Taming of the Shrew
Taming of the Shrew
What? You’ve never heard of this Shakespeare masterpiece? Well you need to be educated. Taming of the Shrew is a comedy play by William Shakespeare. The story revolves mostly around four characters: Katherina/Kate, Bianca, Petruchio, and Lucentio. Katherina and Bianca are the beautiful daughters of Baptista, a very rich man of Padua, Italy. Katherina has a very bad temper and is basically angry all the time, but Bianca is very sweet and kind to everyone she meats. Baptista is pretty much done with having Katherina around the house, so instead of sending her to collage, (like most every parent does now) he wants her married. There is just one problem. Every man in Padua is interested in Bianca and not Katherina. So Baptista makes it clear that Katherina must be married first so she can be out of the house.
Lucentio, one of the people interested in Bianca, was very upset to hear that Katherina had to be wedded first. He was madly in love with Bianca, and all he wanted to do was be close to her. He had a plan to become a tutor so he could be close to her, but he would need someone to replace him. Thankfully one of his servants looked a lot like him. That servant’s name was Tranio. The two happily switched places and Lucentio became the tutor Cambio
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Now for Katherina’s suitors. Well, only one showed up. He is from Verona and his name is Petruchio. He thought he could tame Katherina’s attitude, thus the name, Taming of the Shrew. The two were immediately wed and taken home to Verona. Petruchio’s method of calming her down was very strange. First off, he called her Kate instead of Katherina. He also didn’t feed her anything until she showed some heart. He did that by saying, “Tis burnt; and so is all the meat. What dogs are these? Where is that rascal cook? How durst you villains bring it from the dresser and serve it thus to me that love it not…” etc. This worked though. His “pickiness” caused Katherina (or Kate) to counter argue with him and make her more sincere. This was a formation of a beautiful young couple.
Back to Lucentio (or Cambio) and Bianca. Their romance had blossomed so much! They decided to wed without Baptista’s permission! Back then, marriages were never determined by love, they were determined by wealth, the match maker, or the father. Lucentio and Bianca were breaking every marriage law during that time! When Baptista found out that they were married, he fumed with anger and rage! There was never a father more foul, but Lucentio and Bianca ran away living happily ever after. As for Katherina/Kate and Petruchio, they finally became a happy couple and shared a wonderful, magical kiss. And that is basically Taming of the Shrew! Sorry I spoiled the ending, but you kept on asking and asking for me to tell you what happens next!
