Love, Marriage and Money In The Taming of the Shrew

In this comedy, Shakespeare creates two contrasting

marriage plotlines that comment on each other. The first,

is Petruchio’s courtship and taming of Katherina. The

second, which is shorter but deserves plenty of attention,

is the romance between Lucentio and Bianca. On the

surface, it seems like Petruchio and Katherina's

relationship is purely about Petruchio's desire for riches

and that, in contrast, Lucentio and Bianca's love is pure

and true. However, a closer look at the two plots reveals

that Petruchio and Katherina's marriage is more likely to

endure happily than Lucentio and Bianca's. The two

marriage plot lines demonstrate the need both for

meeting social requirements and finding love in forging a

successful marriage.

In both the plots, money is an important and

necessary for marriage. Hortensio barely has time

to mention Katherina's name and the fact that she

is rich before Petruchio swears that he will marry

her. His goal is to wive it wealthily in Padua; / If

).77-76I.ii.wealthily then happily in Padua" (

Attracted by Katherina's fortune, he disregards all

warnings about her disagreeable temper. Lucentio's vow

to marry is nearly as quick as Petruchio's, except his

comes from seeing Bianca's face instead of hearing about

her fortune. Although Lucentio's love seems like pure

"love at first sight," financial motives are still present in

the set-up. Before Lucentio can marry Bianca, his servant

Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, must convince Baptista that

he is wealthier than the other suitors. Although he isn't

the one desiring money, Lucentio isn't allowed to marry

Bianca without being the heir to his father’s fortune.

In the same way that money affects marriage at the

interpersonal level in “The Taming of the Shrew," it also

plays a basic role in deciding how socially acceptable a

marriage is. It is unthinkable to most of the characters in

the play to marry outside their own class. For example,

Hortensio is put off when he realizes that Bianca loves

Lucentio more than him, but he is equally amazed that a

noblewoman like herself would be interested in just Latin

teacher.

The characters marry within their own class, Baptista

makes it clear that money is needed to win his

daughter's hand when he tells Tranio, disguised as

Lucentio, "I must confess your offer is the best; / And,

let your father make her the assurance, / She is your

). If they decide to ignore their 433-431II.i.own" (

families and get married anyway, they face

banishment from their social class.

In addition to highlighting money as necessary for a

successful marriage, Shakespeare examines the need for

practical love. Lucentio and Bianca's courtship fails at the

practical level. After one glimpse of Bianca on the street,

Lucentio declares that he will burn, pine, and perish

). 159-158I.i.unless he can wed the young, modest girl (

Their only other meeting on stage is while Lucentio is

disguised as Bianca's teacher. This meeting is largely

flirtatious and mostly consists of Lucentio repeating his

poorly articulated but burning love for Bianca.

Though they end up marrying, they are not happy

together and there is no indication that their

relationship will improve. As Petruchio points out

Hortensio and Lucentio in the play's last scene, "We

). No 208V.ii.three are married, but you two are sped" (

one can disagree.

Best wishes, Amjad Al-Qarni

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