#MeToo

In English II, we are reading William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and often it might be easy to dismiss some of the misogynistic behavior of some of the play's characters as typical of a time, many years ago, when women were truly oppressed by an unfair, patriarchal society. We can roll our eyes and pat our backs on how far we have come. And, in many ways, things are incredibly better for women in terms of empowerment and agency compared with 16th-century England.

And yet, we are reading the play in the midst of the  #MeToo movement, a tremendously powerful national conversation taking place about sexual harassment and abuse, as well as the power structures that still seem to exist which force women to feel pressured to remain silent in the face of male oppression. Maybe what has been most fascinating about the rise of this movement is that, like a small crack causing a whole dam to burst, once one woman came forward with a story, hundreds, if not thousands of women, echoed her experience with similar stories of their own.

I am sure there is a lot we can say about this very big and very complex conversation, but I think it might be interesting to try and focus it back to Katherine and The Taming of the Shrew. Last week, you looked at production posters for the play and there seemed to be the common theme of the power of a woman's voice as well as man's futile attempts to silence it. And yet, the common theme of the #MeToo movement seems to be that women continue to feel the pressure to remain silent and that men are often successful in doing so. What do you think Katherine (and/or Petruchio, for that matter) would have to say about #MeToo? Are we getting closer to an equilibrium where women's and men's voices are equal in their power and agency? How can your generation improve on the steps previous generations have made in this area? As always, please be respectful and empathetic in your responses.

Production Values

 In English II we are kicking off the second semester with William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. Set in the Italian town of Padua, the play is one of Shakespeare's most produced comedies and centers around a beautiful, yet outspoken, young woman named Katherine whose father cannot find a man to marry her because of her "shrewish" ways. This proves problematic for the many suitors who wish to woo Katherine's younger, and milder, sister Bianca, who cannot be married until her older sister is betrothed.

In our first discussions of this text, I told students that, in a modern context particularly, this is a "problematic" comedy in the sense that the main plot revolves around a woman needing to be tamed in order to find a suitable mate. In a current era that aims for equality amongst the sexes, for many, this is a hard pill to swallow. Thus, I challenge students to always question Shakespeare's intentions in writing this play as we move through it. Should we take the play literally or is he offering some sort of social commentary on the role of women and the way they are viewed by men?

For our first blog post related to this text, I want students to explore the ways that different productions have framed this oft-produced play. Above, you will find six different posters for various recent productions of The Taming of the Shrew. For this blog post, I want students to discuss what thematic commonalities they see shared amongst the various posters. Are there certain themes that seem to be present in each poster? Which poster seems the most intriguing? What about it sparks your interest? Finally, what were your first impressions when you heard about the plot of the play? Do these posters reinforce or challenge those first impressions you had?