Our AIG Communication Skills Blog...

This blog is for you to discuss and analyze Shakespeare’s comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. You will need to respond to your assigned discussion question in a 2-4 sentence post. If you choose, you may write additional posts. Please do not respond to other blocks’ assigned discussion questions! You will be graded on the quality of your post. I expect compete sentences, proper grammar, and specific examples from the text. Playfulness will not be tolerated!!!

Act I

Based on what we have read so far, do you think this play is biased against women? Explain.

Act II

Do Kate and Petruchio belong together? Explain.

Act III

Is Pertruchio a male chauvinist (a man who believes in the superiority of his gender)? Is Kate really a shrew? How might these characters be redeemed/defended? Is there one who you sympathize with more? Or, can you not find sympathy for either character? Explain! Please use specific examples, especially from Act III.

Act IV

“Shrews are very active, solitary, surface-dwellers. They are very voracious and suffer from lack of food within a few hours…Shrews are preyed upon extensively by birds, but much less so by mammalian carnivores…Dispersion is maintained by aggressive behavior at all times…. The fighting is stereotyped and involves great use of the voice, resulting in ‘squeaking matches’” (Corbert, The Terrestrial Mammals of Western Europe). Do you think Katherine is anything like this description? Might other characters in the play fit this description as well? Is Katherine the only shrew? Think about Act 4 when responding, as well as previous Acts.

Act V

Has Kate been tamed? Explain.