Social and Global Networking

As assigned, I discussed The Taming of the Shrew on a local level, with my friends, and on a global level for all the internet to see. This post is kind of a long one, so brace yourselves.

I created a note on Facebook, where I outlined my thoughts about the gender war in The Taming of the Shrew and asked for input. I honestly represented my opinion, such as they are. That being said, I'm well-aware that I often get stuck up on my high horse, ranting and raving about things. As such, I try to get other people to give me some perspective, to see if I'm justified in feeling the way that I do, or if I need to calm down a little bit. I'll post the responses I got (there are only three - most people just clicked the "Like" button), in their unedited entireties:



From Nate: "It really baffles me why we devote so much time to studying the works of a man who was so blatantly sexist and racist. And most of his plays and poems were legitimately terrible. Sure, he was pretty good at dialogue, but his plots were really unimaginative and many of the people he puts forward 
as noble and praiseworthy were actually terrible, terrible people."

From Martha: "Very well reasoned! I enjoyed reading this. I haven't seen Taming of the Shrew for years and years, but now I'm torn: do I watch it to see what you are talking about, or do I avoid it because of what you are talking about???? Down with Shakespeare! (ha ha)"


From Rachel: "I wanted to respond to your note about the Taming of the Shrew. So here goes:

You'd think that in the year 2011 that we could have evolved to a fair and balanced playing field. It's not mystery to me that some women are unhappy with their lot in life because they have a huge obstacle to overcome that men have the luxury of taking for granted. For example, where I work is female, by majority, but I find it interesting, statistically speaking, that the two men in the whole entire district have gotten promoted to management levels, while more experienced women are left in lesser roles. What does this tell me? What is inherently wrong is that the best person is not the one picked for the job... this is wrong ethically, capitalistically...

The name of the play, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the term "shrew" a derogatory term for a woman who doesn't 

behave? I don't know b/c I never read that play."


So all of my friends and family hate Shakespeare, apparently. I can't completely say I blame them. The more I read, and the more I learn about him, the more I think he was, at best, an extremely sketchy character.

I also posted a review on Goodreads. There's nothing in the review that you haven't already seen or heard me say, but I will say this: I found the other Goodreads interviews really interesting, and I've been engaging in some conversation with some of the other reviewers. Some of them had me laughing and nodding along, some of them made me want to vomit, and some of them made me consider the play in ways I hadn't before. I still don't really care for the play, but I feel like I can at least now think about certain aspects in new ways.