2 h 33 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 2 h 33 minPaperback · 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.
Who will love it
Readers who love quick comedy, sharp quarrels, disguises, and swapped names will enjoy this play. It also suits anyone curious about how marriage, money, and power are staged.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A trick on a drunk beggar frames everything
- Every man in Padua wants Bianca
- Petruchio meets Katherina in a duel of wits
- A wedding day that nobody forgets
- At his country house Petruchio trains his hawk
- The sun, the moon, and a borrowed father
- Disguise, power, and who is acting a part
- How the play is made and how to hear it
Who’s who
- KatherinaBaptista's elder daughter, known across Padua for her sharp tongue, who answers every insult with a better one and wants no husband chosen for her.
- PetruchioA gentleman of Verona who comes to Padua to marry a rich wife and is sure he can handle any temper.
- BiancaBaptista's gentle younger daughter, courted by many men, who cannot marry until her sister does and has more will than she shows.
- LucentioA young man from Pisa who comes to study but falls for Bianca and disguises himself as a tutor to reach her.
- TranioLucentio's quick-witted servant, who plays his master in Padua and invents tricks to win Bianca for him.
- Baptista MinolaA wealthy Paduan father who will not let Bianca wed before Katherina and judges suitors by what they can promise.
- HortensioPetruchio's friend and a suitor of Bianca, who disguises himself as a music master named Licio to be near her.
- Christopher SlyA drunken tinker who is tricked by a lord into thinking he is a nobleman and watches the play.
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La Mégère apprivoisée
by William Shakespeare · 1623
A drunk tinker wakes as a lord, and a gentleman sets out to marry the loudest woman in Padua for her money.
Medium level2–5 hours to readfrançais
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In short
A drunk tinker named Christopher Sly is thrown out of an alehouse and falls asleep on the ground. When he wakes in a fine bedroom, servants call him lord, and a page in a lady's gown says she is his wife.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A trick on a drunk beggar frames everything
The play opens outside an alehouse. Christopher Sly, a tinker, refuses to pay for broken glasses and threatens the hostess. She goes to fetch the constable, and Sly drops into a drunken sleep.
A lord comes back from hunting and spots the sleeper. He decides to turn the beggar's life upside down. Sly will be carried to a fine bedroom, dressed in rich clothes, and served by bowing servants who tell him he has been mad for years and is truly a lord. The lord also has his page Bartholomew dressed as a lady to play Sly's wife, and travelling players will perform for them.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 9 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1623
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 1 h 40 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-taming-of-the-shrew.
Shakespeare, W. (2026). The taming of the shrew. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-taming-of-the-shrew (Original work published 1623)
Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-taming-of-the-shrew.
@book{shakespeare2026taming,
author = {Shakespeare, William},
title = {The Taming of the Shrew},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-taming-of-the-shrew},
note = {First published 1623}
}
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What is The Taming of the Shrew about?
It is a comedy set in Padua. Petruchio sets out to marry the sharp-tongued Katherina for her dowry, while suitors disguise themselves to win her gentle sister Bianca. A tinker, Christopher Sly, watches the whole play as a joke played on him.
Who are Katherina and Bianca?
They are the two daughters of Baptista Minola. Katherina, the elder, is known for her fierce temper and sharp wit. Bianca, the younger, seems quiet and obedient and has many suitors, but her father will not let her marry before Katherina.
Why does the play begin with Christopher Sly?
Sly is a drunken tinker whom a lord tricks into believing he is a nobleman. The play in Padua is staged for him. This frame sets up the theme of disguise and asks what makes a person who they are.
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.
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