Taming Character Duality and a Shrew

Taming of the Shrew without question is a play of masterful characterization. As I read the play, I was struck far more by the characters within it than any semblance of the simple plot. In general the play fulfills our modern romantic comedy genre where young suitors set upon a quest for marriage and come across a few bumps and laughs in their journey, all leading to a happy ending. Awesome! I couldn't care less. However, I found that the character dynamic over the course of the play is what took a simple romantic comedy and elevated it to Shakespearian classic.

The characterization between the focal four - Petruchio, Lucentio, Katherine, and Bianca - make Taming of the Shrew an enjoyable written work and comedic success given the vast amount of personalities that can relate to it. By foiling these four prominent personas Shakespeare somehow gave me the impression that the work was focused upon comparing and contrasting two ideals. These ideals were represented through this square character dynamic.

• Petruchio/Lucentio: Petruchio is a brash, forward man commanding of attention. Meanwhile Lucentio is a gentle, warm man. Both characters offset one another as suitors to the women.
• Katherine/Bianca: Much like their male suitors, Katherine and Bianca are split between dominant and passive personalities. Katherine is characterized as a difficult, bitter woman while Bianca a sweet, obedient younger sister. Personalities lead to their respective relationships. 
• Petruchio/Katherine: This relationship takes a much more vivacious cycle, from Katherine's stubbornness to Petruchio's authoritative relationship presence, the two make for a dominant couple. Much like their independent personalities. 
• Lucientio/Bianca: In this same manner, Luciento and Bianca pair their respectively soft personalities to make a gentle, mild marriage. The mildness complements Petruchio and Katherine's relationship much like individual personalities also have their complements.

Given the character relationships and independent personality qualities, it's very clear that the duality of contrasting features was extremely important to Shakespeare in crafting The Taming Of The Shrew.