Paduas game : cheaters and spoilsports in the taming of the shrew

Abstract EN

For generations of critics, the greatest problem The Taming of the Shrew presents is finding a rationale for Katharine's dramatic transformation and for the mixed reaction of the audience.

This paper argues that theories of game and play can explain much of the courtship behavior in Shrew.

Game theory provides a paradigm of power that governs social activities ; play theory involves a transcendent sphere that can exist within a game.

The more consistent body of knowledge that game insists upon countered by the multivalent aspects of play provides access to dynamism between cultural repression and extension, alternatives of constraint and exuberance.

Conflating the two theories of play and game allows the reader to observe the intermixture of two theoretical spheres and move toward a realistic explanation for Katherine's eventual submission to Patricio's power.

Play and game theories can also account for the mixed reactions of enjoyment and revulsion in contemporary audiences.

Since play is transcendent and voluntary, male-identified or tradition-bound audiences enjoy the play for its lighthearted exuberance.

Woman-identified or "resistant" audiences, on the other hand, assume a role comparable to game theorists and see Katherine's transformation as a result of coercion brought about by her husband's more powerful agency.