(Download) "Domestic Economies in the Taming of the Shrew: Amassing Cultural Credit (Critical Essay)" by The Upstart Crow # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Domestic Economies in the Taming of the Shrew: Amassing Cultural Credit (Critical Essay)
- Author : The Upstart Crow
- Release Date : January 01, 2009
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 117 KB
Description
Early in Act 1 of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, an ambitious Petruccio announces his intention of seeking fortune in the world. As he tells Hortensio, "I have thrust myself into this maze / Happily to wive and thrive as best I may. / Crowns in my purse I have, and goods at home, / And so am come abroad to see the world" (1.2.52-55). (1) It is an intriguing announcement. On the one hand, it represents Petruccio as a would-be fortune hunter, one who seeks to capitalize on his inheritance through marriage to this daughter of the wealthy Baptista. At the same time, while it is clear that marriage constitutes a form of investment, Petruccio's choice of Kate as wife calls into question the wisdom of his economic decision-making. Not only is this eldest daughter "renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue" (1.2.96), but Kate's publicly proclaimed shrewishness must inevitably threaten the domestic economy of any would-be husband in this early modern play. More than a figure of unrest to the domestic peace, the shrew undermines the household's ability to transact within the larger economic network. My essay considers Kate's impact on the household within the framework of the early modern domestic economy. Any discussion of early modern domesticity must, however, necessarily begin with an examination of the perceived division between the public and private spheres. Studies of early modern domesticity have long posited a separation between the two spheres, the husband charged with public interactions, the wife with preserving that found within the private, i.e., the husband's assets, through vigilant as well as prudent household management. As I will argue, however, the early modern household was inseparably linked to the larger economy; the crucial ability to transact within the marketplace depended upon good, i.e., public, credit. While the early modern household undoubtedly constituted a distinct socio-economic unit, its collective credit nonetheless determined its viability within the larger community.