Shakespeares Shrews

Shakespeares Shrews: Italian Traditions of Paradoxes and the Womans Debate investigates the echoes of two early modern discoursesparadoxical writing and the womans question or querelle des femmesin the representation of the Shakespearean shrew in The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and Othello. This comparative crosscultural study explores the English reception of these traditions through the circulation, translation, and adaptation of Italian works such as Ludovico Ariostos Orlando Furioso, Baldassare Castigliones Il libro del cortegiano, and Ercole and Torquato Tassos Dellammogliarsi. The enticing interplay of these two discourses is further complicated by their presence in the writing of early modern male and female authors. The examination of Shakespeares adaptation of these traditions in his shrew character highlights two key findings: the thematic fragmentation of the womans question and the evolving role of paradoxes, from figures of speech to figures of thought, both influenced by the gender of the speaker.