Taming of the Shrew Background

Background Information Setting: The English Countryside and Padua, Italy during the Renaissance Main Characters: –Christopher Sly: the starts off the story as he gets drunk and is tricked into thinking he’s a nobleman and a play is put on for him –Katherine: she is the “shrew” of the story, has a sharp tongue and bad temper, refuses to get married –Bianca: she’s nice, sweet, and used to getting things her way seeing as how she’s the favorite daughter, she has three suitors wanting her hand in marriage –Petruchio- comes from Verona and wishes to marry someone rich, finds Katherine as a perfect fit, he eventually falls in love with her –Baptista Minola: wealthy father of Bianca and Katherine, is very protective of Bianca and states that Bianca may not get married until Katherine does –Lutencio- a suitor for Bianca who disguises as a tutor to get close to Bianca –Gremio- Bianca’s suitor –Hortensio- Bianca’s suitor –Pedant- poses as Lucentio’s father, Vincentio Basic Plot -This story starts off with a drunk man named Christopher Sly. While drunk he is tricked into thinking he’s a nobleman and a play is put on for him (basically a play within a play) -Bianca has three suitors that wish to take her hand in marriage yet her father won’t let her get married unless her sister Katherine, the shrew, gets married first. - Her three suitors arrange for a man named Petruchio, who wishes for a large dowry, to get married to Katherine. After there forced marriage he is able to “tame the shrew”

Detailed Summary After getting drunk and falling asleep in front of an alehouse, Christopher Sly is found by a Lord. This Lord orders that he is put into nice clothes and in a bed so that when he wakes up he is convinced that he is a nobleman. A company of traveling actors are employed to put on a play for the benefit of Sly. This play is Taming of the Shrew. This play starts of with the arrival of Lucentio to Padua to study. Once he sees Bianca he immediately falls in love with Bianca. Though Bianca already has two older suitors, Hortensio and Gremio, her father makes it clear that she cannot marry until her older sister Katherine does. Because of this, Gremio and Hortensio arrange to find a husband for Katherine Then a man named Petruchio arrives from Verona, trying to find himself a wife that will offer him a large dowry. He meets up one of his friends, Hortensio, who jokes to Petruchio about marrying Katherine. He finds out that she is quite wealthy, and wishes to marry her despite her personality. Lucentio and Hortensio both disguise themselves as tutors in order to get closer to Bianca. Lucentio orders his servant to present himself as another suitor for Bianca for divert Baptista’s attention from Lucentio. After this Petruchio announces himself as a suitor to Baptista for Katherine and holds an interview with Katherine. He even sets a wedding date without the consent of Katherine and then leaves for Venice to prepare for the wedding.

Detailed Summary (cont) Bapsista then tells Gremio and Tranio, who is posing as Lucentio, that whoever offers the finest dowry may have Bianca’s hand in marriage. Tranio posing as Lecentio wins out but Baptista says that he must meet his father before accepting such a large dowry. On Katherine and Petruchio’s wedding day, Petruchio’s doesn’t arrive on time and comes dressed in ridiculous clothes. After they get married he forces her to move to the country side with her. When they get home he refuses to let her even eat or sleep. He does every possible thing to make her feel bad and continually criticizes her. Petruchio then talks to himself about how he is doing all this to in order to “tame” Katherine. Lucentio, as a tutor, then declares his love for Bianca and Bianca soon finds herself in love with him. After this Hortensio decides to give up his suit for Bianca and says that he will marry a widow that had been in love with him for quite some time. Tranio persuades a pedant, or a school master, to take the role of Lucentio’s father by telling him that he is in danger in Padua and must therefore pretend to be from Pisa, where Lucentio is actually from. Meanwhile, the real Lucentio and Bianca runaway and elope.

Detailed Summary (cont) Katherine and Petruchio come back to Padua to visit Baptista. On the way there Petruchio makes Katherine call the sun a moon an old man a fair beautiful maiden to show her obedience towards him. On the way there they also meet Vincentio, Lucentio’s father, who is on his way to Padua to see his son. Vincentio comes to Padua and is surprised to see Tranio as Lucentio. Lucentio and Bianca come back and inform people about their marriage. Vincentio and Baptista give Bianca and Lucentio blessing on their marriage. The next scene is at Hortensio’s wedding and everyone is shocked to see that Katherine has been tamed. She obeys everything that Petruchio says and gives a long speech talking about the loyalty of women to their husbands. When the three new husbands hold a contest to see which of their wives will obey first, everyone expects Lucentio to win. Bianca, however, sends a message back refusing to obey, while Katherine comes immediately. This does this to Petruchio’s satisfaction that he replied with, “Why there’s a wrench! Come on, and kiss me Kate!”

Themes Themes 1. Love/Marriage 2. Relationship between Father and Daughter 3.Desire for money 4.People can be influenced to change 1.Throughout this story there is an apparent theme of love and marriage seeing as how people are constantly falling in love and wanting engage in a permanent relationships. 2.In this story you can see the relationship Baptista and Bianca share. Like many father daughter relationships Baptista is quite protective of his daughter and won’t allow her to marry until her older sister does. 3.We can see the desire for money in this story when Petruchio initially decides to marry Katherine just for the money. 4.We can see how people can change when Katherine is able to be tamed through the influence of Petruchio.

Conflicts 1.Katherine and Petruchio - Petruchio's attempt to "tame" Katherine; that is, to assert his authority in their marriage and overcome her hotheaded resistance to being his wife and falling in love with him 2. The Suitors - The suitors compete to win the love of Bianca and to take her hand in marriage 3.Bianca and Baptista - Baptista doesn’t allow Bianca to get married to any of her suitors until she her older sister gets married

Once Upon a Shrew We took the original version of Taming of the Shrew and decided to turn it around into a fairy tale. This fairy takes place in a castle and the magical forests that surround this castle. In this fairy tale are two princesses, Katherine and Bianca. Like the “shrew” in the play Katherine is a loud, obnoxious princess that no one likes and one the other hand Bianca is a typical, pretty princess who comes off as somewhat of a brat. This shows how different the personalities of Kat and Bianca are. In this fairy tale Bianca has two suitors, Harry and Luis, but is not able to marry unless Katherine is able to. This is where Peter the foreigner comes in. He is persuaded to win over Kat’s heart and must do all it take to try to impress her.

Characters Katherine (Katherine)- a loud, weird, obnoxious princess that is liked by no one Bianca (Bianca)- a spoiled princess that is used to getting everything her way Peter (Petruchio)-like Petruchio in the play, Peter first comes off as a foreigner and is then changed in order to win over Katherine Luis (Lucentio)-One of Bianca’s suitor Harry (Hortensio)-Another one of Bianca’s suitor Witch- helps Peter in his attempt to win over Katherine Peter’s Stalker-added for comical relief

The End