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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Induction, Scene One

Vocabulary

anon: archaic shortly an’t: archaic if it

baggage: archaic an immoral woman, especially a prostitute balm: archaic to bathe

charge: order

counsel: to give advice to someone

induction: an introductory act in a play (in context)

loathsome: causing hatred or disgust obeisance: respectful behavior

rogue: a dishonest person

stocks: an instrument of punishment in which arms and legs are confined swine: a person regarded with disgust (in context)

want: lack

1. Describe Sly. What is he like, and how is this shown?

2. Describe the dynamic between Sly and the hostess.

3. How does the lord’s speech distinguish him from Sly?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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4. What trick does the lord intend to play on Sly? Why might he want to do this?

5. What role does the lord have in mind for his page, Barthol’mew?

6. How does this scene introduce the idea of two separate productions?

7. What does the first scene suggest about the tone of the play?

8. What question does the lord set out to answer? What question might Shakespeare be asking?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Induction, Scene Two

Vocabulary

Apollo: Greek mythology god of music bestraught: archaic out of my mind

Cytherea: Greek mythology alternate name for Venus, goddess of love hawking: hunting with hawks

tinker: a person who travels from place to place mending pans, kettles, and other metal utensils as a way of making a living

1. Describe Sly’s evolution from disbelieving his elevated station to accepting it. What finally convinces him to accept he is a lord?

2. What excuse does the page, as Sly’s “wife,” offer for why he cannot sleep with Sly right away?

3. What might be Shakespeare’s motivations for introducing The Taming of the Shrew with the story of Sly?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act One, Scene One

Vocabulary

Aristotle: ancient Greek philosopher who established strict rules to keep tragedy and comedy separate

bestow: to give in marriage

dowry: a bride’s family’s gift to her bridegroom grave: archaic learned

importune: to urge

Minerva: goddess of wisdom

mi perdonato: Italian pardon me

Ovid: a Latin poet whose writing was both comedic and sophisticated

pantaloon: a character in Italian comedy (a very thin man of advanced years who is easily tricked)

plash: archaic pool

stoic: noun someone who is unemotional, especially during adversity strange: archaic distant, unfriendly

1. Where is Lucentio from, and what is he doing in Padua?

2. What is Lucentio’s family situation?

3. Tranio, Lucentio’s servant, reminds him that “no profit grows where is no pleasure ta’en: / In brief, sir, study what you most affect...” What does he mean?

4. Describe Katherine (Kate). How is she different from her sister? How is the audience meant to interpret her behavior?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

5. Lucentio observes of Bianca, “But in the other’s silence do I see / Maid’s mild behaviour and sobriety.” What does this suggest about the view of a woman’s ideal role in Shakespeare’s era?

6. Why does Gremio feel Baptista is treating Bianca unfairly?

7. Hortensio believes that it is possible to find a husband for Kate, despite her outspoken nature. What type of man does he think would accept Kate?

8. What comes over Lucentio as he watches Bianca?

9. Lucentio and Tranio come up with an elaborate scheme that will enable Lucentio to woo Bianca. What is that scheme? How is it further embellished with the arrival of Biondello?

10. Using supporting evidence from the text, characterize Lucentio’s relationship with his servants, Tranio and Biondello.

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

11. Throughout the scene, Lucentio makes a plethora of classical allusions, among them references to Minerva, the Queen of Carthage, and Agenor. For what purpose might Shakespeare have included these allusions in Lucentio’s dialogue?

12. What is achieved by Sly’s reappearance at the end of the scene? What themes do Sly’s story and the story that is beginning in Padua have in common?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act One, Scene Two

Vocabulary

brawl: to fight noisily chide: scold or rebuke

come roundly: to speak plainly compound: archaic to settle ere: before

fray: noun a situation of intense activity

Hercules: Greek mythology hero who carried out twelve impossible tasks in jest: archaic as a joke

irksome: annoying

knock: to hit repeatedly; to strike with a hard blow

Leda’s daughter: Helen of Troy, thought to be the most beautiful woman in the world liberality: generosity

scold: noun a person who rebukes others trow: archaic to know, to believe

vent: to release strong feelings

1. A pun is a joke that uses a word or phrase humorously to emphasize its different meanings. How does a pun play into Petruchio’s exchange with his servant Grumio in the opening lines?

2. What does the exchange reveal about Petruchio’s personality?

3. What does Petruchio mean when he says he is in Padua to “wive and thrive”?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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4. Why is Petruchio willing to take on a difficult wife, while Hortensio is not?

5. Hortensio claims that he raised the subject of the wealthy but difficult potential wife for Petruchio “in jest,” but he says that he will offer more details if Petruchio is really interested. Why is it likely that Hortensio was not joking when he raised the subject, and what does this claim reveal about him?

6. How does Lucentio deceive Gremio?

7. Describe Grumio. What might his purpose be in this scene?

8. Why does Petruchio feel so confident he can withstand Kate’s sharp tongue?

9. What reason does Tranio (as Lucentio) offer for why the other men should not care about his desire to court Bianca?

10. What compels the rivals for Bianca to join forces?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Two, Scene One

Vocabulary

affability: state of being good-natured chafe: to annoy

conformable: compliant, obedient crave: to demand (in context)

cuff: to hit

dainties: delicacies (in context)

dissemble: to put on a false appearance; to conceal one’s true motives, feelings, or beliefs extempore: without rehearsing

flout: to show contempt for a law or convention by openly disobeying it fret: noun a ridge on a fingerboard such as that of a guitar or sitar haste: great speed

hilding: archaic good-for-nothing lusty: archaic lively

lute: a plucked string instrument pate: archaic head

peremptory: insisting on immediate attention or obedience petitioners: suitors

petticoat: a woman’s light, loose undergarment worn under a dress or skirt ply thy needle: to sew or embroider

preferment: precedence

Rheims: a northern French town with a well-known university saving: with respect for (in context)

sounded: archaic proclaimed sportful: lively

swain: a country youth turn: purpose (in context)

vile: extremely unpleasant

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The Taming of the Shrew

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volubility: the ability to speak incessantly whence: archaic from where

1. Describe the exchange between Kate and Bianca. What is Bianca’s predicament, and how does Kate respond? How does Kate appear to the audience?

2. Characterize Kate’s relationship with her father. How do they feel about each other, and why?

3. In this scene, the institution of marriage is characterized mainly as a financial transaction. Describe how this idea is enforced in the dialogue between Bianca and Kate, as well as in the dialogue between Petruchio and Baptista and among Baptista, Gremio, and Tranio.

4. While marriage is considered a financial transaction, how does Baptista suggest he also cares for

Kate’s well-being?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

5. When Baptista asks Petruchio how he plans to get along with Kate, Petruchio says, “where two rag- ing fires meet together / They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.” What does he mean?

6. What is Petruchio’s response to Kate’s abuse of Hortensio (disguised as a music teacher)? Why is it unusual? What might be motivating Petruchio to respond this way?

7. As revealed in his soliloquy, how does Petruchio plan to win Kate over?

8. Describe the first meeting between Petruchio and Kate. In what ways is the dialogue different from the other dialogue in the play?

9. Who gains the upper hand in Petruchio and Kate’s banter? Why?

10. How does Petruchio explain Kate’s hostile manner toward him to the other men? Why does he do this?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

11. Why does Kate acquiesce to the marriage? What other motivations might account for her silence?

12. With Kate’s marriage settled, Baptista turns his attention to Bianca. Which man wins the right to court Bianca, and why?

13. What is the one obstacle to Tranio’s (as Lucentio) proposal to Bianca? What does it imply?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Three, Scene One

Vocabulary

chamber: archaic a private room conster: to translate

forbear: to hold back from something gamut: the musical scale

jars: quarrels

knave: archaic a dishonest or unscrupulous man ordained: created

pedant: a schoolmaster

pedascule: a little pedant (see definition for pedant, above)

pithy: brief and to the point prays: archaic requests

stale: a decoy, a false lover (in context)

withal: archaic with

1. What is the relationship between Lucentio and Hortensio? How do they interact with each other?

2. Through what means do Bianca and Lucentio flirt? What is Bianca’s response to Lucentio’s interest in her?

3. Contrast Bianca’s behavior in this scene with that of previous scenes. How does she seem different?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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4. Hortensio claims he will no longer seek to court Bianca if she would stoop to flirt with her tutor.

“If once I find thee ranging, / Hortensio will be quit with thee by changing.” Other than his snobbery, what other reason might Hortensio have for rejecting Bianca?

5. What is the overall mood of this scene?

6. Describe the role of disguise and pretense in this scene.

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Three, Scene Two

Vocabulary

accoutrements: clothes

armoury: a place where arms (weapons) are kept caparisoned: to be decked out in ornamental coverings carouse: to drink plentiful amounts of alcohol clamorous: noisily insistent

digress: to leave the main subject temporarily forsooth: archaic in truth

jerkin: a close-fitting jacket lackey: a servant

prodigy: a person endowed with exceptional abilities at a young age quoth: archaic said

staggers: noun a disease of farm animals characterized by loss of balance tedious: tiresome because of dullness or length

turned: turned inside out to be made usable for a longer period (in context)

vex: to irritate or annoy

1. Why is Kate distraught over the thought that Petruchio may not show up for their wedding, given that she was opposed to the wedding from the beginning?

2. Describe Petruchio’s appearance for his wedding day. Why does his attire upset Baptista? How does Baptista express his anger?

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3. How does Petruchio respond in regard to his lateness and his clothing? What might his intent be?

4. What recounting does Gremio offer of the wedding ceremony? Why might Shakespeare have decided to relay the events through Gremio rather than stage the scene for the audience?

5. Describe the first confrontation between Kate and Petruchio as husband and wife. Who prevails, and how?

6. How do the rest of the characters respond once Kate and Petruchio have left?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Four, Scene One

Vocabulary

bemoiled: covered with mud beseech: to implore, to entreat

bolster: a long, thick pillow placed under other pillows for support choler: anger

cock’s passion: by God’s passion (in context) continency: self-restraint, especially in sexual matters cony-catching: archaic trickery

coverlet: a bedspread

crupper: a strap used on horses to keep a saddle from sliding forward dresser: a kitchen table on which food is prepared (in context) inprimis: Latin first

lure: noun something that tempts or is used to tempt a person or animal to do something miry: boggy

rushes: marsh or waterside plants with slender leaves spruce: adjective neat or smart in appearance strewed: scattered

trimmed: decked out, prepared (in context)

unpinked: lacking ornamentation (in context)

1. What does Grumio tell Curtis happened on the journey home?

2. When Grumio finishes telling Curtis his story about Kate and Petruchio, Curtis says, “By this reck- oning he is more shrew than she.” Grumio replies, “Ay, and that thou and the proudest of you all shall find when he comes home.” What does their exchange imply about Petruchio’s behavior? Why might Petruchio and Kate’s entrance be prefaced by this exchange?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

3. What are the four causes of Petruchio’s anger with his servants?

4. What does Petruchio’s servant Peter mean when he says of his master and his new bride, “He kills her in her own humour”?

5. Curtis says that because of Petruchio’s strange behavior, Kate “knows not which way to stand, to look, to speak, / And sits as one new-risen from a dream.” How does this comment relate to the Induction in the beginning of the play?

6. How does Petruchio intend to “kill a wife with kindness”? What is his plan for “taming” Kate? Is it working?

7. In a famous metaphor, Petruchio compares “taming” Kate to training a falcon, a hunting hawk: “My falcon now is [hungry] and [extremely] empty, / And till she [fly to the lure] she must not be full- gorged, / For then she never looks upon her lure.” How is Kate like the falcon? What does it suggest about Petruchio that he compares her to one?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Four, Scene Two

Vocabulary

credulous: showing too great a readiness to believe things cullion: archaic a contemptible person

durst: archaic dared

fancy: verb to feel a desire for forswear: archaic to reject lusty: full of energy

marry: archaic an expression of surprise or indignation mercatante: archaic an Italian merchant

quarrel: an angry argument or disagreement repute: verb to consider

wonderful: extraordinary (in context)

1. How does Tranio trick Hortensio into giving up his pursuit of Bianca?

2. According to Tranio, who is the master of the taming school? Why?

3. How does Tranio trick the pedant into assuming the identity of Vincentio?

4. How is Tranio’s character further developed in this scene? What does the audience learn about him?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Four, Scene Three

Vocabulary

adder: a small, venomous snake

alms: money or food given to poor people amort: dispirited (in context)

apace: quickly

belike: archaic perhaps braved: archaic defied deluding: deceiving

entreat: to ask someone earnestly or anxiously to do something ere: archaic before

ergo: Latin therefore

famish: archaic to cause to starve to death farthingale: a hooped petticoat

frolic: verb to be joyous

gallant: archaic a man who pays special attention to women habiliments: archaic mean, humble clothes

lewd: vile, cheap

loose-bodied: loose-fitting mar: to ruin

paltry: small or meager

porringer: archaic a porridge bowl repast: a meal

spite: the desire to hurt or annoy someone

1. How is food used in this scene?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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2. Kate says, “But I, who never knew how to entreat, / Nor never needed that I should entreat, / Am starved for meat.” What does this suggest about Kate’s upbringing?

3. Toward what purpose is clothing used in this scene?

4. How does Petruchio continue to kill Kate with kindness?

5. Describe Kate’s spirit. Is she “tamed,” or is she the same as she was when the audience first meets her?

6. Why does Kate accuse Petruchio of making her a puppet? How does Petruchio respond to this accusation?

7. Describe the conversation about the time of day between Kate and Petruchio. What point is Petru- chio making?

8. How might this scene be played in different ways?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Four, Scene Four

Vocabulary

affied: archaic formally engaged

appendix: an appendage; a book (both definitions apply in context)

austerity: sternness

countenance: the face or an expression curious: archaic particular, awkward dally: to waste time

dissemble: to conceal

expound: to present and explain haply: archaic perhaps

hie: archaic hurry

‘longeth (belongeth): archaic belongs

pittance: a very small amount (in context, a very small amount of food)

schooled: trained in a particular skill

scriv’ner (scrivener): archaic a scribe authorized to draw up legal documents tall: archaic fine

tokens: signals

warrant: verb to guarantee

1. What does the pedant fear about Baptista?

2. Does the pedant do a convincing job acting as Vincentio? Why or why not?

3. What does Biondello think Lucentio—who is still disguised as Cambio—should do immediately, and why?

4. Biondello refers to Bianca as an “appendix” in this chapter. What does he mean, and what connotation does it have?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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Act Four, Scene Five

Vocabulary

beseem: archaic befit

bias: the weight in a ball that enables it to be bowled in a curve (in context)

entitle: to give a legal right evermore: always

goodly: archaic attractive grandsire: archaic grandfather have to: archaic now for

rush-candle: archaic a candle dipped in wax spangle: to sprinkle with shiny particles untoward: inappropriate

1. What game with regard to the sun and the moon does Petruchio play with Kate? What is his pur- pose?

2. Kate is compared both to a “field” (“the field is won”) and to a participant in a game of bowling

(“Thus the bowl should run”). How does each of these comparisons objectify her?

3. How does Petruchio make Vincentio a prop in his taming of Kate?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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4. While Kate is agreeing with Petruchio that Vincentio is a young maiden, she addresses Vincentio with the following speech:

Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet, Whither away, or where is thy abode?

Happy the parents of so fair a child; Happier the man, whom favourable stars Allot thee for his lovely bedfellow!

Why might Kate make such an embellished speech, instead of merely acknowledging Vincentio is a maiden as Petruchio has said? What might the speech suggest about her?

5. Why is Vincentio angered to hear about Lucentio’s impending marriage? Why doesn’t he believe

Petruchio’s account?

6. What effect has Petruchio had on Hortensio?

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The Taming of the Shrew

Study Guide - Student Edition

Act Five, Scene One

Vocabulary

bleared: archaic made dim copatain: archaic high-crowned cozen: to cheat

crack-hemp: a rogue who deserves to be hanged (in context)

dotard: an old fool

doublet: a man’s short-fitting padded jacket forthcoming: ready when wanted (in context) haven: a place of safety or refuge

spoiled: ruined

thither: archaic toward that place withal: archaic in addition

1. How does Biondello greet Vincentio? Why?

2. What is Vincentio’s response to Tranio’s clothing, and why?

3. What assumption does Vincentio make about why Tranio is pretending to be Lucentio? What does

Tranio do in response?

4. Gremio thinks he recognizes Vincentio to be who he says he is, but he can’t help Vincentio. Why? What does this say about Gremio?

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5. How is the elaborate web of lies finally revealed?

6. What is the history of Vincentio’s relationship with Tranio? What does it suggest about the status of servants in some Elizabethan households?

7. How does Tranio and Biondello’s treatment of Vincentio echo Petruchio’s treatment of Kate and the lord’s treatment of Christopher Sly?

8. How does Petruchio convince Kate to kiss him in the street?

9. How might Petruchio’s kiss suggest something other than a game of obedience that he must win?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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Act Five, Scene Two

Vocabulary

afeard: archaic frightened

amiable: displaying a friendly manner awful: archaic worthy of respect

bauble: a trinket that is small and decorative but of little real value bereft: archaic deprived or lacking something

bodes: foretells conferring: discussing currish: dog-like

deign: to do something one believes is beneath one’s dignity galled: archaic angered

goodly: considerable in size or quantity jarring: archaic disagreeing

meads: archaic meadows office: archaic role peevish: irritable

sway: noun control over someone swinge: to punish somebody severely

1. Who takes offense when the widow suggests that Petruchio is afraid of Kate, and who does not? Why is this surprising? What do the characters’ responses imply?

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2. The widow is never referred to by name. What does this omission suggest?

3. Bianca makes fun of Gremio, and then she makes several lewd jokes. How has she changed? What might explain the change in her behavior?

4. What metaphor does Tranio use to describe himself, and why? What motif does this metaphor il- lustrate? What idea does it convey?

5. Describe the banter between the men at the wedding. At whose expense do they joke?

6. Why won’t the widow come when Hortensio entreats her? How does she respond to Hortensio? What does this imply about her?

7. Lucentio “bids” his mistress come to him, Hortensio “entreats,” and Petruchio “commands.” What differences do these words reflect about the balance of power in the three relationships?

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The Taming of the Shrew

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8. Which of the men wins the wager about the women?

9. Why does Petruchio ask Kate to bring out the other women? Why does he ask her to take off her cap?

10. Describe Kate’s speech about a wife’s role. What arguments does it offer for why a woman should obey her husband?

11. Early in the play, Petruchio predicts what will happen when he and Kate marry: “Where two rag- ing fires meet together / They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.” Explain how Petruchio’s prediction seems to have come true by the end of the play.

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