The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself. The nobleman then has the play performed for Sly's diversion.
The main plot depicts the courtship of Petruchio and Katherina, the headstrong, obdurate shrew. Initially, Katherina is an unwilling participant in the relationship; however, Petruchio "tames" her with various psychological and physical torments, such as keeping her from eating and drinking, until she becomes a desirable, compliant, and obedient bride. The subplot features a competition among the suitors of Katherina's younger sister, Bianca, who is seen as the "ideal" woman. The question of whether the play is misogynistic has become the subject of considerable controversy.
The Taming of the Shrew has been adapted numerous times for stage, screen, opera, ballet, and musical theatre, perhaps the most famous adaptations being Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate; McLintock!, a 1963 American Western comedy film, starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara; and the 1967 film of the play, starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The 1999 high-school comedy film 10 Things I Hate About You and the 2003 romantic comedy Deliver Us from Eva are also loosely based on the play.
Characters
Katherina Minola – the "shrew" of the title Bianca Minola – 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 Hortensio – suitor of Bianca and friend to Petruchio Grumio – Petruchio's manservant Tranio – Lucentio's manservant Biondello – servant of Lucentio Vincentio – father of Lucentio Widow – wooed by Hortensio Pedant – pretends to be Vincentio Haberdasher Tailor Curtis – servant of Petruchio Nathaniel – servant of Petruchio Joseph – servant of Petruchio Peter – servant of Petruchio Nicholas – servant of Petruchio Philip – servant of Petruchio Officer
Characters appearing in the Induction: Christopher Sly – a drunken tinker Hostess of an alehouse Lord – plays a prank on Sly Bartholomew – Lord's page boy Lord's Huntsman Players Servingmen Messenger
Synopsis
Prior to the first act, an induction frames the play as a "kind of history" played in front of a befuddled drunkard named Christopher Sly who is tricked into believing that he is a lord. The play is performed in order to distract Sly from his "wife," who is actually Bartholomew, a servant, dressed as a woman.
In the play performed for Sly, the "shrew" is Katherina, the elder daughter of Baptista Minola, a lord in Padua. Numerous men, including Tranio, deem Katherina an unworthy option for marriage because of her notorious assertiveness and willfulness. On the other hand, men such as Hortensio and Gremio are eager to marry her younger sister Bianca. However, Baptista has sworn Bianca is not allowed to marry until Katherina is wed; this motivates Bianca's suitors to work together to find Katherina a husband so that they may compete for Bianca. The plot thickens when Lucentio, who has recently come to Padua to attend university, falls in love with Bianca. Overhearing Baptista say that he is on the lookout for tutors for his daughters, Lucentio devises a plan in which he disguises himself as a Latin tutor named Cambio in order to woo Bianca behind Baptista's back and meanwhile has his servant Tranio pretend to be him.
In the meantime, Petruchio, accompanied by his servant Grumio, arrives in Padua from Verona. He explains to Hortensio, an old friend of his, that since his father's death, he has set out to enjoy life and wed. Hearing this, Hortensio recruits Petruchio as a suitor for Katherina. He also has Petruchio present him (Hortensio) to Baptista disguised as a music tutor named Litio. Thus, Lucentio and Hortensio attempt to woo Bianca while pretending to be the tutors Cambio and Litio respectively.
To counter Katherina's shrewish nature, Petruchio pretends that any harsh things she says or does are actually kind and gentle. Katherina agrees to marry Petruchio after seeing that he is the only man willing to counter her quick remarks; however, at the ceremony, Petruchio makes an embarrassing scene when he strikes the priest and drinks the communion wine. After the wedding, Petruchio takes Katherina to his home against her will. Once they are gone, Gremio and Tranio (disguised as Lucentio) formally bid for Bianca, with Tranio easily outbidding Gremio. However, in his zeal to win, he promises much more than Lucentio possesses. When Baptista determines that once Lucentio's father confirms the dowry, Bianca and Tranio (i.e., Lucentio) can marry, Tranio decides that they will need someone to pretend to be Vincentio, Lucentio's father. Meanwhile, Tranio persuades Hortensio that Bianca is not worthy of his attention, thus removing Lucentio's remaining rival.
In Verona, Petruchio begins the "taming" of his new wife. She is refused food and clothing because nothing – according to Petruchio – is good enough for her; he claims that perfectly cooked meat is overcooked, a beautiful dress doesn't fit right, and a stylish hat is not fashionable. He also disagrees with everything that she says, forcing her to agree with everything that he says, no matter how absurd; on their way back to Padua to attend Bianca's wedding, she agrees with Petruchio that the sun is the moon, and proclaims "if you please to call it a rush-candle,/Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me" (4.5.14–15). Along the way, they meet Vincentio, who is also on his way to Padua, and Katherina agrees with Petruchio when he declares that Vincentio is a woman and then apologises to Vincentio when Petruchio tells her that he is a man.
Back in Padua, Lucentio and Tranio convince a passing pedant to pretend to be Vincentio and confirm the dowry for Bianca. The man does so, and Baptista is happy for Bianca to wed Lucentio (still Tranio in disguise). Bianca, aware of the deception, then secretly elopes with the real Lucentio to get married. However, when Vincentio reaches Padua, he encounters the pedant, who claims to be Lucentio's father. Tranio (still disguised as Lucentio) appears, and the pedant acknowledges him to be his son Lucentio. In all the confusion, the real Vincentio is set to be arrested, when the real Lucentio appears with his newly betrothed Bianca, revealing all to a bewildered Baptista and Vincentio. Lucentio explains everything, and all is forgiven by the two fathers.
Meanwhile, Hortensio has married a rich widow. In the final scene of the play, there are three newly married couples: Bianca and Lucentio, the widow and Hortensio, and Katherina and Petruchio. Because of the general opinion that Petruchio is married to a shrew, a good-natured quarrel breaks out amongst the three men about whose wife is the most obedient. Petruchio proposes a wager whereby each will send a servant to call for his wife, 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. She then hauls the other two wives into the room, giving a speech on why wives should always obey their husbands. The play ends with Baptista, Hortensio and Lucentio marvelling at how successfully Petruchio has tamed the shrew.
Sources Although there is no direct literary source for the induction, the tale of a commoner being duped into believing he is a lord is one found in many literary traditions. Such a story is recorded in Arabian Nights where Harun al-Rashid plays the same trick on a man he finds sleeping in an alley. Another is found in De Rebus Burgundicis (1584) by the Dutch historian Pontus de Huyter, where Philip, Duke of Burgundy, after attending his sister's wedding in Portugal, finds a drunken "artisan" whom he entertains with a "pleasant Comedie." Arabian Nights was not translated into English until the mid-18th century, although Shakespeare may have known it by word of mouth. He could also have known about the Duke of Burgundy story because although De Rebus was not translated into French until 1600 and not into English until 1607, there is evidence the story existed in English in a jest book (now lost) by Richard Edwardes, written in 1570.
Regarding the Petruchio/Katherina story, there are a variety of possible influences, but no one specific source. The basic elements of the narrative are present in tale 35 of the fourteenth-century Spanish book Libro de los ejemplos del conde Lucanor y de Patronio by Don Juan Manuel, which tells of a young man who marries a "very strong and fiery woman." The text had been translated into English by the sixteenth century, but there is no evidence that Shakespeare drew on it. The story of a headstrong woman tamed by a man was well known, and found in numerous traditions. For example, according to The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, Noah's wife was such a woman ('"Hastow nought herd," quod Nicholas, "also/The sorwe of Noë with his felaschippe/That he had or he gat his wyf to schipe"'; The Miller's Tale, l. 352–354), and it was common for her to be depicted in this manner in mystery plays. Historically, another such woman was Xanthippe, Socrates' wife, who is mentioned by Petruchio himself (1.2.70). Such characters also occur throughout medieval literature, in popular farces both before and during Shakespeare's lifetime and in folklore.
In 1890, Alfred Tolman conjectured a possible literary source for the wager scene may have been William Caxton's 1484 translation of Geoffroy IV de la Tour Landry's Livre pour l'enseignement de ses filles du Chevalier de La Tour Landry (1372). Written for his daughters as a guide on how to behave appropriately, de la Tour Landry includes "a treatise on the domestic education of women" which features an anecdote in which three merchants make a wager as to which of their wives will prove the most obedient when called upon to jump into a basin of water. The episode sees the first two wives refuse to obey (as in the play), it ends at a banquet (as does the play) and it features a speech regarding the "correct" way for a husband to discipline his wife. In 1959, John W. Shroeder conjectured that Chevalier de La Tour Landrys depiction of the Queen Vastis story may also have been an influence on Shakespeare.
In 1964, Richard Hosley suggested the main source for the play may have been the anonymous ballad "A merry jeste of a shrewde and curst Wyfe, lapped in Morrelles Skin, for her good behauyour". The ballad tells the story of a marriage in which the husband must tame his headstrong wife. Like Shrew, the story features a family with two sisters, the younger of whom is seen as mild and desirable. However, in "Merry Jest", the older sister is obdurate not because it is simply her nature, but because she has been raised by her shrewish mother to seek mastery over men. Ultimately, the couple returns to the family house, where the now-tamed woman lectures her sister on the merits of being an obedient wife. The taming in this version is much more physical than in Shakespeare; the shrew is beaten with birch rods until she bleeds and is then wrapped in the salted flesh of a plough horse (the Morrelle of the title). "Merry Jest" was not unknown to earlier editors of the play, and had been dismissed as a source by A.R. Frey, W.C. Hazlitt, R. Warwick Bond and Frederick S. Boas. Modern editors also express doubt as to Hosley's argument.