Faculty Introduction for “The Taming of the Tongue: How Silence and Linguistic Disguise Ennobles Women’s Speech in The Taming of the Shrew and Lessons for Women”
Jackie Li’s essay “The Taming of the Tongue” soars amongst those received in my PoH Tales of Gender and Power course. Particularly notable is the rigor and exactitude with which Jackie addresses all aspects of the essay prompt. In brief, it asked students to meaningfully juxtapose two course texts in order to illuminate an overarching problem neither text does entirely on its own. Students tend to assume this assignment represents a “compare and contrast” essay, so they list similarities and differences, ping-ponging between descriptions. Minimal analysis or interpretive mission can result. Readers end up wondering, “So what?”
Adroitly negotiating disparities of culture and historical period through contextualization and detailed analysis, Jackie’s juxtaposition of two marvelous women — erudite Han dynasty scholar Ban Zhao, China’s first female historian, and Shakespeare’s wickedly sharp-tongued English Renaissance shrew, Kate Minola — accomplishes its valuable scholarly purpose occasionally using the tools of compare and contrast, but never bridled by them. Jackie’s pointed title highlights her essay’s key insight: in highly patriarchal societies, literate, sophisticated and independent women, by disguising and/or modulating their speech, express power and agency, not subordination or submission.
Jackie drafted and revised this essay many times. It did not ‘come easy’ — why would it? Its richness, complexity, excellent research and tightly structured argument so well supported by textual evidence is a testament to Jackie’s fierce persistence, devotion, love of her subject, and determination to make her essay ring true. I can only commend her essay without reserve.
Amy Goldman, Lecturer in the Writing Program
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