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Author: William Shakespeare

Title: Taming of the shrew

Edited by Ann Thompson

Editorial: Cambridge University Press

Publication’s year: first publication 1984, reprinted in 1990

Publication’s place: Cambridge

Collection: The new Cambridge Shakespeare
29/10/07

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Dramatis personae[1]:

Along this comedy appeared some characters from the prologue and some from the comedy:

o A Lord: He is a Lord who tries to lie Cristobal Sly. He makes possible the comedy that is in honour of Cristobal Sly.

o Cristobal Sly: Hi is a drunken and bad-mannered person. Is who the Lord trick make him thinking that he is a nobleman and rich. Is to whom the actors interpret the comedy.

The rest of the characters are part of the comedy:

o Baptista: Is a nobleman. He has two daughters: Bianca and Katherine. He is obsessed with the marriage of his daughter Katherine that has a bad-tempered.

o Katherine: She is Baptista’s first daughter. She has bad-tempered. She’s the shrew. She is jealous with her sister’s suitors.

o Bianca: she is the Baptista’s young daughter. She had a lot of suitors. But she did love anyone. She love arts, music and learn any knowledge. She is suit and manageable at the beginning. Her father do not let marry her until her sister find a husband first.

o Petruccio: He is Katerine’s suitor. He is a nobleman from Verona. When he married with Katherine he makes her docile.

o Gremio: He is a gentleman from Padua. He is one of Bianca’s suitors.

o Hortensio He is a gentleman from Padua. He is one of Bianca’s suitors. He introduced Petruccio in Baptista’s house. At the end he withdrew from Bianca’s love and married with a widow.

o Lucentio: He is Vincentio’s son. He is a student from Pisa. He is in love with Bianca. He plot a fraud with Tranio to get Bianca’s love and to achieve a marriage with her. He became an “actor” to interpret Cambio who will be a teacher for Bianca.

o Tranio: He is Lucentio’s servant. He interpret Lucentio’s life when this one interpret Cambio.

Plot:

Christopher Sly is the target of a joke by a Lord. He find Sly drunk in front of the inn, the lord told his servants to take Sly to his bedroom, dress him with his clothing, and treat him as a lord. When Sly recovers, the men speak to him as a lord and that he was confuse himself by a drunken because he has been insane for several years. Sly refuses to accept the men’s story, but when he hears of his “wife,” a boy dressed as a woman, he accepts all. A group of actors has arrived to present a play for him. This play was the main story of The Taming of the Shrew.

Lucentio arrives at Padua with his servants, Tranio and Biondello, to attend the local university. But all change when he sees Bianca, with whom Lucentio falls in love. But Bianca has two suitors, Gremio and Hortensio. Although this Bianca’s father has declared that Bianca do not marry until Katherine is married. Hortensio and Gremio decided to look for a man who wants to marry with Katherine. Lucentio decides become as Bianca’s teacher to be in her company. Hortensio becomes as her music teacher. While Lucentio interprets Cambio, Tranio becomes as Lucentio and begins to pretend Bianca and arrive to a contract with Baptista to marry with her .Hortensio arrived to Baptista’s house with his friend Petruccio, who is in Padua to find a wife. When Petruccio met Katherine have a big discussion of words. Each time Katherine insults Petruccio, Petruccio tells her that he will marry her whether she agrees or not. He lies Baptista that Katherine has agreed to marry him next Sunday. Katherine was quiet.

Petruccio is late to his wedding. When he arrives, he is dressed rags. After the wedding, Petruccio forces Katherine to leave for his country house before the wedding dinner.

When they reach his country house, Petruccio continues the process of “taming” Katherine by keeping her from eating or sleeping for several days.

Lucentio wins Bianca’s heart with his lessons. Hortensio makes the same attempt with a music lesson, but Bianca loves Lucentio, and Hortensio decides to marry with a widow. Tranio secures Baptista a very good dowry to marry him (Lucentio) with Bianca. Baptista agrees with that, but ask for confirmation by Lucentio’s father before the marriage. Tranio and Lucentio need an old man to play the role of Lucentio’s father. Tranio find an old pedant.

Katherine and Petruccio return to Padua to visit Baptista. On the road, the couple meets Lucentio’s father, Vincentio, who is looking for his son. They take Vincentio to Lucentio’s house. When Vincentio arrives find Tranio acting as Lucentio and an old man acting as Vincentio. At last, Bianca and Lucentio arrive to explain all. Both Vincentio and Baptista finally agree to the marriage.

At the dinner after Hortensio’s wedding to the widow, all the characters are shocked to see that Katherine seems docile, she obeys everything that Petruccio says. When the three new husbands make a test to see which of their wives will be much obedient, while everyone expects Lucentio to win, they find that was Katherine who comes immediately while the other said that they can not come. The happy Katherine and Petruccio leave the dinner to go to bed.

Spaces:
These are the places were the plot take part:

- Moor in front of a inn

- Lord’s bedroom

- Public square in Padua

- Padua, in front of Hortensio’s house

- Baptista’s house

- In front of Baptista’s house

- Petruccio’s house

- Petruccio’s bedroom

- A road

- In front of Lucentio’s house

- Lucentio’s house

In this comedy we can find some remarks about the description of the place that the action is happening. For example, when Petruccio and Katherine are on the road Petruccio say that the moon is on the sky and Kate reply that it is not the moon it is the sun. There is another example, when the Lord is talking about hunting she talks about the nature that are around him where the dogs ran.

Time:

In this comedy we find some scenes where the characters talk about the pass of time. For example when Petruccio talked with Baptista to marry with Katherine, Petruccio said that the following week they will be married. And when he arrives at Baptista’s house late we can see the pass of a week. Another example was when this two (Petruccio and Katherine) arrives to Petruccio’s house and he do not let her to sleep we find another example of pass of time.

There is an example where Petruccio talk about the hour, before they come back Baptista’s house, Petruccio said that it is 7 O’clock and they arrive to the lunch but Katherine said that is not this hour and they arrive to the dinner. This is another example of pass of time.

Literary and stylistic resources[2]:

- Mention some contemporaneous authors ( Soto, is a character of plot by Beaumont and Fletcher) Lord scene 1

- Mention some characters from Greek and Latin mythology (Adonis, Citerea, Daphne…)

- comonty for comedy (“is not a comonty a Christmas gambold on a tumbling trick? ) Sly scene 2

- play on word between “cart” and “court” (“To cart her rather”) Gremio act 1 scene1 / (“leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure”) Baptista act 1 scene 1 line 54

- sentences in Latin: “redime te captum quam quaes minimo” Tranio act 1 scene 1

- sentences in italiano: “con tutto il core” , “ben trovato” Petruccio act 1 scene 2

- play on words between “Kate” y “cate” Petruccio act 2 lines 181-190

- play on words with buzzard (“well tane, and like a buzzard”) Catherine act 2 line203

- play on words with “mother-wit” (“from my mother-wit”) Petruccio act 2 line 253

- play on words between “freeze” and “fry” Gremio and Tranio act 2

- proverbs act 4 scene 1

- play on word with “credit her” (“I call them forth to credit her”) Grumio act 4 scene 1 line 78

- Mention Clasics works “the Art of Love” Lucentio act 4 scene 2

- Play on words with “Bianca” and “white” “’twas I won the pager, though you hit the white,…”) Petruccio act 5 scene 2 line 186

Other aspects:

There are a Shakespeare’s contemporaneous explanations of how is the fashion or the customs. We see these when Petruccio is arguing with the tailor for Katherine’s dress. Another example is when Petruccio’s servant asks a slave about the bedroom’s carpet (to scatter brush in the bedroom).

Critic opinion:

When I read this comedy I found it very unpleasant and at the same time very funny. It means, that if we analyze this comedy from our society, a society where we have equally between men and women, we find this comedy unpleasant. Why? The answer is easy, because in this novel men hope for a docile woman who pay homage to their husbands, serves them and never contradict them. But today, we, the women, do not have this finality, we can contradict our husband, we do not have to serve them and we do not have to love them in spite of all they done.

This is from my view point, from a woman view point, but maybe if a man read it these argumentations change. Maybe He thinks that we have to do the same as Katherine done in Shakespeare’s age, until today.

Academic year 2007/2008
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Carmen Mora Vives
mamovi3@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press