Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare's Comedy Through Family Drama - Essay Sample

Introduction

Many writings of Shakespeare always have a comedic device. These comedic devices help the audience to have a better understanding of what is happening in the story. Additionally, they allow different styles of writing to come into play, and also give more action to the play. In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare makes use of comedic devices to create the plot of the story.

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The most evident comedic device used in the poem is the family drama (Kim, Geonlyung &Kim, 37).Though the story, Katharina is seen as a woman who is not able to find a husband who suits her, and in return, no man wants to be her. Bianca, who is the small sister to Katharina, and who already has a suitable husband, is not allowed to get married before her bog sister Katharina is married. Due to this, a strained relationship between the sisters and the father develops. In the story, Katarina says that a pretty Pet is best put a finger in the eye; she knew why. Bianca then responds by saying, sister; the content you, in my discontent. Sir humbly to your pleasure, I subscribe. The family drama is comedic, and it shows exactly what happens in the typical family settings, and this makes the story funny and, at the same time, creates the story plot while making it easy for audiences to understand.

Another comedic device used is the use of clever, witty language. We see Petruchio, who has Katharina already absorbed into his wing. However, he has challenges dealing with how Katharina uses vulgar language even though no woman is allowed to use such language. Nonetheless, Petruchio gets back to Katharina using the same vulgar language, and this makes the scene funny and comedic. We see Petruchio asking Katharina to put him in her books, and Katharina responds to him by asking him what his Crest is, she even suggests to him an answer which she calls coxcomb (Holderness, Graham & Bryan, 9). The use of clever but witty language makes the scene funny.

Lastly, the plot twist that applies comedy in it makes the story funnier. Grumio, who is a friend to Bianca, Katharina and Petruchio are arguing about how good a dress looks on Katharina. Grumio and the tailor see that the dress is good on Katharina, but Petruchio considers the dress to be not good on Katharina. The disagreement between them is brought out in a very humorous way. Their funny conflict contributes to the building of the story's plot as they seem to argue about what is wrong with the dress rather than how the dress looks on Katharina.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Shakespeare uses comedic devices such as the family drama, dramatic plot twist and also use of witty but clever language. The devices help the audience follow the story and also understand it. Additionally, the devices contribute a lot in developing the plot of his work, The Taming of the Shrew.

Work Cited

Holderness, Graham, and Bryan Loughrey. Taming of the Shrew: First Quarto of" Taming of a Shrew". Routledge, 2017.

Kim, Geonlyung, and Hyewon Kim. ""Play the Woman": The Feminine Theatricality of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and Shakespeare and Fletcher's Henry VIII."66 (2017): 35-54.