Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' and Chaucer's Wife of Bath: The Struggle for Marital Mastery

Author / Editor
Gussenhoven, Sr. Francis, RSHM.

Title
Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew' and Chaucer's Wife of Bath: The Struggle for Marital Mastery

Published
Chaucerian Shakespeare (Ann Arbor: Michigan Consortium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 1983), pp. 69-79.

Description
Both Petruchio and the Wife of Bath see their spouses as "shrewish." Like Chaucer, Shakespeare employs images of taming and teaching, clothes, hats, and kisses to "reinforce the theme of mastery in marriage."

Alternative Title
Chaucerian Shakespeare.

Chaucer Subjects
Chaucer's Influence and Later Allusion.
Wife of Bath and Her Tale.