Full Description
This edition of The Taming of the Shrew includes an intriguing collection of historical and cultural documents designed to give students a rich sense of the context of Shakespeare's work and times. Documents include a widely-known Renaissance homily on marriage, popular caricatures of shrewish wives and abusive husbands, and material from conduct books of the period. It thus offers students and teachers a rich introduction to one of Shakespeare's most popular and problematic plays.
Contents
Introduction - The Text of The Taming of the Shrew, edited by David Bevington - Contexts: -Alternative Endings - What is a Ballad? What-is a Shrew? - The Marital Deal, and its Contradictions - The 'Femme Covert': Married Women's Legal Status - Women's Work: Gender and the Division of Labour - Authority and Violence in the Household: Wife-Beating - Analogues to Wife-Taming - Authority and Violence in the Household: Servant-Beating - Popular, Humorous Treatments of Domestic Violence: Shrew Taming and Untamed Shrews
