Well there are so many reasons why I shouldn’t have liked this. It is an early work of Shakespeare, it has issues with the treatment of women, it doesn’t have the beautiful soliloquies of Shakespeares later work. But I have to say I loved it. I read the play and then watched an older film with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and that was very hilarious.
I am not convinced about the final speech by Kate being slightly sarcastic and mocking, but on the other hand how many couples do I know where there is a subtext to things said. So I am willing to draw my own conclusion that this is a more equal marriage than it might seem.
It is easy to get outraged by this play but it is a play within a play, it is slightly cartoon like and it is of a different era. I am a feminist woman but I loved this play. It made me laugh and it made me think. I firmly believe that the topics in this are relevant today and this is a great tool for opening dialogue about a subject that hasn’t gone away.