8.03 Analyzing Personal Style
Act | Comedic Device | Situation | Impact |
---|---|---|---|
Example: Induction |
Unexpected Plot Twist | Sly is drunk and falls asleep in a public place. | Others arrive and joke about Sly being dead, but then they haul him away to make him believe he is a wealthy lord instead of a beggar. |
Act I | Disguises | Petruchio, Tranio, and Lucentio disguise themselves as a music teacher, tutor, and Lucentio, in order to get closer with Kate and Bianca. | By disguising themselves as other people, they are able to fool Baptista, and marry Kate and Bianca. Since they are in disguises, they are able to make themselves appear as different people. |
Act II | Witty Language | When Petruchio and Kate meet each other for the first time, they have a pretty good conversation with each other. Petruchio with nice/sweet words, and Kate with harsh words (followed by her hitting him afterwards). | In this instance within the story, we have Petruchio and Kate having a lovely bantering with each other. More specifically, Petruchio continues to use witty language throughout this exchange to make himself look attractive to Kate, to get her to like him. |
Act III | Unexpected Plot Twist | At their wedding, as Kate is waiting at the altar, Petruchio arrives horribly mismatched on an old/broken down horse. | Petruchio's actions at the wedding are the complete opposite of what one would expect someone like him to do at his wedding, after putting in all the effort to marry Kate in the first place. This incident marks Petruchio's control over Kate. |
Act IV | Young Love with a Struggle | After the wedding, while the two are at home, Petruchio hatches his plan to "tame" her. He complains about mostly everything from the food to the bed, saying that she can only have the best. | As Petruchio is trying to get Kate to do what he wants, and her resisting it all (going days without food or sleep), they have struggles with each other when it comes to getting along with each other. She doesn't want to listen to him, however doing so brings her struggles. |
Act V | Ending with Harmony | At the end of the story, a banquet is held to celebrate all the weddings that have occurred. Everyone still thinks Kate won't listen to a thing Petruchio says. However, when a bet is set to see which wife will come back first, Kate is the first one to do so. In the end, Kate and Petruchio happily went home together. | Throughout all the struggles they initially faced with each other, Kate and Petruchio were finally able to truly appreciate each other for once. Finally listening to him, being the first one back out of all the wives, she was again able to eat and sleep, and they went home together, instating the happily ever after of the story. |
Thesis Statement:
The Taming of the Shrew uses comedic devices such as disguises, witty language, and unexpected plot twist to effectively develop the plot of the story, in which Petruchio is able to "tame the shrew."