The Taming of the Shrew is a play written by the famous William Shakespear. It is a play in a play! The Taming of the Shrew starts out with a nobleman who tricks a drunk tinker into believing he is a nobleman himself, and has a play performed to distract the tinker. And this is how the play goes.
There was once a rich wealthy man who had two contrasting like daughters. The older daughter, Katherine, (Kate) was a very loud and masterful person, also referred as the shrew while the younger daughter Bianca, was a sweet natural and kind girl who had many suitors. Seeing that Bianca had many suitors while Kate having none, the father made an announcement that Bianca would not be married until Kate is married. Hearing this, Gremio and Hortensio, (Bianca’ suitors) seeks for a man that could marry Kate.
While searching, they come upon a man named Petruchio, who is willing to marry Kate. This is the words which were spoken when Kate and Petruchio met.
PETRUCHIO. Good morrow, Kate- for that’s your name, I hear.
KATHERINA. Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing: They call me Katherine that do talk of me.
PETRUCHIO. You lie, in faith, for you are call’d plain Kate, And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst; But, Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom, Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate, For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate, Take this of me, Kate of my consolation- Hearing thy mildness prais’d in every town, Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded, Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs, Myself am mov’d to woo thee for my wife.
KATHERINA. Mov’d! in good time! Let him that mov’d you hither Remove you hence. I knew you at the first You were a moveable.
PETRUCHIO. Why, what’s a moveable?
KATHERINA. A join’d-stool.
PETRUCHIO. Thou hast hit it. Come, sit on me.
KATHERINA. Asses are made to bear, and so are you.
PETRUCHIO. Women are made to bear, and so are you.
KATHERINA. No such jade as you, if me you mean.
PETRUCHIO. Alas, good Kate, I will not burden thee! For, knowing thee to be but young and light-
KATHERINA. Too light for such a swain as you to catch; And yet as heavy as my weight should be.
PETRUCHIO. Should be! should- buzz!
KATHERINA. Well ta’en, and like a buzzard.
PETRUCHIO. O, slow-wing’d turtle, shall a buzzard take thee?
KATHERINA. Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard.
PETRUCHIO. Come, come, you wasp; i’ faith, you are too angry.
KATHERINA. If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
PETRUCHIO. My remedy is then to pluck it out.
KATHERINA. Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.
PETRUCHIO. Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting? In his tail.
KATHERINA. In his tongue.
PETRUCHIO. Whose tongue?
KATHERINA. Yours, if you talk of tales; and so farewell.
PETRUCHIO. What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.
KATHERINA. That I’ll try. [She strikes him]
PETRUCHIO. I swear I’ll cuff you, if you strike again.
KATHERINA. So may you lose your arms. If you strike me, you are no gentleman; And if no gentleman, why then no arms.
PETRUCHIO. A herald, Kate? O, put me in thy books!
KATHERINA. What is your crest- a coxcomb?
PETRUCHIO. A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen.
KATHERINA. No cock of mine: you crow too like a craven.
PETRUCHIO. Nay, come, Kate, come; you must not look so sour.
KATHERINA. It is my fashion, when I see a crab. bWhy, here’s no crab; and therefore look not sour.
KATHERINA. There is, there is.
PETRUCHIO. Then show it me.
KATHERINA. Had I a glass I would.
PETRUCHIO. What, you mean my face?
KATHERINA. Well aim’d of such a young one.
PETRUCHIO. Now, by Saint George, I am too young for you.
KATHERINA. Yet you are wither’d.
PETRUCHIO. ‘Tis with cares.
KATHERINA. I care not.
PETRUCHIO. Nay, hear you, Kate- in sooth, you scape not so.
KATHERINA. I chafe you, if I tarry; let me go.
PETRUCHIO. No, not a whit; I find you passing gentle. ‘Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen, And now I find report a very liar; For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous, But slow in speech, yet sweet as springtime flowers. Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance, Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will, Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk; But thou with mildness entertain’st thy wooers; With gentle conference, soft and affable. Why does the world report that Kate doth limp? O sland’rous world! Kate like the hazel-twig Is straight and slender, and as brown in hue As hazel-nuts, and sweeter than the kernels. O, let me see thee walk. Thou dost not halt.
KATHERINA. Go, fool, and whom thou keep’st command.
PETRUCHIO. Did ever Dian so become a grove As Kate this chamber with her princely gait? O, be thou Dian, and let her be Kate; And then let Kate be chaste, and Dian sportful! KATHERINA. Where did you study all this goodly speech?
PETRUCHIO. It is extempore, from my mother wit.
KATHERINA. A witty mother! witless else her son.
PETRUCHIO. Am I not wise?
KATHERINA. Yes, keep you warm.
PETRUCHIO. Marry, so I mean, sweet Katherine, in thy bed. And therefore, setting all this chat aside, 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.
Kate’s father accepts this, and Kate and Petruchio gets married. Although Kate is happy with Petruchio, she does not know what will be taking place for the next few days.
Petruchio puts on a fake mask making Kate starve, and not letting her sleep for a whole night. And a few more of Kate’s complaint about Petruchio.
GRUMIO. No, no, forsooth; I dare not for my life.
KATHERINA. The more my wrong, the more his spite appears. What, did he marry me to famish me? Beggars that come unto my father’s door Upon entreaty have a present alms; If not, elsewhere they meet with charity; But I, who never knew how to entreat, Nor never needed that I should entreat, Am starv’d for meat, giddy for lack of sleep; With oaths kept waking, and with brawling fed; And that which spites me more than all these wants- He does it under name of perfect love; As who should say, if I should sleep or eat, ‘Twere deadly sickness or else present death.
After many days, Kate and Petruchio are invited to come to Bianca’s wedding. The groom was a man named Lucentio. Hortensio, being one of Bianca’s suitors, gave up on Bianca for she did not care for him.
In the end, the consequences of doing all the horrible stuff to Kate, Petruchio now has a wife that is very calm and does whatever anybody says, and that is Katherina. In the end, they live happily ever after.