The Taming of the Shrew - Blog #3

"Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we
Few words suffice. And therefore, if thou know
One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife,
As wealth is the burden of my wooing dance,
Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,
As old as Sibyl and as curst and shrewd
As Socrates' Xanthippe, or a worse,
She moves me not, or not removes at least
Affection's edge in me, were she as rough
As are the swelling Adriatic seas.
I come to wive it weathily in Padua;
If wealthily, then happily in Padua."
1.2.62-73

These words, spoken by Petruchio, reveal much about his character and also highlight his differences from the other characters. In this passage, Petruchio is basically saying that he will marry any rich woman, no matter how difficult, ugly, or vile she may be. Petruchio expresses this through allusions to Greek mythology, saying he will tolerate a woman as terrible as either of these terrible mythological women, as long as she is rich. He also uses a great simile ("...were she as rough as are the swelling Adriatic seas.") to further convey his feelings. When put into context, this passage reveals how different Petruchio is from the other men in the play. For example, Lucentio, Hortensio, and Gremio all want to marry Bianca because they are in love with her, while Petruchio wants to marry Katherine only because she comes with a big dowry. This passage, along with other instances of Petruchio's pompous talk (throughout Act 1, Scene 2), help to piece together Petruchio as a character. From Act 1, Scene 2, we see that Petruchio is a self-righteous guy who's looking for money and is overly confident that he will be able to handle Katherine. Of course, he hasn't even met Katherine yet, so we have yet to see if he's as tough as he thinks he is...