The Education of Katherine in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew

Abstract

Education is a major theme in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and is one that has been dwarfed by its more unsettling themes with regards to gender and the power dynamics surrounding it. This essay analyzes the themes of education with regards to humanism and stoicism, a method that I argue Petruchio uses to "tame" Katherina, turning her into a wife that mirrors the virtues and behaviors deemed acceptable by her community and social status. It is through Katherina's education in Stoicism, a branch of philosophy that was greatly studied and respected during the Renaissance that she transforms from the difficult "shrew" to a gentlewoman, highlighting the correlation between knowledge and social class, that is dissected in this essay.