Feminist Orthodoxy and Shakespeare’s Shrew

Abstract

Since The Taming of the Shrew is a particularly ambiguous play, its interpretation is predictably vulnerable to ideological excesses. The author argues that feminist criticism often exploits rather than explains the text, illustrates the techniques that are typically employed in slanting its meaning, and compares various interpretations in order to highlight a pervasive set of premises defined as ‘orthodoxy’.

Keywords

• shakespeare
• hermeneutics
• feminism
• ideology
• meta-criticism