Your discussion of "Shrew"

steve vivian (svivian@silver.niia.net)
Thu, 14 Sep 95 13:51:26 -0700

Hello!

Just a quick note: enjoyed your discussion of Shakespeare's "Taming" and
the so-called Promise Keepers. I know virtually nothing about the
promise keepers, so I have nothing to say about them. Of course, this
common sense discretion is often lost on people (especially the
ideologically fevered)--such as those who would attack "Shrew" as sexist.

Like much of Shakespeare's work, "Shrew" (as you nicely pointed out) is
essentially about the development of consciousness; about characters'
awareness of self and the resultant change caused by this awareness. I
suppose the best examples of the Bard's peerless exploration of
consciousness and self-awareness are in "Lear", "Hamlet", and so on. But
"Shrew" is a good example.

What's depressing about attacks on the so-called canonical authors, esp.
Shakespeare, is they're often carried out by people who have plainly
barely READ the works to begin with. That's one of the hazards of the
current fad of ideologically-driven criticism: since the critics "know"
what they'll find prior to reading a text (e.g., it's sexist, racist,
patriarchial, "insensitive", etc). there's really no point in attempting
a serious reading to begin with. This childish approach to reading would
be comic were it not so common.

Thanks so much for your very nice discussion of "Shrew" and Shakespeare.
What's endlessly fascinating about Shakespeare (for me, and for many
others) is that he's always ahead of the game; in other words, no matter
who you are as a writer or a thinker, he's already out-written you and
out-thought you. But I find this exciting, not depressing. He offers a
standard that, through its beauty, insight, and sheer storytelling, has
inspired countless readers through centuries to read more closely, to
think harder, to write better.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
steve vivian