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In Taming of the Shrew does Petruchio tame Katherine
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In Taming of the Shrew does Petruchio tame Katherine?
The play ‘Taming of the Shrew Katherine’ was written by William Shakespeare. The role of the shrew is acted by Katherine, and she is known for her negative outlook concerning life. She does not believe that there is good in anything and is often in an extremely foul mood. The main reason why she acts in such a manner is because she envies her beautiful and younger sister known as Bianca. She is envious of her younger sister who had many suitors, while she did not have any. Many men wanted to marry Bianca and often ignored Katherine, and most likely it is due to her negative attitude. It is a fact among people that if any man would want to marry Katherine, then it would be the same for Bianca. This is the reason why Katherine is a shrew that needs to be tamed.
This paper seeks to give a critical analysis concerning how Katherine was tamed by Petruchio using the methods he used.
Critical analysis on the taming of Katherine by Petruchio
It is in a town known as Padua that Bianca and Katherine lived, and Petruchio set out to visit the town. If Petruchio could be paid the right amount of money, then he would indeed make an attempt of taming Katherine. Everyone in the town had become tired of the manner, which Katherine handled matters, and thus wanted to tame her. Katherine used to cause chaos among people and some referred to her as being ‘terrible’. There is no single person who did not have extreme hate for Katherine. She seemed to be the reason why the people at Padua did not live peaceful lives. Most times, she would pick fights with her sister Bianca with no reason. It had even reached a point whereby, she would often hit her sister just because she had beauty as well as many suitors.
It seems that Petruchio is a gift from God, which would save everyone in Padua from the misery caused by Katherine. Petruchio had come to Padua in order to find a wife whom, he had dire need of. In fact, he claims that “I come to wives it wealthy in Padua; if wealthy, then happily in Padua” (Rackin 38). This means that Petruchio was aware of the fact that, in Padua, the women were wealthy and thus more reason to find a wife. During a conversation with one of the suitors in love with Bianca, he found out about Katherine. The suitor known as Luciento joked about Petruchio marrying Katherine, as a way of obtaining immense wealth. Many people had told Petruchio about the problems he would encounter if Katherine became his wife. One person in Padua claimed that “Petruchio can have no illusions about the fabled shrew, Katherine, form others are quick to tell him quite frankly what to expect” (Schneider 236).
Petruchio takes up on this challenge and goes ahead and meets Katherine’s father. After consultations, they agree that if Petruchio agrees to marry Katherine, he will be paid twenty thousand crowns. This shows how everyone was fed up with Katherine to the point whereby, her father would pay a man to marry his daughter. Even before, the marriage began, the two did not get along well, and this is expected. This does not deter Petruchio who knows that, in the end, he will be Katherine’s conqueror. A date is set for their wedding and this where some of the taming is experienced. Petruchio seeks to make it known to Katherine that he has the capability of also being annoying. He appears at the wedding dressed ridiculously, also extremely drunk. This continues till the wedding reception whereby, Petruchio tells Katherine that they have to leave. It seems that Katherine has no obligation, but to give in to the demands of Petruchio.
It is evident that in order for Petruchio to tame Katherine, he must do it without changing her inner spirit. Kate shows different personalities as the process of taming begins. Some of the methods chosen by Petruchio to tame Katherine can be to some extent referred to as being torturous. In order to control Katherine’s outward actions, Petruchio finds ways of exploiting and manipulating Katherine’s character. At the same time, he is aware that he should not change her inner being. If he does the latter, he might break her spirit, and this would be considered unethical. Petruchio claims that “Thy gown’s Why, aye. Come, tailor, let us see’st. / O mercy, God! What masquing stuff is here’s / What’s this’s A sleeve’s Tis like a demi-cannon. / What, up and down, carved like an apple tart’s / Here’s snip and nip and cut and slish and slash, Like to a sensor in a barber’s shop” (Aspinall, 98). This means that he seeks to tame Katherine using acceptable ways, and without causing her heart ache.
Domestication has been used in order to bring about taming in the play. In order to tame Katherine’s hostility, Petruchio finds a suitable way to cure this problem. This means that Katherine is considered a wild animal that needs to be domesticated. People encourage Petruchio by giving him the confidence, which he needs, in order to tame Katherine. It seems that, in the society, women were meant to be tamed by their husbands, and Petruchio had to complete this task. At first, people thought that Petruchio would not succeed, but he proves that he has the capability. He chooses to use kindness and training as the methods to tame his wife Katherine. In fact, some people referred to Petruchio’s house, as a place where women men would be taught how to tame their wives’. Others referred to it as the ‘taming school’ as Petruchio had indeed proven that he could tame Katherine the wild card.
Conclusion
It is evident that Petruchio succeeded in taming his wife Katherine, and he did it because he loved her. In turn, he had achieved one of his life’s tasks, as well as that, which other people had failed to do. He had succeeded in changing the outward action expressed by Katherine. People saw the change in Katherine as she had learnt how to speak pleasant words. At the same time, she spoke with malice and vigor, as her nature dictated. Indeed, the taming of the shrew known as Katherine, by Petruchio had taken place successfully. The woman who people knew before had changed and to the surprise of everyone in Padua. In turn, Katherine became submissive towards Petruchio as well as being tame.
Work Cited
Aspinall. Dana, The Taming of the Shrew: Critical Essays. London: Routledge, 2001.Print.
Schneider, Gary. “The Public, the Private, and the Shaming of the Shrew”, Studies in English Literature, 1500–1900, 42, 2 (2002), 235–258.
Rackin, Phyllis. Shakespeare and Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.Print.
Education has its benefits in that someone experiences lower risks of unemployment
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Education has its benefits in that someone experiences lower risks of unemployment, especially at higher education levels. According to Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), the reduced unemployment incidences have become more important compared to the high rates of unemployment due to educational differences. On the other hand, industries keep maintaining the educated individuals in their firms after finishing their attachments resulting to less unemployment incidences for the educated people. The high rate of education for educated individual is triggered by the following three factors. To start with, most of these people secure jobs while in colleges thus they easily acquire other jobs due to experience. Secondly, they have more skills in searching and processing application information for jobs as compared to school dropouts. Finally, most firms search for skilled and knowledgeable workers to fill their vacancies.
It is clear that the more number of graduates a nation has the higher the growth rate in the economy it experiences. According to the Alliance for Excellent Education (2009), the high rate of high school dropouts in 2009 in United States reduced the nation’s economy by 335 billion US dollars as part of additional income if these people had graduated. The president for Alliance for Excellent in West Virginia claims that the high rate of high school drop outs is revenging of the nation its economy since these people are not fit enough to work in big industries. It a common knowledge that graduates gets high income as compared to high school dropouts and others at lower levels. In addition, these people who do not attain college education are most likely to miss places in the job industry as for the current economic recession. Figure 1 below shows the unemployment rates by education levels in US.
Figure 1: Unemployment rates by education levels (retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2009).
From the figure 1, the graph clearly indicates that the most affected people are the high school dropouts. The rate keeps on increasing as the years go on since it is seen that in 2007 the rate was 4.3 percent and increased to 15.4 percent in 2009. On the other hand, people with the bachelor’s degrees and other higher levels like, maters and doctorate degrees have high chances of getting employments. This is a clear indication that the higher the educations level the higher chances of securing a job and the more educated an individual is the higher the salary. According to the U.S Census Bureau, the average annual income for high school dropouts in the country was 17,299 U.S dollars in 2005, while that for graduates was 26,933 for the same year. Though the difference seems small, it creates a big impact to the country’s economy.
In the year 2010 in US, the unemployment rate for people who owned high school diplomas were 10 percent while that for college degree owners was 4.4 percent. The main contributor to the high unemployment rate, not considering the low economy, is education deficit. Whereas in other countries, example of African countries, education level is not the only employment determinant, the US economy calls for workforces composed of educated people. Some people urge that the number of years someone spends in college should be coupled with high salary level, but research shows that even those who spend few years in technical courses perform better than a five year course student. The big difference on the unemployment levels between the educated and the uneducated individuals is as a result of education deficit and there are possibilities of the gap increasing.
Currently young are being forced to work for long hours at a very little pay or else they are fired. Others work in supermarkets and other stores for more than two months without pay or at very little stipend. On the other hand, the government’s work experience requires young job seekers to work for duration of eight weeks with the exception of the minimum wage laws. Moreover, the department for work and pensions (DWP) requires new job seekers who show interest in a government job should dedicate one week work without pay for gaining experience. Young people face a lot of difficulties in securing permanent jobs, in some instances they are forced to work 12 hours a day. Despite all these, Human Rights Act (HRA) claims that this is misusing young people’s potential and lawyers have come up with legal challenges concerning the issue.
According to Censky (2011), the level of unemployment has increased at very high rate in comparison to the employment rate. This has occurred in contrast to the expectations that job creation would occur. The unemployment rate has resulted due to the occurrence of a recession in the economy. The U.S nation is under an economic recession; therefore, job creation is quite a difficult task at the present time. Job creation becomes difficult since there are so many graduates and the number of employment opportunities is limited. Politics has a significant influence in the development of an effective-economic status of a nation. The nation has experienced political games that have resulted in a decline on the wage level for employees effectively. Politicians have engaged in a blame game of who has the responsibility of decline in wage level, in the nation. In addition, the politicians have minimized the chances of job seekers participating effectively on job recovery. The reduction on employment levels formed the basis of political rhetoric that emerged from two sides of the nation’s politics. For example, the republican claim that the nation has inherent regulations and the stimulus-spending binge is not effective; therefore, job creation has a limitation. In addition, the republican add that the existing national debt forms challenge that the private sector has to face in order to create jobs.
The education largely determines an individual’s base salary though the level of education also matters. The increasing scarcity of jobs in the country has brought about a lot of competition whereby only professionals who have strong education backgrounds are securing jobs. On the other hand, some industries prefer employees with formal training in which case the relationship between the level of education and salary compensation matters. There are two reasons why bachelor’s education matters. First, these people are liable for a pay increase of between 10 percent to250 percent depending on the industry one works in. Secondly the industry can recover its investments after training these people within a period of 3 to 5 years. In the current job environment, most employers use degrees and diplomas in the processes of looking for their employees. As many say, education is the most essential ingredient for success since an employee’s salary is determined by the level of education has achieved. Report from the U.S Department of Education’s National Centre for Education Statistics shows that between the years 1980 and 2005, most young people with a bachelor’s degree received higher earnings compared to those with little education.
The type of university attended determines the type of job one can get. Those who studied at top universities, like Harvard, are likely to acquire jobs more easily than those from other low class universities. There are a number of factors that affect job availability depending on the type of university attended. To start with, top universities are known by employment firms to produce quality students so they definitely win job interviews. Universities like Harvard are globally known for their excellence, and their students have high demands in the job market. Secondly top universities are known to prepare their students well when it comes to industry practices. The university syllabus is set in such a manner that graduates come out with full industry knowledge. Figure 2 shows the salary levels for graduates according to their former institutions. From the figure, salary scales for most competitive colleges are always higher than other colleges. The most competitive institutions went as high as 94,000 U.S dollars for people who graduated between 10 to 19 years. The salary scales for competitive institutions were 63,000 U.S dollars for people who graduated between 10 to 19 years. From the chart the more the number of years after graduation the higher the salary scales.
Figure 2: Salary scale according to the type of institution in U.S (Chronicles of Higher Education, 2012)
In most cases small businesses prefer employing people will less education since they cannot afford the salary of graduates. This leads to increased competition as the high educated people have to look for jobs in bigger companies. Small companies prefer hiring less educated people because they demand less income. Most high school drop outs are willing to work provided they get enough money for the basic needs. Research has shown that most high school dropouts provide quality work and make companies achieve high productions. This is realized because most of these people work under pressure and fear of losing their jobs. Moreover these small industries make fewer revenues and are not in a position to employ many graduates as compared to bigger industries. In most cases these small industries hire only one or two graduates to lead the company operations.
Unemployment cases have improved with a very big percentage in the recent years. The main reason being most people possess higher education degrees but there are limited numbers of industries offering employment. The most educated people always look for jobs in bigger industries, but the high competition only gives few chances of securing these jobs. According to USA Today a big number of large firms have seized posting job opportunities. Between the year 2009 and 2010 there has been a 3.2 percent increase in number of jobs added by large companies. One of the reasons why there has been a reduction in job openings for these companies is that these industries are shrinking and downsizing their employees. USA Today claims that small companies with less than 100 employees have reported more job openings as compared to the so called large companies. Employers should not only consider the education level but also the capability of the potential employee. Some people might have performed poorly in class but have excellent knowledge in handling certain processes in an industry.
Bibliography
Alliance for Excellent Education. “The High Cost of High School Dropouts”, Journal of Public
Education Policy and Progress. Vol 9 no. 17. (2009)
Admin Secret. How Your Education Level Directly Affects Your Salary (It’s Bigger than You
Think). (2012). Retrieved from:
http://adminsecret.monster.com/education/articles/1175-how-your-education-level-directly-affects-your-salary-its-bigger-than-you-think
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment Status of the Civilian Population 25 years and Over by
Education Attainment. 2009). Retrieved from:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t04.htm
Censky, A. June Jobs Report: Hiring Slows, Unemployment Rises. (2011). CNNMoney.
Retrieved from: http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/08/news/economy/june_jobs_report_unemployment/index.htm?iid=HP_LN&iid=EAL
Guardian News and Media Limited. Young Jobseekers told to Work without Pay or lose
Unemployment Benefits. (2012). Retrieved on Wednesday 16 November 2011from:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/young-jobseekers-work-pay-unemployment
Reuters Staff. High Unemployment and the Education Deficit. (2010). Retrieved from:
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2010/07/28/high-unemployment-and-the-education-deficit/
Riddell, W. C. & Xuenda. S. “The Impact of Education on Unemployment Incidences and Re-
Employment Success”: Evidence from U.S Labor Markets. Labor Economics. Vol. 18 (4). (2011), pp. 453-463
USA Today. Why aren’t the Biggest U.S Companies Hiring. (2012), Retrieved from:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2011-04-05-jobs-lag-at-thriving-companies.htm
In Romantic Relationships Opposites Attract
In Romantic Relationships: Opposites Attract
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Introduction
Popular psychology encompasses claims that people hold on to, yet they are not backed by empirical evidence (Baumeister and Bushman 393). One of the common claims of such nature is that “in romantic relationships, the opposites attract.” In other words, people believe that two individuals with opposite personality traits are attracted to each other more than individuals with similar personality traits. Despite the fact that many people believe in the claim, it does not seem to be based on any scientific research. A study conducted in 2009 by Dijkstra on 760 young people who were members of a certain online dating site found that 85.7 percent of the respondents preferred to have romantic partners with opposite personality traits (Lilienfeld et al. 171). The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the identified claim, with regard to how it is portrayed in real life and how it relates to psychological concepts and theory.
Representation of the Claim in Real Life
The notion that “opposites attract” is widely portrayed in love stories in TV shows, magazines, novels, internet sites and films. Most of the love stories in these sources portray people with opposite personality traits falling in passionate love. A good example is a book titled The Opposites Attract, in which the author, Tim Lahaye, claims that people with the same temperament are not compatible and do not attract each other (Lilienfeld et al. 172). A 2007 TV comedy titled Knocked Up portrays Katherine Heigl and the starring, Seth Rogen as individuals with contrasting traits, yet they end up falling in passionate love (Lilienfeld et al. 172). The same is evident in a well known Hollywood movie titled The Opposite Attract, in which a man called Joe Cantgetadate falls in romantic love with a woman called Candice Blondebombshell, yet they have sharply contrasting traits (Lilienfeld et al. 172).
Psychological Concepts and Theories
In contrast to what the claim discussed above, psychological theories of intimate relationships suggest that individuals with similar personal traits are more likely to develop and maintain romantic relationships than individuals with contrasting personality traits. For instance, the matching hypothesis posits that individuals tend to pair up with romantic partners who have similar interests (Baumeister and Bushman 394). This happens to friends and lovers. According to the hypothesis, the inclination to pair up with somebody with similar traits is rooted in human psyche. The self-monitoring concept also suggests that people naturally pair up with friends or lovers with similar interests. The concept stipulates that each human being seeks to maximize social situations through self-monitoring and interacting with people who have similar interests. In short, the existing theories and concepts refute the claim that the opposites attract (Baumeister and Bushman 394). These theories are more reliable than the claim since there is vast scientific evidence to support them, unlike the claim, which is not backed by scientific evidence. For instance, a study conducted by Stanchfield and Gold in 2004 indicated that people who have similar personality traits are more likely to form close and lasting relationships than people who do not have similar traits (Lilienfeld et al. 173).
Conclusion
The claim that “opposites attract” is not true and thus, it can only be regarded as a myth. In addition to lack of scientific findings to support this claim, there is vast evidence that proves the contrary. The available psychological theories and concepts are in contrast to the claim. The claim, just like other pop psychology claims, is applied in numerous real life situations, but it does not represent the reality.
Works Cited
Baumeister, Roy F. and Brad Bushman. Social Psychology and Human Nature, Brief. New York:Cengage Learning, 2013
Lilienfeld, Scott O., Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio and Barry L. Beyerstein. 50 Great Myths of
Popular Psychology: Shattering Widespread Misconceptions about Human Behavior. California: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print