Name: ______Date:______
KEY The Taming of the Shrew Study Guide- CP KEY
I. Multiple Choice- Comprehension Questions (worth one point each)
1. Who is the very old man who wants to marry Bianca?
Gremio
2. All three (3) of these characters wore a disguise in order to win Bianca:
Tranio, Lucentio, Hortensio
3. What do both Lucentio and Hortensio disguise themselves as in order to woo Bianca?
School tutors
4. Who does Tranio disguise himself as?
Lucentio
5. Who are Lucentio's servants?
Biondello, Tranio
6. Petruchio arrives in Padua with his servant,___Grumio______.
7. Who is the friend that Petruchio is looking for when he arrives in Padua?
Hortensio
8. Where are Lucentio, Vincentio, Biondello, and Tranio from? (place)
Pisa
9. When Petruchio arrives in Padua, and to his friend's house, he tells his servant to "______Knock______me here soundly".
10. Petruchio tells his friend, Hortensio that he has come to Padua "to thrive and ______wive______".
11. What is Lucentio's schoolmaster name?
Cambio Name: ______Date:______
12. When Petruchio asks Baptista about marrying Katherine, he asks what _____dowry______he would give for Katherine.
13. Baptista gives Petruchio ______20,000 crowns______right away as Katherine's dowry. When Baptista dies, he will also give half his lands.
14. What happened to Antonio, Petruchio's father?
He died
15. Why does Tranio pretend to be Lucentio?
To keep Gremio from outbidding him on Bianca’s dowry
16. Which characters are from Verona?
Grumio and Petruchio
17. Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, needs to find someone to pretend to be his ___father______, so Baptista gives him permission to marry Bianca.
18. When Petruchio is about to meet Katherine, he thinks up a clever plan to deal with her shrewish behavior. "Say that she rail, why then I'll tell her plain, she sings as sweetly as a ______nightingale______".
19. Katherine says she would rather die than marry who?
Petruchio
20. Which two (2) people arrive in Padua, from Pisa, in the very beginning of the play?
Tranio and Lucentio
21. When you first meet Lucentio, what is he very intent on doing?
Studying in school
22. Is Katherine or Bianca the younger sister?
Bianca Name: ______Date:______
23. Who is the father of Katherina and Bianca?
Baptista Minola
24. Who is Baptista's favorite daughter?
Bianca
25. Why won't Baptista let anyone marry Bianca?
Katherina must marry 1st
26. The old man Tranio tricks into being his father is from ______Mantua______.
27. When he first meets her, what does Petruchio do even though Kate is being mean and rude to him?
Chases after her
28. Petruchio announces that _____Sunday______is the wedding day.
29. Petruchio tells Katherine that he is the man to ______tame______her.
30. Why does everyone have to wait outside the church on Katherine and Petruchio's wedding day?
Petruchio is late
31. When Petruchio finally shows up to his wedding, how is he dressed? (Give 4 specific details)
In a new hat and an old jerkin, mis-matched boots that have been candle-cases and a rusty sword
32. What did the haberdasher make for Katherine?
A hat
33. Petruchio refuses to stay for the banquet after his wedding. What does Kate say in response?
She entreats him to stay, but even if he won’t, she insists on staying.
34. When Katherine finally gets to Petruchio's house she is starving and tired. What does Petruchio do next after they arrive?
He won’t let her eat or sleep Name: ______Date:______
35. According to the play, who goes to visit Petruchio at his house, and then travels back to Padua with Katherine and Petruchio to celebrate Bianca's wedding?
Hortensio
36. Eventually, who does Hortensio end up marrying?
The Widow
37. What does Petruchio dislike about the gown and cap that he had the tailor and haberdasher make for Katherine?
The cap is too small and the gown is unusually cut
38. When Petruchio doesn't let Katherine eat because the chicken was burnt and ruins the bed because his servants didn't make it properly, he says "This is the way to kill a wife with ______kindness______".
39. Grumio tells Hortensio that Petruchio will marry anyone as long as there is enough ______money______.
40. While on the road to Baptista's house for Bianca's wedding banquet, Petruchio and Katherine meet ______Vincentio______, Lucentio's father.
41. Katherine smashes Hortensio (disguised as a music teacher) on the head with his ______lute______.
42. When the real Vincentio arrives in Padua and sees Tranio dressed richly and using Lucentio’s name, what does he think happened to the real Lucentio? He thinks Tranio murdered Lucentio
43. At Bianca's wedding banquet, the husbands make a bet of ____100 crowns______on whose wife is most _____obedient______.
44. What does Petruchio do when the priest asks if he will take Katherine for his wife?
He swears loudly and hits the priest’s head when he stoops to pick up his Bible Name: ______Date:______
45. While on the road to Baptista's house, Petruchio sees an old man and calls him a(n) ______young and pretty maid______.
46. What does Kate have to do in order to have anything, eat anything or do anything once she is married to Petruchio?
She has to stop arguing with him and be polite
II. Matching definitions- Shakespeare’s Language Devices (worth one point each)
47. Prose- What we think of as everyday speech, without specific rules of rhyme and rhythm
48. Verse- Giving order or form to the random stress pattern of prose
49. Iambic Foot- A foot of poetry containing two syllables, with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable
50. Feminine Ending- Lines of text which add an unstressed eleventh syllable.
51. Blank Verse- The standard poetic form Shakespeare uses in his plays, a line of poetry containing five iambic feet, not rhyming with any adjacent line, also known as unrhymed iambic pentameter
52. Split Line- A line of verse split so that two characters share ten syllables
53. Soliloquy- A speech in which a character is not speaking to any other character in the play but is thinking out loud
54. Couplets- Pairs of lines that rhyme Name: ______Date:______
55. Aside- A passage of text where the lines are delivered directly to the audience
56. Monologue-A long speech given by one character in the play in which they are speaking to the other characters without expecting a reply
57. Induction- The frame play that introduces a comedy; the characters and action are not included in the main play
III. Short Answer Response Questions- (Worth 3 points each)
Answer the following questions using the “Answer, Example, Commentary” format. (3-4 sentences)
58. Explain the theme of gender, as it can be seen in the play. Use a specific example to support your answer and say how that example illustrates this theme.
In William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew , men were expected to be powerful and controlling, while women were expected to be quiet and submissive although really there is more of a power struggle going on between the sexes. One example of this takes place in Act III when we find out that Bianca, who seemed sweet and docile turns out to be manipulating her school tutors to get what she wants. Lucentio falls in love with her because he thinks she is the “perfect” example of femininity, but it turns out that she really is not. Therefore, she challenges the expected gender roles of the time.
59. Explain the theme of society and class, as it can be seen in the play. Use a specific example to support your answer and say how that example illustrates this theme.
In William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew, rich characters in the play have more power and appear to be more book smart than the poor characters in the play, who tend to be more street smart and have a better sense of humor. One example of this can be seen in Act I when Petruchio’s servant Grumio is asked to knock on Hortensio’s gate. Grumio misunderstands Petruchio and thinks he is asking him to beat his own master, a response which elicits him a beating from Petruchio. Petruchio has the power to beat his servant without consequence, and he used a more formal language that his servant did not understand, rather than just using prose like the lower class does in the play. Name: ______Date:______
60. Explain the theme of transformation, as it can be seen in the play. Use a specific example to support your answer and say how that example illustrates this theme.
In William Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew, almost every character is in disguise at some point; if they are not in a physical disguise, they are disguising their personality. One example of this takes place in Act II when Hortensio dresses as a tutor named Licio in order to court Bianca and try to get her alone. Luckily, Lucentio (also in disguise as a tutor named Cambio) is able to keep her from danger because he is always by her side. Eventually, the characters in the play shed their disguises, when they no longer need to manipulate others, so Hortensio sheds his disguise when he realizes that Bianca is in love with the other “tutor.”