The Taming of the Shrew (New Folger Library Shakespeare)

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The Taming of the Shrew (New Folger Library Shakespeare)

by William Shakespeare, Paul Werstine

3.79 · rating details · 34,650 ratings · 791 reviews

Renowned as Shakespeare's most boisterous comedy, The Taming of the Shrew is the tale of two young men -- the hopeful Lucentio and the worldly Petruchio -- and the two sisters they meet in Padua. Lucentio falls in love with Bianca, the apparently ideal younger daughter of the wealthy Baptista Minola. But before they can marry, Bianca's formidable elder sister, Katheri...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published November 5th 2002 by Washington Square Press (first published 1590)

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Jan 18, 2009

Madeline rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: shakespeare

The Taming of the Shrew, abridged.

PETRUCHIO: Hey Mr Minola, I wanna marry your daughter. The fact that she comes included with an awesome dowry has nothing to do with this.

BAPTISTA: Oh, I'm sorry, I have this jackass rule that my daughter Bianca can't get married until her evil older sister does, so...

PETRUCHIO: No, I want to marry the Kate chick. My friends tell me she's a ballbusting bitch - a "shrew", if you will - and I love a challenge.

...more

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Nov 05, 2007

Lydia rated it

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Shelves: plays

Lucentio: Hey, I'm Lucentio. Who's that hot girl?
Bianca: That would be me. And hotness is about all I have going for me. Because I only have about 5 lines.
Lucentio: Wanna have sex get married?
Baptista: I'm her father, you whippersnapper. Get in line. She can't get married until her older sister does.
Lucentio: Who's that?
Katherina: ROAR! GNASH! GNARL! I don't want to get married, but I live in Elizabethan England so I must. I also have a violent streak and bea...more

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Aug 26, 2010

Adrienne rated it

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Shelves: dd, my-classics

This is quite possibly my favourite Shakespeare play and one that I come back to time and time again although not on a regular basis sometimes it's months or in this caes a couple of years. I love it for it's humour and the way the relationship develops between Petruchio and Katharine,and I love the way Katharine eventually submits.

For me this is not a sexist play I read it and enjoy it for what it is, the submission of a woman to her husband:)

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Feb 25, 2008

Jeanette rated it

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Shelves: classics, plays, all-fiction

I'd have to say this is one of my less favorite of Shakespeare's works, although it's a lot more fun to see it performed than to read it, since you can get a better idea of the absurdity of all the impersonations.
As a modern woman, I'm a bit put off by the way Petruchio "tames" Kate by what really amounts to abuse ---refusing her food and sleep. Also, the speech Kate makes at the end is a little far-fetched, as if she has magically been transformed into this perfect example of th...more

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Jun 01, 2008

Rachel rated it

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Shelves: plays

I heard once that 'The Taming of the Shrew' is a book that you either love or hate. I'm somewhere in between (how's that for decisive).
It's amazingly fun to see a nasty tempered woman learn obedience, though I do like to think at least a bit of her 'attitude' is still there, otherwise the play would be a tragedy, about a woman whose spirit was broken (like a horses?) However, that less than flattering depiction is not what I saw happening, it seemed more of a lesson for the 'feminists' of ...more

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Aug 09, 2011

Emily Snyder rated it

· review of another edition

I must admit that my rating of the play is based in large part on having directed a version of "Shrew" in 2010 that ranks among my all-time favorite play performances. (You can see the wooing scene here: http://youtu.be/xaebQOnnHMU. There are difficulties in the text. It's an early work, possibly written before Shakespeare had ever worked with actors, since it allows not time off for Petruchio in Act IV as well as several other amateur mistakes.

Most egregious, though, is...more

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Jul 22, 2011

David Sarkies rated it

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Shelves: comedy

This is a very difficult play for us modern minds to come to grips with, though when one approaches this play one does need to consider that this play would have been difficult to stomach for the original theatre goers as well, however, if one does some research into the literature upon which this play is based, one can see that (pardon the pun) this play is quite tame compared to its sources. The source that I am referring to is a poem by Hugh Jackson, written in about 1550, entitled “Here Beg...more This is a very difficult play for us modern minds to come to grips with, though when one approaches this play one does need to consider that this play would have been difficult to stomach for the original theatre goers as well, however, if one does some research into the literature upon which this play is based, one can see that (pardon the pun) this play is quite tame compared to its sources. The source that I am referring to is a poem by Hugh Jackson, written in about 1550, entitled “Here Begynneth a Merry Jest of a Shrewde and Curste Wyfe, Lapped in Morelles Skin, for Her Good Behavyour”. In this poem the Shrew is beaten and kicked by her husband and then tied up and wrapped in a mule skin to cure her of her shrewdishness.
Having finally found a person that feels as uncomfortable about this play as I do, it is interesting to note that both the characters of Katherina and Petruchio are both uncomfortable, in that Kate is an obnoxious and violent person (as is seen at the beginning of the play as she drags her sister onto stage and begins to beat her) which Petruchio, while not beating her, starves her and forbids her sleep until she submits. This is not really acceptable behaviour, in our modern world, but was it acceptable in Shakespeares' time? Probably not, but in those days domestic violence (which includes psychological manipulation) would pass unpunished.
I believe Shakespeare wants us to be uncomfortable because a lot of his plays, especially the tragedies, are designed to make us uncomfortable. Take the Scottish play for example. We deal with a man who ascends the throne by killing the king, and then proceeds to murder everybody that could be a threat to his power. Then there is Othello, in which a very evil man goes about his task to destroying the life of the tragic hero (and I mention these two plays because both of them made me very uncomfortable when I first watched them).
Could one consider this to be a form of social criticism? Quite possibly, but the uncomfortable action within The Shrew has spawned a number of plays that attempt to tone down the uncomfortable aspects and make it appear that neither character is as bad as the play makes it out to be, or treats Kate as taking Petruchio for a ride. It is interesting that Germaine Greer offers her support for the play (as do quite a number of women I would have expected to have been offended). In some cases I guess we are hesitant to criticise Shakespeare on such anti-social conduct, or we simply try to lock it away into the past and simply say 'that is what it was like back then.' Personally, I think that is a cop out.
I don't think Petruchio is as bad as is suggested, though at the beginning he does manipulate Kate into marrying him. This is done simply by talking over her, and while she tries to object, all of the male characters push her to one side and and accept Petruchio's statement about marriage. Does Petruchio love Kate? Possibly, though Greer does suggest that for a shrew like Kate, Petruchio is really the only man for her, though he is brought into the play to assist Bianca's suitors to get married, as Baptista does not want to marry Bianca off until Kate is married. Some productions trying to make it appear that Kate still has her sharp wit and is really in control, but that seems to undermine the entire theme of the play. In the end, this is a very hard play to come to grips with, but like many of Shakespeare's works, it is still a masterpiece.
I'll finish off quoting George Bernard Shaw: the last scene is altogether disgusting to modern sensibility. No man with any decency of feeling can sit it out in the company of a woman without being extremely ashamed of the lord-of-creation moral implied in the wager and the speech put into the woman's own mouth. (1897)(less)

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Jul 08, 2011

Edward rated it

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TAMING OF THE SHREW - not one of my favorite Shakespeare plays nor one of his best works. It reminded me of MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR, Shakespeare showing off in a set piece what he could do with a "character". Of course, we know Falstaff already, and MERRY WIVES in which he is the main character, is a sequel to the great Henry IV and Henry V plays In SHREW, Kate is quickly set up as the "shrew", averse to smart-ass men, especially ones with marriage on their minds.
...more

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Apr 13, 2011

Brittini Smith added it · review of another edition

"The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare is one of Shakespeare's more fun plays. It's easier to understand than most of his other plays and it was adapted into the film "10 Things I Hate About You," making it more modern and relatable. it's about two sisters, Katherine and Bianca, whose father won't let Bianca marry until her older sister does. However, Katherine is detestable and many would call her a 'shrew.' Lucentio, like many other men, is in love with Bianca and...more

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Jun 24, 2010

Andrew MacIntire rated it

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This was the first Shakespeare play I read, and thus it holds a special place in my heart like no other work of literature. It is not his best piece by any means - neither his greatest achievement nor his most uproarious comedy – but it succeeds admirably at its intentions. It features delightful characters and madcap hi-jinks that really should appeal to any audience, even those not familiar with Renaissance drama. Indeed, it would be my first recommendation for those who aren’t familiar wit...more

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Jun 17, 2010

Rinchen added it · review of another edition

This is a comedy play by Shakespeare, and is about the love and courting of Katherine by Petruchio. Petruchio is from Verona and is a pretty well rounded gentleman, while Katherine is more of the rough and tough woman contrary to what we believe of woman from the 1500s. Before leading to this main romance focus, we also experience Bianca, Katherine’s sister, who is the prettier one, and how she gets all the suitors, forming competition between the two siblings.
Analysis of a Plot:
One...more

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Jun 04, 2010

Rowland Bismark rated it

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The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These characteristics include lighthearted and slapstick humor, disguises and deception, and a happy ending in which most of the characters come out satisfied. The lightheartedness of these romantic comedies contrasts sharply with the darker humor and deeper characterization of Shakespeare’s...moreThe Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, and it shares many essential characteristics with his other romantic comedies, such as Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. These characteristics include lighthearted and slapstick humor, disguises and deception, and a happy ending in which most of the characters come out satisfied. The lightheartedness of these romantic comedies contrasts sharply with the darker humor and deeper characterization of Shakespeare’s later plays, both comic and tragic. The youthfulness of the playwright can be seen in the whimsical spirit of the early plays. Like the other romantic comedies, The Taming of the Shrew focuses on courtship and marriage, but, unlike most of them, it devotes a great deal of attention to married life after the wedding. The other comedies usually conclude with the wedding ceremony itself.

A play focusing on the concerns of married life would have seemed particularly relevant to English audiences of the Renaissance period. Theirs was a society concerned with marriage in general, thanks in part to Henry VIII’s separation of England from the Catholic Church in 1534 in order to secure a divorce that the pope had refused to grant him. Henry’s troubles highlight one important aspect of Elizabethan marriages among the upper class: they were most often arranged for money, land, or power, rather than for love. Moreover, unless you were the king of England, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries offered few ways out of an unhappy marriage. Thus, the resolution of marital disputes became an important topic in the popular literature of the era.

Of particular worry to this society were “shrews” or “scolds”—that is, cantankerous or gossipy wives, who resisted or undermined the assumed authority of the husband within a marriage. A large number of sermons, plays, and pamphlets of the time address related topics: the taming of shrews by their husbands or the public punishment of scolds by, for example, repeatedly dunking them in a river. Part of this body of literature took a very diplomatic attitude toward women, although much of it was extremely misogynistic. In some of this literature, it is difficult to distinguish between behavior that is being parodied and behavior that is presented as an ideal. This ambiguity may also be found in The Taming of the Shrew, which manages to lampoon chauvinistic behavior while simultaneously reaffirming its social validity. The play celebrates the quick wit and fiery spirit of its heroine even while reveling in her humiliation.

IN THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE, a poor tinker named Christopher Sly becomes the target of a prank by a local lord. Finding Sly drunk out of his wits in front of an alehouse, the lord has his men take Sly to his manor, dress him in his finery, and treat him as a lord. When Sly recovers, the men tell him that he is a lord and that he only believes himself to be a tinker because he has been insane for the past several years. Waking in the lord’s bed, Sly at first refuses to accept the men’s story, but when he hears of his “wife,” a pageboy dressed in women’s clothing, he readily agrees that he is the lord they purport him to be. Sly wants to be left alone with his wife, but the servants tell him that a troupe of actors has arrived to present a play for him. The play that Sly watches makes up the main story of The Taming of the Shrew.

As a romantic comedy, the play focuses principally on the romantic relationships between men and women as they develop from initial interest into marriage. In this respect, the play is a typical romantic comedy. However, unlike other Shakespearean comedies, The Taming of the Shrew does not conclude its examination of love and marriage with the wedding. Rather, it offers a significant glimpse into the future lives of married couples, one that serves to round out its exploration of the social dimension of love.

Unlike in Romeo and Juliet, inner emotional desire plays only a secondary role in The Taming of the Shrew’s exploration of love. Instead,The Taming of the Shrew emphasizes the economic aspects of marriage—specifically, how economic considerations determine who marries whom. The play tends to explore romantic relationships from a social perspective, addressing the institutions of courtship and marriage rather than the inner passions of lovers. Moreover, the play focuses on how courtship affects not just the lovers themselves, but also their parents, their servants, and their friends. In general, while the husband and the wife conduct the marriage relationship after the wedding, the courtship relationship is negotiated between the future husband and the father of the future wife. As such, marriage becomes a transaction involving the transfer of money. Lucentio wins Bianca’s heart, but he is given permission to marry her only after he is able to convince Baptista that he is fabulously rich. Had Hortensio offered more money, he would have married Bianca, regardless of whether she loved Lucentio.

Each person in the play occupies a specific social position that carries with it certain expectations about how that person should behave. A character’s social position is defined by such things as his or her wealth, age, gender, profession, parentage, and education; the rules governing how each of them should behave are harshly enforced by family, friends, and society as a whole. For instance, Lucentio occupies the social role of a wealthy young student, Tranio that of a servant, and Bianca and Katherine the roles of upper-class young maidens-in-waiting. At the very least, they are supposed to occupy these roles—but, as the play shows, in reality, Kate wants nothing to do with her social role, and her shrewishness results directly from her frustration concerning her position. Because she does not live up to the behavioral expectations of her society, she faces the cold disapproval of that society, and, due to her alienation, she becomes miserably unhappy. Kate is only one of the many characters in The Taming of the Shrew who attempt to circumvent or deny their socially defined roles, however: Lucentio transforms himself into a working-class Latin tutor, Tranio transforms himself into a wealthy young aristocrat, Christopher Sly is transformed from a tinker into a lord, and so forth.

Disguise figures prominently in The Taming of the Shrew: Sly dresses as a lord, Lucentio dresses as a Latin tutor, Tranio dresses as Lucentio, Hortensio dresses as a music tutor, and the pedant dresses as Vincentio. These disguises enable the characters to transgress barriers in social position and class, and, for a time, each of them is successful. The play thus poses the question of whether clothes make the man—that is, whether a person can change his or her role by putting on new clothes. The ultimate answer is no, of course. In The Taming of the Shrew, society involves a web of antecedents that are always able to uncover one’s true nature, no matter how differently one wishes to portray oneself. Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, needs only to bump into Vincentio, and his true identity surfaces. As Petruchio implies on his wedding day, a garment is simply a garment, and the person beneath remains the same no matter what disguise is worn.

Compared with Katherine’s more serious anguish about her role, the other characters’ attempts to circumvent social expectations seem like harmless fun. However, the play illustrates that each transformation must be undone before conventional life can resume at the end of the play. Ultimately, society’s happiness depends upon everyone playing his or her prescribed roles. Through the motif of disguise, the play entertains the idea that a person’s apparel determines his or her social position, but it ultimately affirms that this is not the case. A servant may put on the clothes of a lord, but he remains a servant, one who must return to his place, as we see with Tranio. Likewise, Lucentio must reveal his subterfuge to his father and to Baptista before moving forward with Bianca. Kate’s development over the course of the play is basically determined by her gradual adaptation to her new social role as wife. She complies with Petruchio’s humiliating regimen of taming because she knows on some level that, whether she likes the role of wife or not, she will be happier accepting her social obligations than living as she has been at odds with everyone connected to her. In fact, the primary excitement in The Taming of the Shrew stems from its permeable social boundaries, crisscrossed continually by those who employ a disguise or a clever lie. In the end, however, the conventional order reestablishes itself, and those characters who harmonize with that order achieve personal happiness.(less)

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Apr 16, 2010

Bruce rated it

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A play within a play. Act I, Scene 1 uses familiar devices of an elder daughter needing to be married before the younger, and the exchange of identities to gain access to the beloved. In this case, the elder daughter is Katherine, the “shrew,” and the younger is Bianca, loved by several men.

This is indeed a “problem play.” Is one to see it simply as demonstrating the gender roles of the time in which it was written? Is it a satire? Petruccio makes no secret at the beginning that...more

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Apr 13, 2010

Jenny rated it

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Shelves: classics

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 23, 2010

Max rated it

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Shelves: 2010, plays, shakespeare

Whatever. The Shrew is totally great. But everyone has a different reading of this play, and you see what you want to see and ignore the rest. I look at it (and I would) as the birth of a great sadomasochistic relationship. The scenes between Kate and Petruchio are gold, and there's a subtext underneath it all that I think puts them on the same page. In the end, I think Kate obeys Petruchio because she likes it, because he has the balls to challenge her in absurd ways. It's altogether poss...more

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Oct 11, 2009

LeAnn rated it

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Recommends it for: Anyone looking for smart romantic comedy

[Note: I read a version from an anthology that I used in college, but I wanted to identify the particular play and not the anthology so I picked what I thought would be a good edition of it.]

There seems little point in writing a review of Shakespeare. Rather, I'll write about my continued and increasing appreciation for his work as a whole, and The Taming of the Shrew in particular. I'm of the school of thought that it's necessary to read some critical background before diving into S...more[Note: I read a version from an anthology that I used in college, but I wanted to identify the particular play and not the anthology so I picked what I thought would be a good edition of it.]

There seems little point in writing a review of Shakespeare. Rather, I'll write about my continued and increasing appreciation for his work as a whole, and The Taming of the Shrew in particular. I'm of the school of thought that it's necessary to read some critical background before diving into Shakespeare, and this seems especially true with Shrew because (according to the introduction in my edition anyway), modern productions often show Petruchio literally beating Kate into submission. Reading the introduction shows the irony of this given that one of Shakespeare's sources has a husband beating his shrewish wife until she faints from bleeding and then wrapping her in a salted skin flayed from an old horse until she is "revived" (and obviously broken).

Also, while some of the conventions of married life that are portrayed are dated, we can in no way legitimately dismiss Shakespeare as an oppressive misogynist unenlightened with feminist principles. Background material enables the modern reader to see Petruchio and Kate as engaged in the classic "battle of the sexes" in which Petruchio is tamed as much as Kate. It also helps to understand that medieval/Renaissance wives often held power in marriage, albeit power that wore modesty and used manipulation instead of outright command. Rather than a "feminist" reading, we'd do better with a "humanist" one.

Finally, Shakespeare plays with the concept of identity in the play, something that I would have overlooked if it hadn't been pointed out to me in the introduction. While reading, therefore, I was on the lookout for how Petruchio describes an idealized Kate, helping her to break free from her shrew identity by believing better of herself. This is subtle reverse psychology that I know many parents use with their high-spirited children (re: misbehaving brats).

I rather enjoyed listening to an audio production while simultaneously reading the text. Skillful acting does much to bring out the farce and playfulness that might otherwise not come across in the text. Even better, I'm following up my reading by watching DVD and stage productions.(less)

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May 06, 2009

Karen rated it

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Shelves: re-read, poetry

I just re-read this with the idea of the relationship between Kate and Petrucchio being an abusive one, an idea proposed by Laurie Maguire in her book "Where There's a Will, There's a Way, or, All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Shakespeare." Sadly, I have to conclude that it is indeed an abusive relationship. Petrucchio is concerned to marry a rich wife and to tame her to be pleasant to live with. He uses falconry terms when talking about Kate, and how he intends to train her....more

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Jul 19, 2011

Lucille rated it

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I had a hard time rating this play. Part of me said 4 stars, the other said 2, and while a logical part of my brain said to average and go for 3, I didn't want to compromise, because each rating had its reasons.
When I started reading the play, I was almost surprised that I was literally laughing as I was reading it. Among all of the faults, it is very funny, and there is a lot of very fast paced, witty banter between the characters, especially when Kate is involved. That brings me to why ...more

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Feb 03, 2011

ben rated it

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I read this not only because I like Shakespeare, but I'm a big fan of "10 Things I Hate About You." I mean, who isn't? I must have seen the movie well over a hundred times by now. After reading the play, I gotta say I was a little surprised. I knew the movie wouldn't be even close to accurate, but there was one big change I didn't expect. While in the movie Heath Ledger "tames" the shrew Julia Stiles with things like openness, kindness, persistence, kisses and paintball,...more

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Apr 19, 2010

Mitchell rated it

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Reading this is in preparation for what promises to be a ghastly production at Chicago Shakespeare.

I am struck by how early a play this seems to me. It feels very Commedia dell'Arte - not that that is a bad thing! It reminds me of how The Barber of Seville seems so formulaic compared to some of the later Rossini comedies.

Most telling scene of the play: Katharina and Petrucchio watching from the wings while the whole business about Lucentio's father unravels.

T...more

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Oct 17, 2011

Deanie rated it

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I suppose I approached this text with a very naive viewpoint. I was hoping for 10 Things I Hate About You. What I got was (as one reviewer put it) a tale depicting how Guantanamo Bay-like torture tactics can be used to "tame" a wife. I tried not to be horrified by the amusing slant the text tried to give to such a plot, but despite my more scholarly inclinations, I was, simply, annoyed and distressed. I understand that the play must be taken into context and it is bursting with so ...more

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May 09, 2011

Jason added it · review of another edition

An interesting play, more cruel than misogynistic, that I can't quite bring myself to love.

There is a lot of fascinating material in this complicated, problematic play. Of course, there's the Induction for starters, and whatever Shakespeares's reasons for including it, it does seem to set up the rest nicely, even if it's hard to pinpoint why. Does its touch of cruelty and manipulation foreshadow what we are soon to witness in Padua? By her refusal of his advances, is Christopher Sly's ...more

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Dec 20, 2011

Bishope rated it

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Loved it! I read the play in high school and I got sooo much more out of it this time around (although it didn't hurt to have the cliff note version by my side as well, ha-ha). I think Shakespeare had such a fantastic understanding of relationships and how people tick. It is fun to look at how relationships worked in a different time than our own. Definitely makes you think!
In addition I believe that Shakespeare loved to ruffle feathers and by having so many disguises throughout the play ...more

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May 09, 2011

Michele rated it

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Shelves: fiction, classics

Stop. Before you try to read this, go get your hands on a copy of the Richard Burton/Elizabeth Taylor film version and watch it first. Then read the play. It will enhance your reading of this great play and that way you won't miss out on all the wit!

If you're not familiar with the storyline: Kate is the eldest daughter of a wealthy man from Padua, Italy. For whatever reason (up to you to decide why), Kate's a pain in the butt. Known as a shrew, she has scared off every eligib...more

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Jan 08, 2011

Tiger Holland (All-Consuming Books) rated it

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Katherine is a shrieking, violent, unhappy woman, and no one will marry her. But Kate doesn't want a husband, so there wouldn't be a problem with this situation except that her father says her younger sister Bianca can't get married unless Kate goes first--it's not clear why he decides this, but his arbitrary decision is what gets the plot going. Bianca's lovestruck suitors scheme ways to get her attention, and one of them tells the bold Petruchio about Kate. So long as he gets money when he wed...moreKatherine is a shrieking, violent, unhappy woman, and no one will marry her. But Kate doesn't want a husband, so there wouldn't be a problem with this situation except that her father says her younger sister Bianca can't get married unless Kate goes first--it's not clear why he decides this, but his arbitrary decision is what gets the plot going. Bianca's lovestruck suitors scheme ways to get her attention, and one of them tells the bold Petruchio about Kate. So long as he gets money when he weds, Petruchio doesn't mind marrying a perpetually angry woman, but overall he really seems to be more interested in the challenge of working with Kate than in the payoff. Many people may know this story better from the movie adaptation 10 Things I Hate About You, or from the Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate.

Audiences have been enjoying this play for a few hundred years and it has always experienced popularity as a comedy, but in recent years, directors and critics have been apologizing for it. The apologies center around the perceived anti-feminism in the play, since Kate has to be "tamed" by Petruchio and at the end of the play, she tells all wives to obey their husbands. This makes me sound like a very bad feminist, but I don't mind the story, or Katherine's taming. I like her character, but she's horrendously mean. In modern times, she would either be heavily medicated or jailed for assault when she routinely screams at and beats other people. After Petruchio marries her, he keeps her from eating and sleeping for awhile, but letting her experience some extreme discomfort may be the only way she's ever going to become a decent person. A strong but harsh woman learns empathy and kindness? Sounds like a good setup to me.

From pop culture references to the play, and from the shortened forms of some film versions, it's easy to deduce that Petruchio and Kate are the focus of the whole play, but the side plot with Bianca's suitors takes up about half the pagetime. Gremio and Hortensio both try to win Bianca, and Lucentio and his servant Tranio are carrying out a double concealed-identity plan to win Bianca. All the machinations of the secondary suitors make Petruchio's reverse psychology tactics with Kate look downright straightforward. I'm not terribly interested in the side characters or anything they do, but I think they could be made interesting by the right performers.

One unique aspect of the play is the frame story, also known as the Induction. The Taming of the Shrew actually starts with the completely unrelated story of a beggar named Christopher Sly. Sly passes out at a lord's house and the lord plays an elaborate joke on him when he wakes up, pampering him and pretending that Sly himself is a lord, not a beggar. The Taming of the Shrew is a play that is put on for Sly's entertainment. The trouble with this frame story is that it's only half a frame. Sly comments on the play once during Act I, then he and the joking lord and the servants aren't heard from again. Most performances don't bother with staging the induction, since it makes the play kind of asymmetrical, and the only value most critics really think it adds to the play is the suggestion that Shakespeare really really isn't advocating shrew-taming, because it's going on in a play-within-a-play and is therefore extra-untrue.

What I like best about this play is seeing someone who is smart and mean become smart and nice. Well, not completely nice--Kate is ready to beat up Hortensio's new wife when she insults her, but overall she seems to be a better, happier person. Petruchio is a little crazy himself, so Kate's a good match for him. Her spirit isn't broken, it's just finally under control, and these two seem destined for a happier ending than the more cutesy and deceptive pair of lovers, Lucentio and Bianca. (less)

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Feb 11, 2010

Billie Pritchett rated it

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The Taming of the Shrew is fun to read, but it is not my favorite Shakespeare work. Conventional interpretations of the work would have it that it's just a tale about a shrew of a woman turned into a submissive woman. But this woman Kate is actually a woman who's 'shrewish' only for the fact that she lives in a family where her father only ever dotes on her sister, the youngest, Bianca, and where Bianca constantly manipulates their father to her own ends. Bianca is a spoiled gal, and Kate is a q...more

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Jan 29, 2012

Carol rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: classics, play, read-in-2012

I can see where it’s funny and I liked the wordplay between Kate and Petrucchio, but to be honest there is just too much hitting and general violence for me. I just don’t find that slapstick style of comedy funny, especially when it involves spouses hitting each other. I don’t think that Petruchio ever actualy slaps Kate, but I do think she hit him at least once, and Petruchio hit servants, the priest, Kate ties up her sister. It’s just lost on me, even though I know others do find it hilarious,...more

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Jan 15, 2011

Kelsey rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: own, shakespeare

The first time I read this play, I didn't like it at all. After reading it a second time, I still don't like it, but I understand it better and appreciate more of the humor.

There are two sisters. The youngest is portrayed as an angelic woman, while the oldest is a hot-tempered shrew. The youngest has many suitors, but the father has decided that no one may marry her until the oldest has been married off. The suitors despair because they doubt that any man would ever want to marry the s...more

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Aug 25, 2009

John rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 1799-and-before, book-club, literature-and-fiction

'For I am rough and woo not like a babe.'
'This is a way to kill a wife with kindness...'
'First kiss me, Kate, and we will.'

I. THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
All discussions of the play here on Goodreads and everywhere else begin and end with how offended we should be by it. Is it disturbing evidence of abuses justified and encouraged by an evil patriarchal system, or the exact opposite by being a brave satire of same? Rather than answer that question, look instead at the p...more

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Sep 07, 2009

Richard Agemo rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: shakespeare

I can understand how readers might not care for this play because of the misogyny and cruelty it displays. Yet it's a comedy (I was laughing out loud as I read it) in the spirit of the old Greek comedies, and a mistake, in my opinion, to think that Shakespeare is somehow endorsing the mistreatment he mocks. Petruchio and Kate are most likely based on Shakespeare's sister (Mary de Vere) and brother-in-law (Peregrine Bertie) whose story closely parallels the "two raging fires" of the pl...more

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About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. Hi...moreWilliam Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.
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