Mistaken Identity Of The Taming Of The Shrew

Below is a free term papers summary of the paper "Mistaken Identity Of The Taming Of The Shrew." If you sign up, you can be reading the rest of this term papers in under two minutes. Registered users should login to view this term paper.

Term Paper Title	Mistaken Identity Of The Taming Of The Shrew
# of Words	877
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	3.51

Mistaken Identity of The Taming of the Shrew

Throughout the play "The Taming of the Shrew," William Shakespeare has utilized several ingenious techniques resulting in an effective piece of work.  One of the more unique and creative methods is the use of mistaken identity.  With the use of mistaken identity, Shakespeare has successfully given the play an element of humor from the beginning to the end.

The mistaken identity within the two induction scenes must have been quite humorous for the upper-class noblemen who watched the play.  In Shakespeare’s time, the upper-class often found their amusement in the poorer, more unfortunate lower-class.  Christopher Sly was no exception.  When the lord finds Sly, a drunk beggar, he immediately plots a practical joke to play on him.  The lord, who is very wealthy and obviously has a lot of time on his hands decides to treat Sly as a nobleman and see how he reacts.  In addition to ordering his servants to treat Sly as their master, he too pretends to be a servant.  The most amusing part of this induction occurs when Sly becomes convinced that he is indeed a nobleman.  When he first awakes, he thinks that everyone is playing a joke on him.  After some convincing, Sly gives in and believes that he really was suffering from a long sickness.  When Sly asks the page, who is pretending to be his wife to undress and join him in bed, the audience must have reacted with loud laughter knowing that his ‘wife’ is actually the same sex as he.  Although Sly does not understand the lifestyle of the upper-class, it is quite obvious that he is enjoying it while it lasts.

There are several cases of mistaken identity present in the subplot which involves Bianca and her suitors.  One humorous situation caused by mistaken identity arises in Act I, Scene ii, when several of the characters meet each other.  Here, the audience learns how gullible Gremio is when he is tricked by Lucentio into believing that Lucentio is a schoolmaster.  Gremio does not realize that he is actually giving a fellow competitor an opportunity to court Bianca.  The dramatic irony here is amusing to the audience because they all know that Lucentio is not going to speak highly of Gremio like he had promised.  Also, when Tranio, pretending to be his master, introduces himself to Gremio and Hortensio that he too intends to woo Bianca, the two do not realize that Tranio is just there to draw Bianca’s attention away from them.  By doing this, his master Lucentio wi...

This is not the end of the termpaper! Register below to see the complete version of this term paper.

Membership Plans	Credit Card	Check

1 month membership

3 month membership (You Save 50%)

6 month membership (You Save 67%)

Copyright © 2002-2007 Mid Term Papers. All rights reserved. This term papers website is used for research purposes only.
If you have forgotten your username or password, please click here.
If you like to cancel your account, please click here.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22