The Shakespeare Plays / The Taming of the Shrew
The Taming of the Shrew
Not a sexist disappointment, and less about behaving than learning how to “act.”
Join Professor Michael Delahoyde LIVE on Sunday, September 15 at 4pm E | 1pm P!
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We’ll explore Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the original rom-com that has dismayed a majority of audience members and readers who bring along their own ill-considered assumptions and fail to look beneath stereotypes, like so many characters in the play itself.
In the set-up, a drunkard is tricked into thinking he’s a lord about to watch a play. The show features the power couple – Petruchio and Katherina, or Kate – who overshadow the other characters, several of them trying to woo Kate’s supposedly sweet, mild sister Bianca: daddy Baptista’s “treasure.”
![Taming of the Shrew](https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/wp-content/uploads/Shrew-sq2.png)
Live! Sunday Sept 15
Disguises lead to chaos, but Petruchio and Kate again steal the show with their own outrageous behavior, until Kate seems to undergo a surprising change in attitude. Is it abject subjugation? Or have we all been played?
Here are some general questions we want to try addressing.
- What’s the deal with this other anonymous play titled The Taming of A Shrew?
- Do the Induction scenes with Christopher Sly serve any relevant purpose?
- Did Shakespeare just this one time decide to be a sexist pig?
- At what specific point is Katherina’s spirit finally crushed so that she becomes so disappointingly subjugated? Or did we miss something?
We hope to see you there!
Themes
The main themes of The Taming of the Shrew include
- Preconceived Stereotypes
- Gender Roles
- Disguising
- Transformation and Identity
- Acting in Public
Plot Summary
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew challenges audiences to consider subtleties beneath their preconceptions and stereotypical expectations. The comedy centers on a family in Padua, Italy, consisting of two sisters – Katherina (often called Kate) and Bianca – and their father, Baptista Minola, who has decreed that Bianca, the beautiful and seemingly mild-mannered younger sister who has many suitors, will not be made accessible to would-be wooers until Katherina, the headstrong and fiery older sister, is married first.
Katherina, known for her sharp tongue and rebellious nature, is considered a “shrew” by everyone around her. Petruchio, a confident and boisterous gentleman from Verona, arrives in town, and his Paduan friend Hortensio sees an opportunity to match him with the challenging Katherina, playing up the matter of her dowry. Petruchio is intrigued by what he hears of her spirit and plays along with the mercenary Paduan value system.
Petruchio aggressively pursues Katherina, they engage in hostile but witty exchanges, and he insists they marry. Despite Katherina’s initial rage, she does show up for the wedding. Petruchio embarks on a program of outdoing her outrageous behavior – a psychological trick that forces her into a different role than previously.
Meanwhile, the subplot involves Bianca and her various suitors – Lucentio, Gremio, and Hortensio. Lucentio, in love with Bianca, disguises himself as a tutor to get close to her. With the help of his servant, Tranio (who disguises himself as Lucentio), he outmaneuvers the other suitors and eventually marries Bianca.
The play ends with a controversial final scene where three newlywed couples – Katherina and Petruchio, Bianca and Lucentio, and Hortensio with “Widow” – attend a banquet. In a wager about which wife is most obedient, Katherina surprisingly proves to be the most compliant, delivering a speech on the importance of wifely obedience, leaving the other characters (and the audience) in shock and confusion.
Sources
The Taming of the Shrew was first published in 1623.
What works inspired the author?
- The Taming of a Shrew, published anonymously, which was most likely an early version of the similarly-named play we know today.
- Gascoigne’s The Supposes
Act by Act Analysis and more evidence for Oxford's authorship
Michael Delahoyde, The Taming of the Shrew, Overview and Act by Act.
Visit the website of Professor Michael Delahoyde, host of our series, for an act by act analysis and full treatment of Oxfordian themes in the play.
Learn more!
Stephanie Hopkins Hughes, “The Taming of the Shrew.” In Gilvary, Dating Shakespeare’s Plays. (2010): 91-100. Dating Shakespeare’s Plays.
Ramon Jiménez, The Playwright’s Progress: Edward de Vere and the Two Shrew Plays. The Oxfordian: Vol. 14: 047-073 (2012).
BOOKS
Ramon Jiménez, Shakespeare’s Apprenticeship: Identifying the Real Playwright’s Earliest Works. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., Inc., Publishers, 2018. Chapter 4: 222-248. Jiménez definitively shows that the anonymous play published as The Taming of A Shrew was an early effort by Oxford and the source for his revised canonical play.
William Farina, De Vere as Shakespeare: An Oxfordian Reading of the Canon. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co., 2006. 44-48.
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