| The Taming of the Shrew |
|
|
|
|
A drunken tinker, Christopher Sly, is tricked by a group of hunting noblemen into believing he is a Lord. Sly is given a disguised page as his lady and he is entertained at the noblemen's house with a play by a group of travelling actors. The play opens as the student Lucentio arrives in Padua. He hears that the merchant Baptista has two daughters, but the pretty younger girl, Bianca, may not be married before her strong-willed sister Katherina. On seeing Bianca Lucentio decides he must woo her and changes roles with his servant Tranio. Bianca already has two suitors, but cares for neither. The elderly Gremio hires Lucentio, disguised as a Latin tutor, to woo Bianca on his behalf, while Hortensio disguises himself as a musician to obtain access to her. Meanwhile Petruchio, a young fortune hunter from Verona, arrives to visit his friend Hortensio. He learns about Katherina and resolves to court her, aided by both Gremio and Hortensio.
On the journey the couple meet Vincentio, Lucentio's wealthy father, and he is subjected to a strange conversation as Petruchio again tests Kate's obedience. The three reach Padua where Hortensio, rejected by Bianca, has married a widow and Baptista has been tricked into believing a passing stranger is Tranio's rich father. While Vincentio attempts to sort out the problem his son Lucentio returns from a secret wedding with Bianca. Undismayed, Baptista holds a wedding feast for both his daughters. As the men relax after their meal Petruchio devises a scheme to prove whose wife is the most obedient. Bianca and the widow fail to come to their husbands when called while Kate, now in full understanding and, perhaps, also in love with Petruchio, firmly tells the women the duties of a wife. As the visiting players leave. Sly is abandoned to sleep off his dream of the taming of a shrewish wife. The famous comedy The Taming of The Shrew was written about 1593 and was probably performed by the Lord Chamberlain's players the following year. It was first printed in the First Folio of 1623. © Marian J. Pringle
|
Baptista is enthusiastic about Petruchio's suit for the shrewish Katherina is a burden to him and is continually quarrelling with her sister and father. Petruchio will not be gainsaid as he woos Kate and he fixes their wedding day. At the church, where Kate unwillingly awaits her bridegroom, Petruchio arrives in outlandish clothes, and after the ceremony he immediately leaves for Verona with his new wife. On reaching home Kate is mistreated by Petruchio and his servants including Grernio and Curtis, and is refused food and rest. To teach her to obey him Petruchio will not allow Kate new clothes or a hat brought by a tailor and a haberdasher. Eventually, worn down by her husband's waywardness, Kate submits and agrees to all Petruchio's whims as they set off to visit her father in Padua. 
