The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-27


to say: but give your hands" If the
Joining Of hands had not followed at
once. with no, marked hesitancy on
Hates part, he would not have added:
God give you joy, Petruchio; It's a
match" nor would Petruchio say, as
he does, Father and wife. and gen.
tlemen. adieu!' and start off for Ven
ice to buy the bridal finery. As he
goes out he adds: And kiss me, Kate:
we will be married o. Sunday" II she
had not kissed him we may be sure that
Petruchio would have waited until she
did. She must be supposed to yield
this point. though very likely in the
same silent and ungracious way in
which she has submitted to the for
malities CT the betrothal. The company
evidently considers that all has been
done in due form. as appears from its
comments upon it after Petruchio and
Kate have gone out. r
tSome of my readers may be sur
prised that Petruchio calls Kate wife
when they have been merely betrothed,
not married: but this ancient betrothal.
in Shakespeare's day. was regarded as
almost equivalent to marriage, and
among the common people was often
assumed to confer the rights and priv
ileges of the more formal union that
was to follow. though later in the CEN
tury the church authorities condemned
this license. In Twelfth Night
Olivia. who has been betrothed to Sc
bastian. addresses him as husband
w.. l. 146). and Justifies herself by ap-
pealing to the priest before whom the
ceremony had been performed with the
understanding that it was to be kept
secret until the marriage should take
place. Similarly. Robert Arden. Shake
sDeares maternal grandfather, in a
legal document. calls his daughter Ag-
mes the wife-Latin uxor-of the man
." I'm she was married three months
later)
dramatist shows his knowledge
of human nature, or woman nature in
representing the change that takes
place in Katharine during Petruchio's
absence. WEI e he is away she has time
to think the whole matter over. and a
genuine affection fer the man to whom
she was betrothed in this hurried man.
ner begins to be developed in her heart
She seems to look forward to the mar
riage with something more than sullen
acquiescence; there Is ilopefulness. if
not joyous confidence, in the anticipa-
ton. And when he fails to appear at
the appointed time, and her friends at
tempt to excusa his delay, she only
signs: Would Katharine had never
seen him. thought" She bursts into
tears, not into the explosion of impa-
tient temper that her father evidently
expects. She feels, and has expressed,
her feminine modification at what peo-
pie will say; but with that. and deeper
that that. is the feeling CT disappoint-
ed affection. No doubt Petruchio meant
this trial of her Gawning regard for
him to be the first step in his tanning
discipline, and it was a very shrewd
one
This tanning" process. all through, is
marked by a certain refinement in spite
of its outward coarseness; and il de-
mands as much delicacy and discretion
on the part of the actor as is necessary
for the actress who personates the
shrew. AS generally rendered on the
stage. it is simply brutal and appeals
only TO the most degraded taste. The
play becomes a rude and vulgar farce
like that on which Shakespeare founded
it, but which he took so much pains to
elevate and refine
Petruchio's purpose throughout is to
show Kate an exaggerated reflex of
herself, and to make her feel how I'M
reasonable ana unworthy such a char
acter is; but he does it in a thoroughly
good-natured way. He shares all the
discomforts that it brings upon her,
and makes it all appear to be done
out of love fer her. AS she herself says
to Grumio, He does il under name of
after he has cheated her out of her sup
per on the night of their arrival at his
house, says:
Ay. and amid this hurry I intend
That all Is done in reverend care of her
OF course this makes the moral les
son the more impressive and effective
If he subjected her to all this privation
and disappointment and modification
with obvious malice. she could perhaps
nerve herself to fight against it. but
when it is done ostensibly out of pure
kindness to her, what can she say?
Must she not accept the lesson, that
ungovernable temper and unreasonable
impatience and overbearing willfulness.
whatever may be the motive that in
spires or excites them. can only react
disastrously upon the person who gives
way to them? They can only tend to
make him miserable. as well as every
body about him. Kate is compelled to
say to herself: This is what am COM
ing to If go on as / have begun; let
me endeavor to reform myself first and
then my husband. for we are a couple
of fools''
1t is interesting to note that one of
the first indications of her better tenn
per Is consideration for others rather
than herself. When Grumio is telling
Of their ride home, he says: How he