The Changing Meaning of The Taming of The Shrew Essay -- Shakespeare T

The Changing Meaning of The Taming of The Shrew Through the ages, it is common for nomenclature to change in meaning. As the world around us changes, words often take on new meanings to accommodate the changes in lifestyle and party caused by progress. Thus, it is easy to become confused when reading literary works that was written several centuries before, since the very same words may hold varying significance. In The Taming of the Scold, D.E. Underdown offers background information which makes Shakespeares The Taming of The Shrew much more understandable in terms of the discordant ideas on women in society in different epoch periods. The Taming of the Shrew has a much different effect on contemporary readers than it may have had on 16th century readers, since the world has changed and society is immensely metamorphosed. When Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew, it was widely known that women should be subservient to their husbands. Today, however, in America this noni on seems ludicrous. After the feminist movement, the fight for equality, women have gained much more liberty and take note than they once had. With the increased liberty, it is difficult to seriously consider how women were once treated as possessions. Because of the incongruity in views of the two eras, pieces like Underdowns The Taming of the Scold are of import to a modern understanding of literature that deals with archaic social norms, chiefly since it puts the literature into the context of its creators social mentality. Through Underdowns piece, I was able to achieve a much better understanding of the significance of Petruccios taming of Kate in the examples which explain the common practices and occurrences of the age. Kate experienced a chariv... ...low the direction of their leaders or rulers. Through explaining the relationship amongst the family and society, Underdown divulges the intent with which Shakespeare wrote the play. In Kates surrendering to Petruccio, Shake speare maintains familial and social order. Since words and the meaning or ideas behind them change over time, it is important to be able to put the literature into social context in order to derive from it its full meaning. Underdown addresses many issues in The Taming of a Scold which are relevant to Kate and Petruccios behavior that are not known or understood today. Pieces like Underdowns serve as a bridge between two eras - the one(a) in which the story was read and the one in which it was written. With the assistance of such pieces, it is possible for one to gather a much better understanding of the writers meaning in the story.