The Taming of the Shrew Gender Quotes Page 2

Bart plays a very brief but important role in Shrew. The fact that it's so easy for him to pass as a woman suggests the fluidity of gender ("femininity" and "masculinity"), especially on stage.

The behavior of Petruchio and Hortensio says a great deal about the way men use women as a means to interact and compete with other men in the play. The fact that Kate and the Widow fight in the last scene is also typical of the fact that there is no such thing as female companionship in the play, suggesting that women are incapable of friendship.

Just one of many speeches Petruchio gives to assert his shrew-taming skills, this passage reflects the way Petruchio and the other men measure their masculinity by assessing their hierarchical relationships with women. The implication: if a man can't control his woman, he's effeminate rather than masculine.