THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
by William Shakespeare
Timeless and all embracing as Shakespeare seems, he sometimes shows himself to be, unmistakably and unattractively, a man of his times. The Merchant of Venice is so bluntly anti-Semitic that most modern directors infuse their staging with irony, distorting the play into a covert dissent against bigotry. Just as problematic is The Taming of the Shrew, which treats women as economic or sexual prizes and delights in detailing how one husband breaks his wife's spirit through starvation, humiliation, irrationality and hints of violence. Most contemporary renditions warp the play into a feminist satire.
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