Plays 52 - The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

6. The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare

The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy of five acts, and is essentially a play-within-a-play, told in the context of a practical joke played upon a drunkard named Christopher Sly. The play-within-the-play itself is set in and around Padua, Italy and concerns the wooing of two sisters, one of whom, Katherina, is very ill-tempered and scolding. The other, Bianca, is the target of several suitors, most of whom are just as concerned with her father's wealth as they are with her own attributes. They are frustrated, however, by the condition that Bianca is only free to marry once Katherina has also found a suitor.

The play begins with an altercation between Sly and the hostess of a pub. He is very drunk and has apparently caused a significant disturbance the night before. He is asleep on the ground when a hunting party rides in and stops at his side. The Lord in charge of the hunt decides to play a practical joke on Sly and tells his servants to create the illusion that Sly is in fact a lord and has been ill or mad for some time, only now recovering. He also arranges for his Page to masquerade as the 'Lord' Sly's wife.

Upon awakening, Sly falls for the illusion and believes that he is in fact a Lord. He is about to make amorous advances on his 'wife' when a troupe of players enters and at the behest of the 'real' Lord they begin to perform a play.

Lucentio and Tranio, his manservant, have travelled from Pisa to visit Padua to experience more of the world. As soon as they arrive they witness Baptista Minola and his two daughters Katherina and Bianca walking through the town, the latter of which Lucentio instantly falls in love with. Katherina lashes out both verbally and physically as Baptista attempts to introduce Bianca to potential suitors, Hortensio and Gremio. Baptista is resolved to find tutors for his daughters.

On overhearing this, Lucentio hatches a plan to act as a tutor to Bianca, while Tranio is to masquerade as Lucentio, carrying out his business in the town. Meanwhile, Hortensio and Gremio hatch a similiar plot, persuading their friend Petruchio to marry Katherina. Petruchio is ultimately persuaded by the lure of the potential dowry that would come his way if he marries Katherina. He reveals that he intends to tame Katherina's temperament by playing mind-games with her, by bullying her into submission. Lucentio, Hortensio and Gremio are all introduced to Baptista as tutors, whilst Tranio plays the part of Lucentio, now a potential suitor for Bianca. Petruchio also introduces himself to Baptista, announcing his intention of marrying Katherina. They are left alone and Petruchio begins taunting Katherina. He later tells Baptista that any hostility from Katherina is just for show and that they are really very much in love and are to be married on Sunday. Katherina's verbal and physical strength are here shown to be a way of dealing with her lack of control over her own life.

Sunday comes and Petruchio makes everyone anxious by arriving late and when he does so, dressed in very worn and poorly repaired clothing. Katherina, somewhat relieved that she will not be a laughing stock, is married by Petruchio and he abruptly whisks her away to his home in the country. When they return to Petruchio's home, he begins his mind games by denying her food, sleep and decent clothing. Meanwhile in Padua, Lucentio continues to woo Bianca while Tranio, still acting as his master, puts the other suitors off by showing how she flirts with her tutor, thus proving her infidelity. Hortensio resolves instead to wed a "lusty widow" who has previously declared her love for him. The way now clear, Tranio announces 'his' intent to marry Bianca and begins to negotiate with Baptista to secure the dowry, while Bianca and Lucentio arrange a secret marriage.

Quite by chance, Petruchio and an increasingly defeated Katherina meet Lucentio's father, Vincentio, on their way to Padua. He plans to meet with Lucentio and check up on him. Petruchio tells Katherina that Vincentio is in fact a beautiful young woman and that she should greet her as such, when she is corrected by Vincentio, Petruchio takes her to task on this and Katherina makes her excuses as to why she "mistook" the old man for a young lady. When they arrive at Padua, Vincento seeks his son but is taken aback to find Tranio dressed in Lucentio's clothes, with an old pedant claiming to be his father. Tranio threatens to have the real Vincento imprisoned so that the plan can go ahead, but the real Lucentio reveals his identity, but since he and Bianca are now married, all is well.

Later at a feast to celebrate Lucentio and Bianca's marriage, Katherina is shown to be fully tamed as she is the only one of the three wives, the others being Bianca and the former "lusty widow", to come when summoned by their husbands. She then goes on to praise the submissiveness of women to men, and to claim that all wives should be grateful of their husbands.

In one version of the play, Katherina's speech is effectively the end of the play, however there is an earlier version of the play which concludes the Christopher Sly story. Awakening back where he originally fell asleep, he tells the hostess that he has "had the bravest dream" and now knows how to tame a shrew, should his wife be angry that he has not slept at home the previous night. However, it remains to be seen how successful he will be.