Step inside The Taming of the Shrew

The film without the cuts. And the book itself.

Everyone is acting; some are forced to keep the role.

9:41

The Cast

Katherina Minola

Main · Minola household

A sharp-tongued daughter is made the obstacle every suitor wants removed.

Locations

The alehouse on the heath

alehouse exterior / heath

A drunk tinker sleeps in the dirt while a bored lord decides to make him a nobleman.

Passage

Drunk on pride, Sly dares the law and refuses to pay a farthing.

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The Author’s Pen

Sly Refuses To Pay

SLY. Y’are a baggage; the Slys are no rogues; look in the chronicles: we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore, _paucas pallabris_; let the world slide. Sessa! HOSTESS. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst? SLY. No, not a denier. Go by, Saint Jeronimy, go to thy cold bed and warm thee. HOSTESS. I know my remedy; I must go fetch the third-borough.

Reading

Sly's grand defense of his family honor falls apart in his own mouth. Reaching for pedigree, he claims the Slys "came in with Richard Conqueror," welding two kings into one nobody, and his scraps of Spanish and his misremembered "Saint Jeronimy" are all borrowed grandeur mangled by drink. This is the drunken tinker who opens the play, brawling with an alehouse hostess. She ignores every flourish and asks the one thing he can't dodge: will he pay for the broken glasses? His swagger about chronicles and letting "the world slide" means nothing next to her flat exit line about fetching the constable.

World Index

The Plot

The InductionBaptista's Two DaughtersPetruchio Woos KateThe Mad WeddingThe TamingThe Wager

The Cast

Katherina MinolaPetruchioBianca MinolaLucentioTranioBaptista MinolaChristopher SlyThe LordHortensioGremioGrumioBiondelloVincentioThe PedantThe WidowThe Page as Sly’s wifeThe HostessCurtisThe TailorThe HaberdasherThe Players

Locations

Baptista’s houseLucentio’s house and banquet roomPaduaPetruchio’s country houseThe alehouse on the heathThe church of Katherina and Petruchio’s weddingThe Lord’s bedchamberThe public roadThe street before Hortensio’s house

Objects of Note

Bianca’s books and instrumentsLucentio and Tranio’s exchanged clothingPetruchio’s wedding clothesThe cap and gownThe meat dish

Core Concepts

Comic performance exposes rather than erases crueltyHousehold order depends on reputations that the play keeps unsettlingIdentity becomes believable when everyone performs itLearning becomes a mask for courtship and deceptionMarriage is negotiated as transaction and enforced as possessionObedience is staged before an audience, not simply felt in privateWho controls the words controls the world

The Author's Pen

The Beggar Forgets HimselfSly Believes He Is a LordMy Lord And HusbandA Comedy for MirthPlunging Into The DeepNo Bianca Before KatherinaNo Mates For YouContent in DiscontentLucentio Confesses His LoveMaster and Servant ExchangedWiving It WealthilyA Husband or a DevilWhom Thou Lovst BestBorn To Tame YouThe Wedding Day SettledBianca Construes the LessonBianca Chooses Her LessonPoor Katherine Pointed AtPetruchio in Ragged GearThe Mad Brained BridegroomPetruchio Claims His BridePetruchio Berates the ServantsFasting for CompanyA Wife Killed With KindnessI Will SpeakMaking A Puppet Of MeSchooling the False FatherMoon Or Blessed SunMaking A Woman Of HimDeny Him Or ElseLucentio Reveals HimselfShe Cannot ComeFetch Them HitherLove, Fair Looks, Obedience

Plot point 01

The Induction

A drunken tinker is tricked into believing he is a lord, and a troupe performs a play for him — the whole comedy that follows.

Objects of Note

Lucentio and Tranio’s exchanged clothing

Put on the master's cloak and the whole town treats you as a gentleman.

The Cast

Petruchio

Main · Veronese gentleman

A bridegroom arrives to marry wealth and calls command a form of care.

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The Taming of the Shrew

William Shakespeare

The cast, locations, objects of note, core concepts, and selected passages in the Author’s Pen - at your own pace.

One of 127 classics in the Literah library

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