The Taming of the Shrew – A. J. Drake's Shakespeare Site

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Comedies

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 209-68.)

ACT 1

1. In Induction 1-2, in what sense is Christopher Sly’s presence metadramatic —meaning that his presence takes us beyond the play’s immediate action and asks us to reflect on the nature of theater and/or dramatic illusion itself? How, too, is Christopher Sly’s story relevant to the main action (i.e. several of the male characters’ pursuit of Katherina and Bianca)?

2. In Induction 1, what is the Beggar (Christopher Sly) initially arguing about with the Hostess? When the Lord arrives at the tavern with his men (they have been out hunting), what trick does he decide to play on the Beggar, and what seems to be his motive for playing such a trick? When the players (i.e. members of an acting troupe) arrive by chance, how does the Lord enlist them in his scheme to deceive the Beggar?

3. In Induction 2, how does the Beggar (Christopher Sly) at first react to being treated like a lord instead of as the poor man he is? What specific aspects of the treatment he receives (in addition to anything we have already learned about his personal character in Induction 1-2) brings him around to thinking that he is, indeed, a great lord and not merely a beggar? Why does he also agree to watch the play that his deceivers offer to perform?

4. In Act 1, Scene 1, why has Lucentio come to Padua—what does he hope to gain by traveling to this Italian city? Where is he from and what are his circumstances? How does the text describe the young man’s first sight of Bianca? What effect does she have on him and his plans? What scheme do he and his servant Tranio devise to win her?

5. In Act 1, Scene 1, we get our first opportunity to consider the relationship between the two members of a common comedic pairing, “master” and “servant.” How do Tranio’s intellectual sharpness, philosophy, and ethos, or personal character, compare to those of his master, Lucentio as the scene unfolds? Choose a few examples of where they accord and where they differ, and discuss.

6. In Act 1, Scene 1, what is life like for Katherina and Bianca at the play’s beginning? How do they conduct themselves in the presence of their father, Baptista, and of Hortensio and Gremio? Why isn’t Baptista willing to allow his youngest daughter Bianca to marry at this point? What seems to be the quality of his relationship with his daughters, and theirs with him? How can you tell?

7. In Act 1, Scene 1, Gremio and Hortensio discuss their mutual aim of gaining young Bianca as a wife. What do these suitors decide best suits their immediate interests? When you add to your observations of Lucentio in this scene the behavior and sentiments of Gremio and Hortensio—all of them intending to be Bianca’s husband—what views of love and marriage are already shaping up at this point in the play?

8. At the end of Act 1, Scene 1, the Beggar (Christopher Sly) is admonished by his “servant” that he is falling asleep (“you nod”) and not paying attention to the play. Sly perks up a little, but it seems clear that he won’t manage to stay awake for the entire performance. How does this little coda to the “Sly” story affect your understanding of the Inductions themselves? Why would it matter, for example, if the Beggar probably won’t remember the staging of the main play, The Taming of the Shrew?

9. In Act 1, Scene 2, why has Petruccio, by his own account, made his way to Padua? What are his personal circumstances, and what attitude does he profess to hold regarding romantic love and the institution of marriage? How does he differ from Lucentio, whom we have already met, in circumstances and attitude? What is the quality of Petruccio’s relationship with his man, Grumio?

10. In Act 1, Scene 2, when Hortensio hears Petruccio expatiate on his view of marriage, what angle does this old friend of Petruccio adopt in his dealings with him? How honest is he with Petruccio about the shrewish Katherina, and what plan do the two of them come up with to advance their respective agendas of wooing Bianca and Katherina, respectively?

ACT 2

11. In Act 2, Scene 1, how does Katherina treat her younger sister, Bianca? What seems to be the underlying reason or anxiety that leads Katherina to behave so aggressively towards her sister, who has done nothing to harm her? What does Katherina then say to Baptista that may further explain this unpleasant episode?

12. In Act 2, Scene 1, describe the initial moves made by Gremio, Petruccio, Hortensio, and Lucentio in their dealings with Baptista, father of Katherina and Bianca. Catalog the disguisings of identity undertaken here, and explain what each of these men, respectively, aims to accomplish by his actions. How does Lucentio’s servant Tranio fit into his master’s scheme?

13. In Act 2, Scene 1, what is Petruccio’s first move in his quest to make Katherina his bride? How does he introduce himself to her, and how does he manage their first conversation, including her verbal and physical rejoinders? In particular, why is “renaming” Katherina as “Kate” and then redefining almost her every move form such an important part of his strategy? How does Baptista respond to Petruccio’s peremptory wooing and declaration that he and Katherina are ready to marry? Why?

14. In Act 2, Scene 1, what do Baptista’s neighbor Gremio and Tranio-as-Lucentio respectively offer by way of a dowry for Bianca, the younger sister of Katherina (who is now slated to marry Petruccio)? How does Baptista handle this competition? How does Gremio react to Tranio-as-Lucentio’s provisional success? What remaining hurdle must Tranio-as-Lucentio and his master Lucentio now overcome if Lucentio is to succeed in his suit for Bianca?

ACT 3

15. Act 3, Scene 1, how does Lucentio woo Bianca in the guise of a schoolmaster named Cambio—what creative device does he employ to reveal his true identity and make his wishes known to her, and how effective is it, based upon her response? Why doesn’t she care for the similar device plied by Hortensio (as Licio)?

16. Act 3, Scene 1, why does Hortensio conditionally forswear any further interest in Bianca—what might she soon do that would destroy his interest? What fear or anxiety does this response on Hortensio’s part betray? What does his reaction tell us about Hortensio’s actual valuation of “true love”?

17. In Act 3, Scene 2, Petruccio makes quite a fool of himself as the wedding ceremony is about to take place, and then during it. What does he do, and why does he do it, as you infer from his own words and actions? How does Baptista react to his prospective son-in-law’s hijinks and treatment of his daughter? In addition, what are Lucentio and Tranio up to in this scene?

18. In Act 3, Scene 2, how does Katherina react to Petruccio’s stratagem of playing the madcap fool. What was she evidently expecting the ceremony to be like, and what, by implication, might she be expecting from marriage itself, both in the personal sense of relations with Petruccio and in the broader, institutional sense that marks a person’s standing in his or her community?

ACT 4

19. In Act 4, Scene 1, the focus is initially on Petruccio’s servants. What kind of relationship seems to prevail among them at the master’s country house, and how are they being affected by Petruccio’s hijinks? How is he treating them, especially in Katherina’s presence? What does the servant Peter say about Petruccio’s aim in treating Katherina as he does?

20. In Act 4, Scene 1, what happened (as Grumio recounts events to his fellow servants) on the trip home to Petruccio’s estate after the wedding? How does Petruccio, in soliloquy at the scene’s end, further explain the method underlying his handling of Katherina thus far? On what principles about male-female relations and about human nature has he been operating? Petruccio is hardly a proto-feminist, but to what extent might his strategy and actions show a certain respect for Katherina?

21. In Act 4, Scene 2, Hortensio is frustrated upon seeing Bianca carrying on romantically with “Cambio” (i.e. the real Lucentio). How does Hortensio react to this disagreeable sight? What decision does he make about his future, and how does his reaction advance the play’s plot? How, too, does Tranio (in character as Lucentio) partly trick a traveling scholar (a “pedant”) into disguising himself as Lucentio’s father, Vincentio?

22. In Act 4, Scene 3, how much of Petruccio’s behavior does Katherina appear to understand—to what extent, that is, does she comprehend the principles underlying his zany behavior towards her? How well is she holding up under this onslaught of boorishness so far? Discuss some examples of her reactions to Petruccio’s unreasonable demands, declarations, and actions.

23. In Act 4, Scene 4-5, how does Tranio and Lucentio’s plan to further deceive Baptista proceed? Why does Lucentio need to marry Bianca in secret and as quickly as possible? How has Tranio smoothed the way for the achievement of this last, necessary act of deception?

24. In Act 4, Scene 6, how does Petruccio continue his plan to conquer his new bride, Katherina—what further outrageous demands does he make of her, and how much of a fight does she put up? How much progress, to judge from this scene and the third scene, has Petruccio made towards his goal of a truly “conformable Kate”?

ACT 5

25. In Act 5, Scene 1, Lucentio’s father Vincentio has been impersonated by a traveling scholar, a “pedant,” at the instigation of Tranio. As a result, what difficulty besets the real Vincentio when he arrives in Padua? How does this potentially dire situation for the pedant, Biondello, and Tranio get resolved, and in a manner that unties all the play’s identity-based “knots”?

26. In Act 5, Scene 2, when the play’s three married couples at last get together for a feast at Lucentio’s, and Petruccio wagers that his own wife will be the most obedient, how do the wives of Lucentio and Hortensio show themselves to be “froward” (i.e., ill-behaved or possessed of a bad attitude)?

27. In Act 5, Scene 2, Petruccio wins his bet with the other men when Katherina speaks with ringing clarity about women’s supposed nature and relations between the sexes. What views does Katherina set forth regarding these matters? Do you take what she says “straight” (i.e., as a defense of traditional marital relations) or do you consider it a clever performance in the service of her own interests? Either way, explain your view.

28. Parental authority is often a major consideration in comic plays; how has Shakespeare dealt with that authority in The Taming of the Shrew? Is it validated or attenuated in this play? In responding, consider the present Act’s representation of Vincentio’s ordeal, but also reflect on Baptista’s role as father to Katherina and Bianca.

Edition. Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors. The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies + Digital Edition. 3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13: 978-0-393-93861-6.

Document Timestamp: 11/9/2025 1:45 PM