Karen Passino
Sumptuary comes from a Latin word meaning expenditure. The sumptuary laws were “any law designed to restrict excessive personal expenditures in the interest of preventing extravagance and luxury”( Sumptuary Law). The Sumptuary Laws were created to control the people’s behavior and maintain structure in the social class system. These laws date back as far as the Romans. The laws and penalties for violating these laws were known by all the English people. Penalties varied in severity from fines or loss of property all the way to death.
The clothing people wore showed insight to their social status and their wealth. The laws were formed so that an understanding of who was who could be easily seen. These laws dictated who was allowed to wear certain colors, furs, and type of cloth. This helped other to be able to quickly identify other’s rank. Bright and dark colors were generally more expensive to manufacture and to obtain so they were limited to the higher status. These laws “attempted to prevent people from changing their social status by means of clothing” (ASL).
The queen,
her children, her mother, aunts and sisters were the only women allowed to
wear purple, symbolizing royalty. She was also the only woman able to wear
clothing made completely of silk. Lower classes, meaning classes ranked below
the “lower class,” were allowed to wear silk and velvet trimmings
but were only able to wear cloaks and hats. The lower class had a somewhat
large selection of colors they could wear, including brown, beige, yellow,
orange, green, and light grey and blue. Gold and silver was saved for the
wives of barons, knights or councilor’s ladies along with the maids
of honor, women of the privy and bed chamber. They were also permitted to
wear petticoats as well as the daughter’s of the knights were. Satin,
velvet, silk, furs, spangles and pearls were all found mixed in with other
classes such as viscountesses, baronesses, wives and daughters of baron’s
sons or of knights. Along with the material of clothing allowed came varied
allowances of gowns, sleeves, linings and cloaks (Elizabethan).
Like the queen, only the king and his children, father and uncles were allowed
to wear purple and silk. They were permitted to wear any type of clothing
they pleased. The level of men’s honor and rank was very similar to
that of the women. The men were often allowed more options such as leopard
fur for the Baron’s sons, knights and gentlemen in attendance to the
king. Knights were able to have spurs, swords, daggers and wood knives and
were allowed to wear satin, velvet, gilt and colors of deep blue. They were
permitted to wear gowns, cloaks, jackets and purses. The lower class and classes
below that were the same allowances for both men and women (Elizabethan).
Throughout
Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew, many of the characters
cross the barriers of their social class by dressing differently. These, if
caught, can be punishable by death. These roles are important throughout this
play because of the varied social classes the play deals with.
Many of the characters take on different roles throughout the play. Starting
at the beginning, Lucentio is a wealthy young student, Tranio is a servant.
Bianca and Katherine are upper class, young maidens and Christopher Sly is
a tinker. During the play these characters all transform and take on different
roles. They are trying to become a part of a different social class than they
are really in. Lucentio transforms himself to be part of the working class,
as a Latin tutor in order to woo Bianca. He falls instantly in love with her
and feels he needs a transformation to make her his wife. Tranio dresses as
Lucentio, even though he is only his servant. Christopher Sly is mischievously
talked into thinking that he is a Lord.
The only character that legally changes her role throughout the play is Katherine. Katherine, at the start of the play, wants nothing to do with her role in society and decides to act out on this. She leaves her supposed role as a wealthy, young maiden and becomes a hostile, violent shrew scaring off any suitor. She is sharp-tongued, has a bad temper, and at times can become violent. She refuses to marry any suitors that come to call. Her hostility and rudeness hide her insecurity and jealousy of her sister, who all the other suitors view as perfect. Bianca has many suitors but her father, Baptista refuses to marry her off until Katherine, the eldest, is wed. Katherine is courted by Petruccio, who is selfish and determined to become the master and lord of his wife. He came initially to find a rich wife. He said he would marry Katherine whether she wanted to or not, he told Baptista she had consented and the wedding was set.
His behavior is hard to determine and can go several ways. The play can take on a domination theme and stereotypes of a man’s place or it can take on a true love theme and show that even the worst of people can be married and have a happy, loving marriage. Petruccio in a sense becomes a hero of the play. Through forced actions he shows Katherine that she has no other choice than to adapt to her social role as a wife. She begins to develop this role and comes to the conclusion that holding the social role of a wife and gaining respect and consideration from society is better than being rejected by society for refusing any role at all.
Petruccio has a minor role switch in this play. On his wedding day he dresses up as a ridiculous clown. Katherine marries him regardless of his dress and is tamed by Petruccio. He has odd techniques he uses to do the taming such as starving her and depriving her of sleep, but in the end we see that Katherine understands the needs for social roles and takes on her own.
When Katherine married Petruccio while dressed as a clown it showed the other characters in the play as well as the readers, that the type or style of clothing you were does not define who the person is. The characters in the play all thought that changing their clothes would change them as a person but it proved to be false. Lucentio changed his role in hopes of winning Bianca. His disguise as her Latin tutor allowed him time to be in her company and win her over. While he was disguised as this, Hortensio disguises himself as her music teacher for the same reason. Tranio, Lucentio servant, takes advantage of this role playing and decides to dress up as Lucentio. He then speaks with Baptista of marrying his daughter, Bianca. They do get married but rather than having a happy, functioning marriage, Lucentio is humiliated when Bianca ignores his commands.
The roles of many characters changed, some for the better and some for the worst. Some of the characters got what they wanted from the beginning such as Lucentio who won Bianca’s heart. Hortensio ended up marrying a widow and Tranio was caught in his Lucentio masquerade by Vincentio, Lucentio’s father. Petruccio married and tamed Katherine who went from a shrew to a wife. The disguises of all characters are removed throughout the play revealing the true people inside. The clothing served as a tool to help get what was desired but not as a definition of the actual person.
The Sumptuary
Laws were often broken and rarely were able to be enforced over a long period
of time. In this play it seemed easy for the characters to obtain all types
of clothing and disguises. None of the characters were punished, unless you
can call heartbreak a legal punishment.
Works Cited
"Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws." 20 Oct. 2007 <http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-sumptuary-laws.htm>.
Secara, Maggie. "Who Wears What I." Elizabethan
Sumptuary Statutes. 14 July 2001. 27 Oct. 2007
<http://elizabethan.org/sumptuary/who-wears-what.html>.
"Sumptuary Laws." ASL Shakespeare Project. 2004. 20 Oct. 2007 <http://mphp.usfca.edu/aslshakespeare/shakespeare/shakespeare_theatre2.php?bandwidth=high>.
"Sumptuary Law." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2007.
Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 10 Nov. 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9070320>.