The Taming of the Shrew Petruchio Quotes

Here again a character implies that painful words and insults have the ability to physically transform one's appearance. In this case, the thing that "maims" Hortensio and Lucentio is an accusation that their wives are disobedient and unruly. Petruchio implies that a wife's behavior has the ability to alter her husband's reputation or street cred. (It certainly leaves him open to insults from other guys and business associates.) Petruchio also alludes to the idea that Hortensio and Lucentio have married castrating women. Ouch.

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.

Petruchio's comment about his friend Hortensio says a lot about the way men interact and give each other a hard time in the play. The comment is made in good fun but there's also a lot of truth in the statement, which suggests that Petruchio enjoys dominating his male friends just as much as he enjoys ruling over his wife.

Hefty dowries aren't the only systems in which wives can be little money machines. Petruchio's wager on his wife's obedience suggests that women are always seen as cash cows.

Although crude and offensive, Petruchio is completely up front and open about his fortune-seeking ways. Marriage brings happiness, not for love's sake, but because marrying a wealthy wife brings in a lot of cash, which, according to Petruchio, is happiness.

Petruchio obviously lies when he says Kate has agreed to marry him. His alliterative insistence that it was bargained "twixt [them] twain" underscores the fact that the marriage was bargained between Petruchio and Baptista, not between Kate and Petruchio.

Petruchio's words may be delivered when he plays the "role" of a domineering husband (as a part of his wife taming scheme) but his insistence that Kate is his property echoes the very real circumstance of all Elizabethan women regardless of their husband's attitudes – once married, women had no legal rights of their own.

Petruchio's final words in the play and his insistence that he and Kate "got to bed" is emblematic of the way comedies always end in marriage and consummation. Presumably, order has been restored to the world. Yet, Petruchio's excessive bragging before he exits may also hint that Kate's final speech was delivered ironically, leaving Petruchio a bit off-balance and feeling the need to validate his masculinity and control.

We've talked at length about Petruchio's quest for a wealthy wife. On the one hand, this is a typical pursuit for a single, upper-middle-class guy in the 16th-century. On the other hand, we might wonder about Petruchio's true financial state. Is he, as he says earlier, really well off? If he's not, does our perception of him change? Is his sense of social inferiority what drives his behavior?

This overall passage is typically seen as a brilliant moment of comic relief. We think there's also something interesting about the fact that Petruchio has such a hard time controlling and communicating with his servant the first time we see him. How is it that Petruchio is able to control Kate (her behavior and her speech) but not Grumio?

This is one of the first things out of Petruchio's mouth when he catches up with his old pal, Hortensio. Fine. Sharing this kind of news with a friend makes sense. The thing is, Petruchio mentions his dead dad an awful lot throughout the play. Is he sentimental? Does he miss him? Or, is he callous? Glad his dad is gone so he can take charge of the family trust and be the boss? If you were a director, how would you suggest an actor deliver these lines?

When Petruchio approaches Baptista for Kate's hand, he banks on the fact that Baptista knew his dead father. The good reputation of fathers is important to all the social climbing young men in this play. Here, however, we see that Petruchio sees his identity as being fused with that of his father, as though they are the same person.

This moment suggests that a daughter's relationship with her father is a good predictor of the kind of wife she will be. Kate is disrespectful to Baptista (we assume he has tried to interrupt Kate but she shuts him down before he can get a word in edgewise) and so, we can assume that she will be just as disobedient and disrespectful to her husband.

As Petruchio brags to the guys about his power to summons Kate with a simple verbal command, he simultaneously casts Katherine as one who controls other women. Here, she drags the Widow and Bianca out to center stage, where she will soon punish their insubordination to their husbands with what amounts to a verbal spanking. Kate is both imprisoned and imprisoning. (Petruchio also seems to enjoy the fact that, as Kate's husband and commander, he is capable of controlling other men's wives by proxy.)

When Hortensio warns Petruchio of Kate's unruliness, Petruchio speaks as though Kate is a ship to be raided (boarded) by him. This suggests that Petruchio sees Kate as a conquest to be taken by force and violence.

Petruchio's insistence that Kate has no choice in her marriage speaks to Kate's utter powerlessness. Despite the fact that Baptista says Kate must agree to marry Petruchio, the two men have already reached a decision about the engagement. Petruchio's play on the term "nill" is also pretty menacing. Literally speaking, Petruchio implies that whether Kate likes it or not, he's going to marry her. "Nill" can also be a play on "nil" (meaning non-existent). In this way, Petruchio implies that he'll either marry Kate or "nil" her (take her life). This is one of several creepy allusions to Kate's death.

Hortensio admires Petruchio's ability to "command the sun," a metaphor for the way Petruchio controls how Kate will spend her time. In doing so, he elevates Petruchio's control over his marriage to a godlike state.