By popular vote, this week's play is The Taming of the Shrew, which had an eleven-vote lead over Merchant of Venice. I'm not surprised that Shrew won, but I am surprised that three people voted for King John (although maybe you just want to get it over with?).
As usual, my thoughts will be posted at noon on Sunday (July 4), and that will kick off our discussion. I have a feeling we're going to be chatting about Kate's final speech quite a bit, and I'm looking forward to it!
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ReplyDeleteDo you think that the Induction, with the gulling of Christopher Sly, adds much to the play? I've seen the play performed with it and without it and, frankly, I can do without it. I'd be interested in others' views.
I saw the play done by the RSC maybe 15 years ago, and the actors playing Kate and Petruccio made it clear that those two were passionately in love. In fact, Kate's submissiveness was something of a trick that they played on the rest of the world; in private, they apparently treated each other as partners and, it was implied, had fantastic sex. At the time, I thought that this reading probably had no justification in the text, but several critics agree with it (including Bloom, who calls K&P the happiest married couple in Shakespeare). Go figure!
Their steamy passion is the only way the ending can be believable for modern audiences, especially for women.
ReplyDeleteHi thanks for posting this.
ReplyDelete