An Introduction to The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare

You are Cordially InvitedTo attend the Wedding Celebration

Of

Katherina&

PetruchioThey will be joinedIn Holy Matrimony

As Husband and Wife…

…Until Death They Do Part.

• When you marry, will it be for money, or love?

• Would you marry someone that you hated?

• Should wives be submissive to their husbands?

• All of these questions are asked in Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew

• The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1591.

• The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

• These characteristics include lighthearted and slapstick humor, disguises and deception, and a happy ending in which most of the characters come out satisfied.

• A play focusing on the concerns of married life would have seemed particularly relevant to English audiences of the Renaissance period. Theirs was a society concerned with marriage in general.

• Of particular worry to this society were “shrews” or “scolds”—that is, cantankerous or gossipy wives, who resisted or undermined the assumed authority of the husband within a marriage.

• The play celebrates the quick wit and fiery spirit of its heroine even while reveling in her humiliation.

• Katherina (Kate) Minola – the "shrew" of the title

• Bianca – sister of Katherina; the ingénue• Baptista Minola – father of Katherina and Bianca• Petruchio – suitor of Katherina• Gremio – elderly suitor of Bianca• Lucentio – suitor of Bianca (spends some of play

disguised as Cambio, a Latin tutor)• Hortensio – suitor of Bianca and friend to

Petruchio (spends some of the play disguised as Litio, a music tutor)

• Grumio – servant of Petruchio• Tranio – servant of Lucentio (spends some of the

play disguised as Lucentio)

• In the play the "Shrew" is Katherina Minola, the eldest daughter of Baptista Minola, a lord in Padua.

• Katherina's temper is notorious and it is thought no man would ever wish to marry her.

• On the other hand, two men – Hortensioand Gremio – are eager to marry her younger sister Bianca.

• However, Baptista has sworn not to allow his younger daughter to marry before the elder Katherina is wed, much to the despair of her suitors, who agree that they will work together to marry off Katherina so that they will be free to compete for Bianca.

• The plot becomes more complex when Lucentio, who has recently come to Padua to attend university, sees Bianca and instantly falls in love with her.

• Lucentio overhears Baptistaannounce that he is on the lookout for tutors for his daughters, so he has his servant Tranio pretend to be him while he disguises himself as a Latin tutor named Cambio, so that he can woo Bianca behind Baptista's back.

• In the meantime, Petruchio arrives in Padua, accompanied by his servant, Grumio. Petruchio tells his old friend Hortensio that his main goal is to wed a wealthy girl.

• Hearing this, Hortensio seizes the opportunity to recruit Petruchio as a suitor for Katherina. He also has Petruchiopresent to Baptista a music tutor named Litio (Hortensio himself in disguise).

• Thus, Lucentio and Hortensio, pretending to be the teachers Cambio and Litio, attempt to woo Bianca unbeknownst to her father, and to one another.

• Petruchio, to counter Katherina'sshrewish nature, woos her with reverse psychology, pretending that every harsh thing she says or does is kind and gentle.

• Katherina allows herself to become engaged to Petruchio, and they are married in a farcical ceremony during which (amongst other things) he strikes the priest and drinks the communion wine, and then takes her home against her will.

• After more of this treatment on their “Honeymoon” Bianca seems beaten. They return to Padua, where everyone has become happily married.

• Because of the general opinion that Petruchio is married to a shrew, a quarrel breaks out about whose wife is the most obedient.

• Petruchio proposes a wager whereby each will send a servant to call for their wives, and whichever comes most obediently will have won the wager for her husband.

• Katherina is the only one of the three who comes, winning the wager for Petruchio. At the end of the play, after the other two wives have been hauled into the room by Katherina, she gives a speech on the subject of why wives should always obey their husbands.

• The play ends with Baptista, Hortensio and Lucentiomarvelling at how successfully Petruchio has tamed the shrew.

Kate’s final speech has infuriated and confused Shakespeare lovers for years. Here are five ways to interpret it:• Katherina's speech is sincere and Petruchio has successfully tamed her (this is how it is

presented in the 1983 BBC Shakespeare adaptation, for example).• Katerina's speech is sincere, though not because Petruchio has "tamed" her but because she

has come to see that they're well-matched in temperament .• Katherina's speech is ironic: she is not being sincere in her statements but sarcastic,

pretending to have been tamed when in reality she has completely duped or is humoring Petruchio (this is how it is presented in the 1967 Franco Zeffirelli adaptation).

• Katherina's speech cannot be taken seriously due to the farcical nature of the play within a play.

• Katherina's speech both satirizes gender roles and emphasizes the social need for wives to be obedient to their husbands.

• There's small choice in rotten apples.The Taming of the Shrew, 1. 1

• I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;If wealthily, then happily in Padua The Taming of the Shrew, 1. 2

• You are called plain Kate,And bonny Kate and sometimes Kate the curst;But Kate, the prettiest Kate in ChristendomKate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate,For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,Take this of me, Kate of my consolation.The Taming of the Shrew, 2. 1

• This is the way to kill a wife with kindness.The Taming of the Shrew, 4. 1

• A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,-Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty.The Taming of the Shrew, 5. 2

• Such duty as the subject owes the prince,Even such a woman oweth to her husband.The Taming of the Shrew, 5. 2

• I am ashamed that women are so simpleTo offer war where they should kneel for peace.The Taming of the Shrew, 5. 2

• The Taming of the Shrew has been adapted to Opera, Radio, Film and Television, the first film adaption being in 1908!

• It was adapted in 1948 into a hit Broadway musical by Cole Porter called Kiss Me Kate. Here’s a scene where Bianca is being wooed by her three suitors in a musical number called “Tom, Dick or Harry”

• It was also made into a popular feature film, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, in 1967, with Elizabeth Taylor as Katherina, and Richard Burton as Petrucio.

• In 2013, actress Anne Hathaway announced that she is planning to star in a modern-day version of The Taming of the Shrew!

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