The Taming of the Shrew [with Biographical Introduction]

by William Shakespeare

I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing that would thoroughly

woo her, wed her and bed her and rid the house of her! Come on.

Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio, If I achieve not this young modest girl.

So could I, faith, boy, to have the next wish after, That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest daughter. But, sirrah, not for my sake, but your master's,

When I am alone, why, then I am Tranio; But in all places else your master Lucentio.

one thing more rests, that thyself execute, to make one among these wooers: if thou ask me why, sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty.

Antonio, my father, is deceased; And I have thrust myself into this maze, Haply to wive and thrive as best I may:

Katherine the curst! A title for a maid of all titles the worst.

know she is an irksome brawling scold:

I am as peremptory as she proud-minded; And where two raging fires meet together They do consume the thing that feeds their fury:

Though little fire grows great with little wind, Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all: So I to her and so she yields to me; For I am rough and woo not like a babe.

They call me Katherine that do talk of me.

Asses are made to bear, and so are you.

Women are made to bear, and so are you.

What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again,

Good Kate; I am a gentleman.

I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again.

What is your crest? a coxcomb?

A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen.

No cock of mine; you crow too like a craven.

KATHERINE. I care not. PETRUCHIO. Nay, hear you, Kate: in sooth you scape not so.

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.

she be curst, it is for policy, For she's not froward, but modest as the dove; She is not hot, but temperate as the morn; For patience she will prove a second Grissel, And Roman Lucrece for her chastity:

O, you are novices! 'tis a world to see, How tame, when men and women are alone, A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.

I see a woman may be made a fool, If she had not a spirit to resist.

He kills her in her own humour.

That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites That bate and beat and will not be obedient.

This is a way to kill a wife with kindness; And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humour. He that knows better how to tame a shrew, Now let him speak: 'tis charity to show.

Master, if ever I said loose-bodied gown, sew me in the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread: I said a gown.

KATHERINE. Then, God be bless'd, 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 so for Katherine.

VINCENTIO. Art thou his father? PEDANT. Ay, sir; so his mother says, if I may believe her.

BIONDELLO. Sir, my mistress sends you word That she is busy and she cannot come. PETRUCHIO. How! she is busy and she cannot come!

PETRUCHIO. O, ho! entreat her! Nay, then she must needs come.

PETRUCHIO. Worse and worse; she will not come! O vile,

Say, I command her to come to me.

A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty; And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it. 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. Such duty as the subject owes the prince Even such a woman oweth to her husband; And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour, And not obedient to his honest will, What is she but a foul contending rebel And graceless traitor to her loving lord? I am ashamed that women are so simple To offer war where they should kneel for peace; Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway, When they are bound to serve, love and obey.

Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, Unapt to toil and trouble in the world, But that our soft conditions and our hearts Should well agree with our external parts? Come, come, you froward and unable worms! 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. PETRUCHIO. Why, there's a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.