Too Wise to Woo Peaceably: Ideologies of Marriage in "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Much Ado About Nothing"

Abstract

In recent years, greater critical attention has been given to Shakespearean comedy, which typically has been overshadowed by later plays--most notably, the male-centered tragedies. Lawrence Danson argues that criticism in the twentieth century "has had to invent or rediscover a point of view that can take Shakespeare's comedy seriously but on its own, not tragedy's, terms" (Wells 231). The work of such feminist critics like Marilyn Williamson, Diane Dreher, and Marianne Novy, has called attention to the serious issues that the comedies address.