heart and Hortensio ends up marrying a wealthy widow. Bianca falls in love with Lucentio and Baptista agrees to the marriage. The final scene of the play takes place after Hortensio's marriage. Everybody is surprised about how mellow and obedient Katherine has become. They stage a contest to see which of their wives is the most obedient. They send servants to summon them and Katherine is the first to obey while Bianca and the widow say they are busy.
In this monologue, in ACT V, Scene 2, Katherine reprimands the other wives and tells them that wives have duties towards their husbands.
In this monologue, in ACT V, Scene 2, Katherine reprimands the other wives and tells them that wives have duties towards their husbands.
Written by Administrator
| Excerpt |
|---|
| KATHARINA 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 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 is 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, for it is no boot, 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. |
