Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Three Shrew Plays: Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew; with The Anonymous The Taming of a Shrew, and Fletcher's The Tamer Tamed

lovely, 2 straight white people with some kind of obedience kink. quarter of a star for all the dick jokes. everything else was generally bad.

go ahead and call me a boring liberal for not liking to read about servants and women being beaten.

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annika_katharina's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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breeoxd's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I greatly enjoy Shakespeare, both in production and in print, but somehow had never gotten to The Taming of the Shrew. Was very excited to pick it up, and read it in one sitting. While there were a few good chuckles from the Bard’s famous wordplay, I will admit that as a comedy, this one left me feeling conflicted and confused. Though “comedy” is more of a classification label for play endings, and this certainly had parts where I could tell the audience was supposed to be laughing, I had too hard a time with the idea of starving, gaslighting, and forced lack of sleep to force obedience. I know the time period and women’s roles were drastically different than our current society, but it just seemed out of step with other Shakespearean plays. Curious, I looked up some literary criticism, and there are several takes- that it was an epic battle of the sexes and foreplay, with neither letting the other win; that Pertruchio was greatly suffering after the death of his father; that Katherine was in fact rescued by her marriage, as she would have devolved into the town hag with age and without the protection of her father when he passed; the Katherine actually has little voice throughout the beginning of the play, and with Petruchio’s guidance, gains eloquence, that she gives her submission as a gift of love after having enjoyed his challenges. Some even thought that Shakespeare was commenting on the changing roles of women in his society, that bringing to the forefront the ways that men expected women to be accommodating and supplicant would serve as a parody.

What do you all think? I admit that this would probably read as more bombastic and funny on stage than in print.

Also, with happened to Christopher Sly? That's what I really want to know.

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c_lizziebeth's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

This is still awful. If it was horror? It would hit. But it’s not. It’s terrifying in the Worst way. And it was Shakespeare’s first work anyway. That Shows.

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eepi's review against another edition

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funny fast-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

3.5

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cerebellum's review against another edition

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

1.25

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