Educating Shrews: Taming of the Shrew, women’s education, shrew stories

Abstract

How might we situate The Taming of the Shrew alongside other roughly contemporary writing exploring similar issues? Responding to this question, what follows investigates two topics which feature in The Taming of the Shrew and elsewhere: shrew stories and the role of women in education. It sets side by side the scenes of education in the play and women's deep involvement in the education of girls in early modern England, to argue that from distinct perspectives Shrew and shrew stories and prescriptive literature address the place of men and women in the education of girls to become marriageable subjects capable of mediating the imperatives of love and obedience to sustain a companionate marriage and household. It explores the possibility that putting together the two helps us to see more clearly that we see this drama of the making of a companionate union played out, repeatedly, on the Renaissance stage. Having considered education, gender and obedience in several genres it returns to Shrew more specifically to discuss what this comparison helps us see about how the drama of education for marriage is played out in this text. 2In taking as its starting place that most tendentious of plays, The Taming of the Shrew, this essay aims to explore the possibility of deepening engagement with its educational contexts. The number of early modern versions of the idea of the tamed shrew show it was understood as 'good to think with', and decades of critical and directorial reflection on Shakespeare's text (by Frances E. Dolan, M.J.Kidnie and in this volume by Dympna Callaghan amongst others) demonstrate that now, as in early modern England, shrew stories prompt reflection on both the nature of theatrical representation and gender relations. 1 What more can Taming of the Shrew tell us about specifically the area Educating Shrews: Taming of the Shrew, women's education, shrew stories Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare, 41 | 2023 Educating Shrews: Taming of the Shrew, women's education, shrew stories Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare, 41 | 2023