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.
Introduction to The Taming of the
Shrew
•Shrew = a sharp-tempered scolding woman
•Impossible to date the play exactly but
evidence marks it as one of Shakespeare’s
earliest comedies (most likely written in the
late 1580’s or early 1590’s).
•Written 8-10 years before Much Ado about
Nothing (often compared with Shrew)
•The primary plot, the story of Katherine
and Petruchio, finds its roots in folk tales
and songs common in Shakespeare’s day.
•In fact, while growing up, Shakespeare was
surrounded by a very public debate over the
nature of women, including specific
arguments on a woman’s duty and role in
marriage and family.
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.
Sources of the play
•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:
•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)
Sources of the play
•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.
The idea of Love, Sex and Marriage
during the 17th Century
•The term ‘family’ commonly used in the
Renaissance to denote a household (including
servants) and in this age the law regarded women
‘as either married or to be married’ to be in one
•It is quite common for girls to married at the age
of 12 and boys at 14 in the 16th century (a
practice less tolerated during Shakespeare’s time)
•Hence courtship and matrimony involved
emotional and personal significance as well as
prime public importance
•Nonetheless entry into a married state was not
as rigidly controlled as one assumed
•Girls and boys are allowed to be married once
they reach their teen and parental consent is not
required
•Regardless of where Shakespeare drew the basis
for the text, the fact remains that he masterfully
presents us with a well-founded, carefully
developed drama.
Marriage in the Renaissance
England
Marriage statistics indicate that the mean marriage
age for the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras was
higher than many people realize. Data taken from
birthdates of women and marriage certificates
reveals mean marriage ages to have been as follows:
1566-1619
1647-1719
1719-1779
1770-1837
- 27.0 years
- 29.6 years
- 26.8 years
- 25.1 years
The marriage age of men was probably the same or a
bit older than that of women. (In 1619, it was about 23
for women, 26 for men.) The age of consent was 12
for a girl, 14 for a boy, but for most children puberty
came two or three years later than it does today.
Oddly enough, there seems to be a period in the late
sixteenth century when the mean marriage age of
women in and around the area of Stratford-on- Avon
dropped as low as 21 years: the mean marriage age
from 1580 to 1589 was about 20.6 years, and it was in
this decade that Shakespeare, at the age of eighteen,
married Anne Hathaway.
The reason for late marriage among labourers and the middle
class was simple enough: it took a long time for a couple to
acquire enough belongings to set up housekeeping, even in a
room of their parents' home.
Young love, however romantic, had to be kept in check if the
two lovers were to survive in a world where subsistence earnings
would not purchase a roof over their heads and put food on the
table.
Children of noble birth ran a great risk if they tried to marry
without the approval of their parents, since they would be left
without resources.
Induction in the play
The INDUCTION scene which originated in the
story “The Sleeper Awakened” from The Arabian
Nights, a story popular in the 16th Century.
•The induction (part of the play which lies
outside, but leads into, the main action) of the
play also has its roots in popular debate.
•Although inductions were common in 16th and
17th dramas, Shrew is the only play in which
Shakespeare features this framing device.
For the Shrew’s induction, Shakespeare features the tale of a
beggar who finds himself mysteriously in power in a rich
man’s world.
Regardless of where Shakespeare drew the basis for the text,
the fact remains that he masterfully presents us with a wellfounded, carefully developed drama.
Shakespeare’s addition:
front of an alehouse – this is where the nobleman or lord
found Christopher Sly
bedroom in the house of a lord – this is where the lord let the
Sly sleep
Setting
The play takes place in various locations in…
Padua - Padua is in northern Italy on the Bacchiglione
River. Padua is about 30 miles west of Venice. This is
where the Minola’s house is located.
Verona - this is where Petruchio came from.
Pisa – this is where Lucentio came from
at a house in the nearby countryside
Katharina and Petruchio lived.
- this where
Characters appearing in the Induction:
Christopher Sly – a drunken tinker
A Lord – landowner who plays a trick to
Christopher Sly.
Bartholomew – A page boy (servant)
Acting Troupe
Protagonist of the story:
Katherina (Kate) Minola – the "shrew" of the title, a
sharp-tongued, quick-tempered, and prone to violence,
particularly against anyone who tries to marry her.
Petruchio – (son of Antonio) a friend of Hortensio and
a suitor of Katherina, came from Verona and went to
Padua to try his fortune there because his father,
Antonio, just passed away.
Major Characters
Baptista Minola – father of Katherina and Bianca
Bianca – sister of Katherina, Bianca means “white” and indeed she
is whiter that her sister.
Lucentio – came from Pisa and went to Padua to pursue his
education but then he fall in love with Bianca and soon became one
of the suitors of Bianca
Gremio – elderly suitor of Bianca
Hortensio – suitor of Bianca and friend to Petruchio
Cambio - Lucentio disguised as a Greek and Latin Tutor
Licio – Hortensio disguised as a Music and Mathematics Tutor
Minor Characters
Vincentio – father of Lucentio
A widow
Servants to Petruchio
Nicholas
Curtis
Nathaniel
Philip
Joseph
Peter
Servants of Lucentio:
Tranio
Biondello
Structure
In The Taming of the Shrew, the story of Christopher
Sly is the frame. (Larger story surrounding an internal
story)
 The five-act play, presented before Sly by an acting
troupe, is the inner story.
The play has two story lines:
• the main plot, involving Petruchio and Katharina
• the subplot, involving Bianca and her suitors
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.