Key Facts
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Author- William
Shakespeare
Type of work- play
Genre-Romantic
comedy
Time and place
written- Around 1592
London
Date publish 1623
Key facts cont.
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Major conflict - Petruccio's attempt to "tame"
Katherine.
Rising action - Petruccio and Katherine's early verbal
conflicts.
Climax - There is no single moment of intense action in
the play, but It might be possible to see a climax in the
wedding scene in Act III, or in Katherine's decision in Act
IV to submit to Petruccio when he says the sun is really
the moon, or her agreement to throw shame to the
winds and kiss him in the middle of the street in Act IV.
Falling action - The banquet at Lucentio's house in Act
V, scene ii
Themes - Marriage as an economic institution, the
effect of social roles on individual happiness
History from 1592 to1623
1611 Shakespeare
writes “The Tempest”
 1618-1648 Thirty
years’ War between
German Catholics and
Protestants
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8 Quotes
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Signor Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we
Few words suffice; and therefore, if thou know
One rich enough to be Petruccio's wife—
As wealth is burden of my wooing dance—
Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,
As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd
As Socrates' Xanthippe or a worse,
She moves me not—or not removes at least
Affection's edge in me, were she as rough
As are the swelling Adriatic seas.
I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;
If wealthily, then happily in Padua.
(I.ii.62–73)
8 Quotes cont.
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Petruccio: Come, come, you wasp, i' faith you are too an
gry.
Katherine: If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Petruccio: My remedy is then to pluck it out.
Katherine: Ay, if the fool could find where it lies.
Petruccio: Who knows not where a wasp does wear his s
ting?
In his tail.
Katherine: In his tongue.
Petruccio: Whose tongue?
Katherine: Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell.
Petruccio: What, with my tongue in your tail?
8 Quotes cont.
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Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented
That you shall be my wife, your dowry 'greed on,
And will you, nill you, I will marry you.
Now Kate, I am a husband for your turn,
For by this light, whereby I see thy beauty—
Thy beauty that doth make me like thee well—
Thou must be married to no man but me,
For I am he am born to tame you, Kate,
And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate
Conformable as other household Kates.
Here comes your father. Never make denial.
I must and will have Katherine to my wife.
(II.i.261–272)
8 Quotes cont.
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Then God be blessed, it is the blessed sun,
But sun it is not when you say it is not,
And the moon changes even as your mind.
What you will have it named, even that it is,
And so it shall be still for Katherine.
(IV.vi.19–23)
8 Quotes cont.
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Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,
And craves no other tribute at thy hands
But love, fair looks, and true obedience,
Too little payment for so great a debt.
…
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reason haply more,
To bandy word for word and frown for frown;
But now I see our lances are but straws,
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands below your husband's foot,
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready, may it do him ease.
(V.ii.140–183)
8 Quotes cont.
"Is this not well? Come, my sweet Kate. / Better
once than never, for never too late" (V.i.130–
131).
 Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth
… But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
(V.ii.169–172)
 "We three are married, but you two are sped"
(V.ii.189).
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Characters list
Katherine or Kate- The “shrew” in the
book’s title, daughter of Batista Minola
with who she lives with in Padua.
 Petruccio- In hunt for a rich girl for him to
marry and finds Kate and says she the
perfect match even doe they warn him of
her shrewish ness.
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Character list cont.
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Bianca- The younger daughter of Batista and he wont let
her wed till Kate does.
Batista Minola- one of the wealthiest men in Padua. His
daugthers are a big prey for the dowries he can offer.
Lucentio - A young student from Pisa, Lucentio comes
to Padua to study at the city's renowned university, but
he is immediately sidetracked when he falls in love with
Bianca at first sight. By disguising himself as a classics
instructor named Cambio, he convinces Gremio to offer
him to Baptista as a tutor for Bianca. He wins her love,
but his impersonation gets him into trouble when his
father, Vincentio, visits Padua.
Characters cont
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Tranio - Lucentio's servant. Tranio accompanies
Lucentio from Pisa he bargains with Baptista for Bianca's
hand.
Gremio and Hortensio - Two gentlemen of Padua.
Gremio and Hortensio are Bianca's suitors at the
beginning of the play. Though they are rivals, these older
men also become friends during their mutual frustration
with and rejection by Bianca. Hortensio directs Petruccio
to Kate and then dresses up as a music instructor to
court Bianca. He and Gremio are both restain in their
efforts by Lucentio. Hortensio ends up marrying a
widow.
Character’s cont
Grumio - Petruccio's servant and the dork of
the play
 Biondello - Lucentio's second servant, who
assists his master and Tranio in carrying out
their plot.
 Christopher Sly - The principal character in the
play's brief Induction, Sly is a drunken tinker,
tricked by a mischievous nobleman into thinking
that he is really a lord.
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S.C. Literati Critic
The Taming of the Shrew is a good book. It’s a good book because it keeps you
entertained from start to finish. In the beginning with the trick played on Christopher
Sly and in the end with Kate’s and Petruccio’s hustle. The book make you believe
that Kate and Petruccio hustle the others of their money because Lucentio implies
that Kate, in the end, allowed herself to be tamed Quote "'Tis a wonder, by your
leave, she will be tamed so" (V.ii.193). Perhaps Lucentio implies that Kate and
Petruccio planned the wager, and that they worked as a team to dupe the others out
of their money. In this book you find out the power of disguises. Although this book
implies that a person could be change due to some taming. I believe him because
white settlers tamed their slaves to be loyal just like in the book Kate is tamed to be
loyal. However in this story the induction plays an important role in the story
because he compares Christopher Sly to Kate. Shakespeare forces us to question
whether the clothing actually does influence the person within. For example he
compare her with Christopher Sly because he is made believe to be a lord by the way
they dress him and he acts differently because people listen to him and he has some
power. Is it the same today do your peers give to some amount of respect by the way
you are dress? Do you feel better about yourself when your dress nice? Maybe
Shakespeare was right your clothes do influence how you feel about your self.