The Taming of The Shrew An Introduction

Common Core Standards RL.11-12.7 Vocabulary for understanding ● Mystery plays- a popular medieval play based on biblical stories or the lives of the saints. ● “bad” quarto- In Shakespearean scholarship, a bad quarto (or pirated quarto) is a quarto- sized book that may be unreliable or contain more errors than other versions of the text ● Tudor- commonly refers to: Tudor period, a historical era in England coinciding with the rule of the Tudor dynasty ● Farce- a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations. (slapstick comedy, think the three stooges) ● Cuckold- the husband of an adulteress, often regarded as an object of derision. ● Archetype-a very typical example of a certain person or thing; an original that has been imitated. Background ● Date Written- This play has been difficult to date, but scholars know it must have been written between 1590-1594 ● Purpose it was written – written as a fantasy about courtship and marriage and is part of a group of plays written by Shakespeare all on this topic- The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Comedy of Errors Background ● Source material- in 1594 there was a play published anonymously titled “The Taming of a Shrew” which is now believed to be “either a pirated or inaccurate version of Shakespeare’s comedy or else a ‘bad’ quarto of a different play, now lost, which also served Shakespeare as a source” ● The debate over this “source” does not matter much to scholars though because the plot of this play is based an ancient archetype: ● “Shrewish wives in English Drama can trace their descent from Mrs. Noah in the mystery plays, that indomitable scold who would not leave her ‘gossips’ and get into the ark at her husband’s bidding even though the whole world was drowning in the Flood.” –Anne Barton Source material continued

● Additionally the archetype of “intractable, violent, and sharp-tongued wives” who ordered their husbands about (some who even cheated regularly on their husbands- this is called cuckolding) “represents a familiar comic type in Tudor interludes and farces” ● Even further back in time the Roman comedies often included these difficult wives. ● All of these plays include a husband who “tames” his wild wife by remedies including physical violence “by ingenious and excruciating” means ● For example, one popular ballad “A Merry Jest of Shrewd and Curst Wife Lapped in Morel’s Skin for Her Good Behavior” describes a husband who “binds his erring spouse, beats he, and then incarcerates her inside the salted skin of the dead horse Morel” The play ●Title ● Meaning/purpose- brings to mind the archetype of the shrewish wife, a play type with which the English audience would have been well familiar Motifs ● Taming/Transformation ●To tame- not dangerous or frightened of people; domesticated. ● Usually used to refer to animals but in this play it refers to a woman. Takes away her “humanness” ●To transform- make a thorough or dramatic change in the form, appearance, or character of. Motifs (continued) ● Identity- the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. ● What makes an individual’s identity? Can this be defined? What is your identity? ● Roles ● Gender-roles: are sets of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for a person based on their actual or perceived sex. ● Social-roles: are the part people play as members of a social group. With each social role you adopt, your behavior changes to fit the expectations both you and others have of that role. In the words of William Shakespeare: All the worlds a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits, and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. Characters ● Characters to keep an eye on: ● Christopher Sly- a “tinkerer” (poor laborer); The man who is watching “the taming of the shrew” ● Baptista- Father of Katherine and Bianca ● Katherine- the “shrew”, older sister to Bianca ● Bianca- the beautiful younger sister whom everyone wants to marry ● Petruchio- a man looking to marry a wealthy woman ● Gremio, Hortensio, and Lucentio- Bianca’s suitors (boys be chasin’ her) Setting and Structure

● Frame play- ● meaning the story starts with Christopher Sly in the “real world” (Elizabethan/Renaissance England) → then he sits down to watch a play (play within a play) ● This play within a play is the actual taming of the shrew ● Christopher Sly’s tale is the sub plot of the play, even though it is introduced first because… well you’ll see… ● Renaissance (Shakespeare’s contemporary time) Padua, Italy Padua, Italy ●Padua claims to be the oldest city in northern Italy. ●According to a tradition dated at least to Virgil's Aeneid, and rediscovered by the medieval commune, it was founded in 1183 BC by the Trojan prince Antenor, ● passed under Venetian rule in 1405, and so mostly remained until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797.