2 h 33 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a woman with a sharp tongue meets a suitor determined to take control?
In William Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew, marriage is a bargain with sharp edges. Katherina resents being traded like goods. Petruchio arrives in Padua looking for a rich wife. Her father, Baptista, refuses to let her younger sister Bianca marry first, leaving both daughters caught between money, desire and a father’s rule.
Around this clash, disguises turn courtship into a game. Lucentio poses as a tutor to woo Bianca, while his servant Tranio takes his place. Before their story begins, the drunken tinker Christopher Sly is tricked into believing he is a lord. Wit and deception promise laughter, but the struggle over power gives the comedy an unsettling edge.
What you’ll discover
- Katherina’s answering wit Meet a woman who answers insult sharply and resists being treated as someone’s property.
- A fortune in marriage Watch Petruchio pursue wealth through courtship, turning romance into a contest over control.
- Suitors behind disguises Follow Lucentio and Tranio as borrowed identities make Bianca’s courtship a tangle of tricks.
- A tinker plays lord Enter through the cruel prank that makes Christopher Sly an audience for the play.
- Laughter with difficult questions Consider where farce ends and cruelty begins in a comedy about power inside marriage.
Is it for you?
This is for readers who enjoy fast, witty comedy and want to understand one of Shakespeare's most debated plays before seeing it or reading it. It may suit you less if you want a gentle, uncomplicated romance.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A drunk is fooled into playing a lord
- Two sisters and a father's strange rule
- Petruchio comes to Padua to find a rich wife
- Disguises, tutors and a tangle of suitors
- Taming at Petruchio's house, or cruelty as a game
- Control, money and performance: what the play is about
Who’s who
- KatherinaThe sharp-tongued elder daughter of Baptista, known in Padua as a shrew, who answers insult with sharper wit and resents being traded like goods.
- PetruchioA bold gentleman from Verona who comes to Padua to marry a rich wife and is not frightened by her reputation for temper.
- BiancaKatherina's younger sister, seemingly gentle and obedient, sought by many suitors and more strong-minded than she first appears.
- Baptista MinolaA wealthy Paduan father who will not let Bianca marry until Katherina has a husband and who treats marriage as a bargain.
- LucentioA young student from Pisa who falls for Bianca at first sight and disguises himself as a tutor to win her.
- TranioLucentio's quick and resourceful servant, who takes on his master's identity so that Lucentio can court Bianca in secret.
- HortensioA gentleman and friend of Petruchio who also courts Bianca, disguises himself as a music teacher and helps arrange Petruchio's match.
- Christopher SlyA drunken tinker who is tricked by a lord into believing he is a nobleman and who watches the play as his entertainment.
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung
by William Shakespeare· 1623
Courtship becomes a struggle over money, marriage, and obedience.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A drunk is fooled into playing a lord
The play opens not in Padua but outside an alehouse in the English countryside. Christopher Sly, a tinker, is thrown out by the hostess after he refuses to pay for broken glasses. He blusters, boasts about his family, and falls asleep on the ground, dead drunk.
A lord comes home from hunting and finds him there. For his own amusement the lord orders his servants to carry Sly to a fine bedroom and dress him in rich clothes. When Sly wakes, they are to tell him he is a great lord who has been mad for years and has now recovered. Servants bring him music, wine and perfumed water, and a page boy is dressed as a lady and presented as his devoted wife.
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The author
William Shakespeare
1564–1616 · English playwright and poet
William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet, born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. He worked in London as an actor and playwright. He wrote plays, including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth, and published sonnets in 1609. He died in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1616.
“I come to wive it wealthily in Padua.”
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What is The Taming of the Shrew about?
It is a comedy about Katherina, a sharp-tongued woman in Padua, and Petruchio, who marries her for her dowry and tries to change her ways. A second plot follows suitors who disguise themselves to court her sister Bianca.
Who is Christopher Sly in The Taming of the Shrew?
Sly is a drunken tinker who is tricked by a lord into thinking he is a nobleman. The main story is then performed for him by travelling players, which makes the play a play within a play.
What does the word shrew mean in the title?
In Shakespeare's time a shrew meant a scolding, bad-tempered woman. To tame her meant to bring her under a husband's control, as a trainer tames a wild animal. The title already hints at the debate about the play.
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