The Taming of the Shrew

By. William Shakespeare

Hannah ChoiBlock G

Basic Information

Romantic comedy. Written by Shakespeare.Setting : Padua, Italy. during the Italian RenaissanceConsists of five acts.

Major Characters

KATHARINA - the “Shrew” of this play. PETRUCHIO - Suitor and the future husband o

f Katharina. BIANCA - Katharina’s sister. LUCENTIO - Someone who is in love with Bia

nca. HORTENSIO - One of the suitors to Bianca, w

ho later marries a widow.

Plot

Katharina has to marry before Bianca gets married. Bianca’s suitors try to find a man for Katharina. One of Bianca’s suitors, Hortensio, gets his friend, P

etruchio, who wants to marry a rich woman. Petruchio chases after Katharina and succeeds marr

ying to Katharina. He leaves horrible memories of marriage to Katharina.

Petruchio “tames” Katharina by finding faults, even in little things. Katharina surrenders.

Petruchio wins a bet of having the most obedient wife.

Plot

Lucentio falls in love with Bianca. Bianca's father accepts the marriage of Lucentio an

d Bianca, thinking that he is the wealthiest of all the suitors. Bianca's father wants to check Lucentio's wealth

Hortensio decides to marry a widow. On the day of Hortensio’s marriage, Bianca and Luc

entio gets their love confirmed. Hortensio ♥ Widow Lucentio ♥ Bianca

Patruchio ♥ Katharina

Themes

Gender This play showed the social conditions of

women back in the Renaissance. The social conditions of women were different from what is happening right now. The men controlled over women.

Marriage Marriage is an economic institution. In

this play, marriage depended on wealth instead of love.

Bibliography

http://www.absoluteshakespeare.com/plays/taming_of_the_shrew/taming_of_the_shrew.htm

http://www.newi.ac.uk/englishresources/workunits/ks4/shakespeare/tameshrew/plottheme.html