Shakespeares Shrews: Italian Traditions of Paradoxes and the Womans Debate

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 cross-cultural 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 traditions is further complicated by their presence in the writing of early modern male and female authors. The focus on Shakespeares appropriation of these traditions 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, according to the gender of the speaker.