The Changing Meaning of The Taming of the Shrew Over the centuries, it is common for words to change in meaning. As the world around us changes, words often take on new meanings to accommodate the changes in lifestyle and society brought about by progress. Therefore, it is easy to get confused when reading literature written several centuries earlier, since the same words can have different meanings. In “The Taming of the Shrew,” DE Underdown offers background information that makes Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew much more understandable in terms of discordant ideas about women in society in different time periods. The Taming of the Shrew has a very different effect on contemporary readers than it might have had on 16th-century readers, as the world has changed and society has largely metamorphosed. When Shakespeare wrote The Taming of the Shrew, it was widely known that women should be subservient to their husbands. Today, however, this idea seems ridiculous in America. After the feminist movement and the fight for equality, women have gained much more freedom and respect than before. With increased freedom, it is difficult to take seriously the way women were once treated as property. Because of the inconsistency in the views of the two eras, pieces like Underdown's "The Taming of the Scold" are crucial to a modern understanding of literature that deals with archaic social norms, especially because it places the literature in the context of the social mentality of its Creator. . Through the Underdown piece, I was able to understand much better the significance of Petruchio's "taming" of Kate in examples that explain common practices and events of the time. Kate experienced a character… middle of paper… below the direction of their leaders or rulers. By explaining the relationship between family and society, Underdown divulges the intent with which Shakespeare wrote the play. In Kate's surrender to Petruchio, Shakespeare maintains the familial and social order. Because words and the meaning or ideas behind them change over time, it is important to be able to place literature in social context to derive its full meaning. Underdown addresses many issues in "The Taming of a Scold" that are relevant to Kate and Petruchio's behavior that are not known or understood today. Pieces like Underdown serve as a bridge between two eras: the one in which the story was read and the one in which it was written. With the help of such pieces, it is possible to understand the significance of the writer in the story much better.