The Taming of The Shrew
William Shakespeare
A study guide
The Taming of the Shrew
• The idea of beating
one’s wife to make her
obey was acceptable
behaviour in Medieval
times.
• The Taming of the
Shrew presents a
different, more radical
alternative.
Sources of the play
Shakespeare appears to have got his ideas for the play
from several sources popular in this time.
• A Ballad: A Merry Jest of a Shrewd and Curst Wife
Lapped in a Morel’s Skin for her Good Behaviour.
In this song the wife is beaten until she bleeds. Then
wrapped in a skin of an old lame plough horse,
Morel, killed and flayed for the occasion.
The husband threatens to keep her in the skin and
treat her like the horse unless she obeys him.
•Erasmus advocated, in
A Merry Dialogue
Declaring the Properties
of Shrewd Shrews and
Honest Wives (1557) a
taming method more
akin to that used by
Petruchio. In this the
husband uses the
techniques of taming a
bird or animal to “tame”
his wife.
The other episodes like:
•The ranting a tailor for
cutting the gown in an
outrageous manner is
from: Accidence of
Amory (1562) by Leigh.
•The wife agreeing with
her husband in the
assertion of what is
obviously not is from:
El Conde Laconor of
Don Juan Manuel
(1350)
•The wagering on the
wives’ obedience
occurs in The Book of
the Knight of La
Tourlandry (1484)
•The sub-plot in which
the characters play
different roles to gain
access to the young
woman is from
Gascoinge’s Supposes
(1566)
The Plot of The Supposes:
A young man succeeds in possessing the girl he
loves by outwitting the character who blocks his
access to her - in this case Lucentio outwits
Gremio to court and marry Bianca.
Lucentio achieves this by means of disguise and
allowing Tranio to pretend that he is Lucentio.
Hortensio, Shakespeare’s invention, is introduced
to add further complication.
A Young Man
Lucentio
Blockage
Character
Gremio
A beautiful Girl
Hortensio
Bianca
OBSTACLES
Acceptance
Reconciliation
Father
Baptista
The Scheming Servant - Tranio knows all - to fool all.
Added to these characters and actions is the
INDUCTION scene which orginated in the story:
The Sleeper Awakened from The Arabian
Nights. A story popular in the 16th Century.
Petruchio & Kate
• Kate is a spoilt
household bully who
tyrannises her sister,
defies her father,
strikes her sister, tutor
and suitor without
provocation.
• She is in a choleric ill
humour and must be
redirected.
PETRUCHIO
The man born to tame Kate by curing
her of her chronic bad temper. He
realises that her choler is an ill humour
and sets about restoring her to a
balance with his sanguine humour.
He “drowns her” in her own ill humour
and provides a mirror to show her what
she could become.
Shakespeare’s Dramaturgical
skill
• LUCENTIO BIANCA HORTENSIO
• Lucentio is full of
stock Elizabethan
love poetry when he
first sees Bianca.
• A contrast to
Petruchio’s
bluntness.
Bianca’s actions
contrast to Kate’s
behaviour both
earlier and at the end
of the play. She has a
will of her own which
she uses to effect to
provide her own
entertainment.
Hortensio provides
more complication for
Act III sci. He is a link
between Petruchio and
Padua and is essential
for the last scene
where the betting
needs suspense to be
effective.