[speaker-mute]This The Taming of the Shrew summary will take around 5 minutes to read, or you can listen to it here:[/speaker-mute]
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Here is a brief The Taming of the Shrew summary:
A wealthy Padua merchant, Baptista, has two daughters. One day Lucentio, a student, comes to Padua, sees Bianca, the younger sister, and falls madly in love with her. He has heard, though, that Baptista will not allow Bianca to be married before her older sister, Katherina – a very forceful character who has a scornful attitude to men and expresses that without restraint.
The situation regarding Bianca is very complicated, and Lucentio’s entry into the equation makes things even more complicated. Two local men, Hortensio and the elderly Gremio are pursuing Bianca, but she doesn’t like either of them so they have to resort to a range of tactics to try and further their interest. Gremio hires Lucentio, disguised as a Latin tutor, to woo Bianca on his behalf. Hortensio poses as a musician to try and get into her company.
While all this is going on, Petruchio, a young friend of Hortensio from Verona, pays a visit to his friend and hears the story about the feisty Kate. He sees her as a challenge, which he decides to rise to. Baptista welcomes this as he is fed up with Kate’s disruptive behaviour, which makes family life difficult. He accepts Petruchio’s offer of marriage and although Kate opposes it, she cannot do anything about a father’s right to marry his daughter off.
Petruchio arrives at the church outlandishly dressed and whisks her off to Verona as soon as the marriage is pronounced. During the journey, Kate rebels against her husband, but he begins training her to obey him. On arrival at his house, Petruchio mistreats her and instructs his servants to do the same. She is denied everything she wants for a civilised life, including food and sleep. She is not allowed new clothes or any luxury. This treatment wears her resistance down and eventually, she submits and becomes an obedient wife.
It is time to visit her father where Petruchio plans to demonstrate his wife’s obedience.
In the meantime, Hortensio has given up on Bianca and married a widow. Lucentio and Bianca, having fallen in love, have run off and married secretly. They return now, while Petruchio and Kate are visiting, and Baptista, relieved that it’s all turned out better than he thought it would, hosts a party for his daughters. They all have a good time, and as the men gather together after the meal Petruchio challenges Lucentio and Hortensio to a competition to see which of their wives is the most obedient. Each one is to command his wife to come to him. Bianco and the widow fail to respond, whereas Kate does and, furthermore, delivers a lecture to the other wives on the duties of a wife.
And that’s a quick The Taming of the Shrew summary. [speaker-mute]What are your thoughts – anything unclear, or missing? Please let us know in the comments section below.[/speaker-mute]
[speaker-mute]See summaries of Shakespeare’s other plays >>[/speaker-mute]
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thanxxxxx it was very helpfull
very helful thanks
Test next period and I completely forgot to read the book; hopefully this helps.
Saw it at the Globe yesterday. Wonderful very funny production.
still makes me want to mckill myself because its basically the same plot as Much Ado About Nothing
There were so many sex references and insults in this play. I remember being the only kid in my honors class cracking up because no one else understood what was being said.
Strange though because this play vaguely hints towards Stockholm syndrome.
It was not reeallly what I was asking for but it help a bit
I would just like to put my two cents in: I think this is extremely helpful. But you got it wrong. Read the story in depth. Kate wanted to be married to him. Petruchio only wanted to teach her how to not be shrewish. And he did it, I might add, never raising his voice and HER, never striking at HER, though he did do those things to the servants and stuff.There was one moment when Petruchio said something to the effect of Touch her and die. I mean what woman wouldn’t fall for a man who says that. Don’t take my word as definitive proof, I just want you to open your mind to the possibility. :D
I have an essay to write on this is a few day on this topic and this is what I am relying on to pass the test
I really hope you pass xx !!!!
I appreciate your effort in writing this summary. This is a very hard thing to do to get all key points