The Similarities & Differences Between Shakespeare's Katherine ("Taming the Shrew) and Shylock ("The Merchant of Venice")

During the course of his career, Sir Laurence Olivier played the roles of both Katherine (Taming the Shrew) and Shylock (Merchant of Venice). Imagine that he performed these back to back (either order) on alternate nights for a couple of weeks. In a considered opinion, what might this experience have brought him about the similarities and differences between these two parts?

In performing the roles of both Katherine and Shylock, English actor, director, screenwriter and producer Sir Laurence Olivier would certainly have gained several deep insights into the complexities of Shakespeare's sharp-tongued and ill-tempered "shrew" for which the play is named, as well as the psychological intricacies of Shakespeare's greatest villain of "The Merchant of Venice."

Both Katherine and Shylock, within the context of their respective plays, are, in a sense, out of place in their own societies, albeit for different reasons. These feelings of "not belonging" and rejection trigger their individual responses to the worlds around them. Olivier likely would have walked away from his performances with a newfound understanding of and, perhaps, sympathy for such societal "misfits."

When we first meet Katherine, she is angry and unhappy, going so far as to physically and verbally attack those around her at different times. Her unhappiness and aggravation may stem from her worry that she may never find a proper husband or from jealousy concerning her father Baptista's favoring of her younger sister, Bianca. She is clearly intelligent and independent from the start (much like Shylock), traits which separate her from the stereotypical woman of her day. Katherine does not fit into the "maiden daughter" mold her society expects of her and it is obvious that she loathes these social expectations.

As viewers and readers, it is difficult to decide whether we are to sympathize with Katherine and view her as the innocent victim of her husband Petruchio's near-torturous treatment of her (he forces her to endure sleeplessness and hunger for some time after their marriage, Act IV Scene i) or if we are to criticize and even judge her for her "shrew-ness."

Similarly, one could argue that Shylock, often considered to be one of Shakespeare's greatest creations, is equally as complex within the same character traits (anger and hate blended with victimization). Olivier undoubtedly would have realized this similarity after several back-to-back performances.

Are we to read Shylock as a bloodthirsty villain, a Jewish stereotype, or a tragic figure who is more "sinned against" than who "sins" himself? Is he in fact a combination of these three? Much like Katherine, Shylock appears, at least on the surface, more a creation (or result) of circumstances outside of his control-and it is these circumstances that cause many critics to deem him a "natural born monster." Having suffered the immeasurable loss of his daughter Jessica, his property and, most tragically for him, his religion (Act IV, Scene i, Lines 382-387), he too is certainly part-victim.

This idea of a person's environment and treatment by those around them determining his/her behaviors is reinforced by Shakespeare in the Inductions with the story of Christopher Sly, who is forced by his lord into acting in a play. When the lord's huntsman says, in reference to Sly, "Believe me, lord, I think he [Sly] cannot choose" (Induction.I.38), these words could easily be applied to Katherine's unfortunate situation. After all, she is, in a sense, imprisoned to certain social expectations, held in place by two powerful men in her life-her father Baptista and her suitor Petruchio. She truly has no choice but to comply.

However, much like Katherine, Shylock has his character flaws as well. His determination to revenge against all the wrongs he has suffered by murdering his persecutor Antonio makes it difficult for us to sympathize with his suffering and frames him as a purely evil and cruel character. His own servant Lancelot initially even refers to his master Shylock as "a kind of devil" (II.ii.19) and eventually "the very devil incarnation" (II.ii.21-22). While Katherine and Shylock share in common the victim-villain (or victim-shrew in Katherine's case) trait, they are quite different in their respective motivations for their anger.