Today I spent several hours compiling a study guide for The Taming of the Shrew. It was so fun to re-read and re-consider this favorite from Shakespeare. So many feminists want to paint Petruchio via Shakespeare as the ultimate chauvinist. Petruchio wasn't trying to make Kate submit so much as realize what it meant to be polite and happy. He mirrored her behavior to show her how she looked. In record time, she understood his point and loved him for helping her to become a happy person. She may have been submissive in a way, but she gained equality and true love in reality.
I suppose I look at TTOTS in this manner, because I have an ever patient husband with his own 'Kate' to deal with. Too easily offended, to easily provoked, my behavior may have resembled Kate's in past times. Feminist rubbish that it's healthy and right to assertively vent one's anger was my excuse. Although my man never acted like Petruchio, he did hold up a mirror so I could see the results of my errant ways. He patiently waited for me to catch up, choose happiness, and fall in true love.
