Taming of the Shrew Monologue
A Continuation of Act Two Scene One
For context Petruchio has just proposed to Katherine, they did not get along too well, and Baptista (Katherine’s father) ignored Katherine’s protests and consented to Petruchio and Katherine’s marriage.
Like Violet’s it has to be read as if it were being performed.
(Katherine paces)
“God, give you joy, Petruchio. Call it a match.” What does he mean call it a match?
(throws hands in air)
Could my father not hear my many protests against this marriage. I said, “I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first” and he said, “Call it a match.”
What kind of father is he, that disregards the very pleas of his own daughter, choosing to believe a stranger over one he has raised himself? He cannot call himself my father. He is partial to Bianca; he calls his own daughter a shrew.
(point to self)
If he were a true father, he would not have married me off, like a prized horse to the highest bidder, to that errant coxcomb of a man. He is a fool in fine clothing.
(sits and fidgets with the necklace around her neck)
If Mother were here, she would never have let him do such a thing. She always had my side. I remember the way she would challenge everything my father said.
(pauses in thought)
Am I, Katherine, who they so fondly call a shrew, to be married? The prospect makes me want to throw a chair at my father. This is all his fault after all.
Bianca is the perfect daughter, the dazzling diamond, she is the one with suitors, should Petruchio have not chosen a more pleasant bride? A man like him does not wish to marry me because he likes me. I could see right through him; I am not the sweet Katherine he said I was. He has another motive here. Maybe he plans to tame me, to make me like my sister. The day I become like Bianca, the sun will have fell from the sky and the moon will have taken its place, plunging me and the rest of Padua in a graceless, eternal night.
I want to scream at the top of my lungs, make him regret even considering a marriage proposal to me. Make all of them regret every insult they ever hurled my way.
(stands and paces)
Married life is not for me. It was never what I envisioned, I’d dream that one day I would grow old, content with the fact that none of them could tame this shrew.
(points to self)
That I was a source of displeasure and annoyance to them every day. That I could expose the fact that men are not as powerful as they believe. I cannot follow a man around at his beck and call, blindingly worship his every word, let alone someone as awful as that Petruchio, no woman should ever have to do that. That might be Bianca’s dream, but it is my worst nightmare.
What am I to do? It feels as though I am trapped in a prison cell, banging on the doors, hoping that the effort will break the door down and unbind the iron chains tied around my ankles.
I wish I could pack my bags and leave this very instant, go some distant place and start anew. My father would not grieve. His only wish is to get rid of the falcon in his household. But my chances of successfully leaving this wretched place are low. My father knows many people, I will not get far before someone has recognised me, and then, before I know it, I will be back in this very house.
But I cannot even begin to imagine what I will do if I marry Petruchio. God knows by what twisted cruelty he will plan to tame me by, starving me of food or driving me to insanity. What ridiculous standards he will hold me to.
(mockingly)
If I were a man, I would never have had to deal with this. But no, I’m a woman, I exist only for men.
(Katherine sits and takes a photograph out of her pocket and looks at it)
Mother, tell me what I must do. I remember long ago you saying that even in the cold of night, stars can twinkle. You would tell me to stay strong, that no matter what any man told me, I was in control of myself.
(pause)
I have no way out of this marriage, no choice but to sit and comply.
(pause)
I vow to myself to do what I can to make the most of this marriage. I am a strong-willed woman and Petruchio is a mere man. Any man, especially one like Petruchio, will not control my life, husband or not. I will not let him strip me of my shrew-like qualities. I Katherine, will remain Katherine, even in marriage to Petruchio.