Petruchio Sucks and Even his Friends are Tired of His Shit

Act IV Scene IV (Lines 11-24)

Hortensio : Say as he says, or we shall never go.

Katherina: Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please;
And if you please to call it a rush-candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.

Petruchio: I say it is the moon.

Katherina: I know it is the moon.

Petruchio: Nay, then you lie; it is the blessed sun.

Katherina: Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun;
But sun it is not, when you say it is not;
And the moon changes even as your mind.
What you will have it nam'd, even that it is,
And so it shall be so for Katherine.

Hortensio: Petruchio, go thy ways, the field is won.

I am so upset that Hortensio's line are not in this clip because his subtle remarks really steal the scene, and just the look on his face (and Elizabeth Taylor's!) really sums up just how exasperating Petruchio is throughout Taming of the Shrew. This scene is the poster child example for gaslighting, which is psychological manipulation to make the subject question their own sanity. In this case Petruchio uses it against Katherina to get her to believe the sun is actually the mom because he desperately needs to assert his faux-thority over her. Of all the petty things Petruchio picks to be right about, he picks the celestial source of lighting. He picks an undeniable fact and I wonder if Shakespeare includes this bat-shit crazy moment to reflect the human error of accepting blatant lies because it is easier to agree than to disagree with crazy. Despite this, the audience should most relate to poor Hortensio who just wants to get to where they are going. He encourages Katherina to just agree with Petruchio so he will let their journey continue. This is the silent majority represented and in a way is expresses the tactical agency that everyone around Petruchio seems to need to survive him, including his friends.

P.S. I sent out a question on Twitter to the official Grey's Anatomy account to see if the semi-recent "You are the sun" speech made my Christina Yang was a reference to this. I did not receive an answer but I did get a few heart reacts which really sums up all you can hope to gain from Twitter.