Log In
|
My Passes
|
Sign Up
Learning Guides
Teacher Resources
Test Prep
College Readiness
Schools & Districts
All of Shmoop
Literature
Bible
Poetry
Shakespeare
Mythology
Bestsellers
Dr. Seuss
Pre-Algebra
Algebra
Algebra II
Geometry
Biology
US History
Flashcards
DMV
Careers
SAT
ACT
AP Exams
En Español
Essay Lab
Videos
Literary Critics
Shmoop Shtuff
Cite This Page
To Go
iOS Learning Guide
Scribd PDF
Kindle: Learning Guide
Kindle: Full Text + Learning Guide
Nook: Learning Guide
Sony Reader: Learning Guide
Amazon Print-on-Demand
The Taming of the Shrew
by
William Shakespeare
Home
Literature
The Taming of the Shrew
Themes
Intro
Summary
Themes
Quotes
Characters
Analysis
Questions
Photos
Quizzes
Flashcards
Best of the Web
Write Essay
Advertisement
The Taming of the Shrew Quotes
Table of Contents
AP English Language
AP English Literature
SAT Test Prep
ACT Exam Prep
ADVERTISEMENT
The Taming of the Shrew Themes
Little Words, Big Ideas
Transformation
Transformation is one of the most important and pervasive themes in Taming of the Shrew. Closely related to the theme of "Art and Culture," it can involve physical disguise, changes in attitude and...
Art and Culture
The Taming of the Shrew is an elaborate meditation on the workings of the theater and performance. Also known as meta-theatricality, this kind of self-reflective behavior is pretty common in all of...
Gender
Gender, of course, is a huge theme in the play, especially as it relates to power. The Taming of the Shrew examines the way 16th-century ideas about gender and hierarchy are tested and reinforced i...
Marriage
The Taming of the Shrew takes a good hard look at marriage and, to a large extent, makes fun of the power struggles that occur within marital relationships. On the one hand, the story line and stru...
Education
The Taming of the Shrew is interested in the uses of education – not necessarily what can be learned inside a formal classroom, but what can be gained from real world experience. In the play,...
Society and Class
Although we often think of The Taming of the Shrew as being solely interested in the nuances of the 16th-century bourgeois elite, it does much to highlight differences between social classes. In th...
Family
Familial relationships are an important theme in The Taming of the Shrew. Aside from the obvious husband-wife relations, the play also portrays tumultuous father-daughter bonds, sibling rivalry, an...
Language and Communication
In The Taming of the Shrew it's nearly impossible to talk about language without discussing power. In the play language is often synonymous with physical violence and, in some cases, speech acts ar...