The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy written by William Shakespeare between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with an introduction, called the induction, where a playful nobleman tricks a drunk man named Christopher Sly into thinking he is a nobleman. The nobleman then has the play performed for Sly’s entertainment.

The main story follows the relationship between Petruchio and Katherina, a strong-willed woman. At first, Katherina does not want to be with Petruchio, but he changes her behavior by using difficult methods, such as not letting her eat or drink, until she becomes a well-behaved bride. Another part of the play shows a competition among men who want to marry Katherina’s younger sister, Bianca, who is seen as the "ideal" woman. Some people argue whether the play treats women unfairly, and this has caused much debate.

The Taming of the Shrew has been adapted many times for theater, film, opera, ballet, and musicals. Examples include Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate, the 1963 film McLintock! starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, and the 1967 film version with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The 1999 movie 10 Things I Hate About You and the 2003 film Deliver Us from Eva are also based loosely on the play.

Synopsis

Before the play begins, a scene called an induction sets up the story. It shows a confused drunkard named Christopher Sly being tricked into thinking he is a nobleman. A play is performed for him to distract him from his "wife," who is actually Bartholomew, a servant dressed as a woman.

In the play, the "shrew" is Katherina, the older daughter of Baptista Minola, a lord in Padua. Many men, including Tranio, avoid marrying her because of her strong will and stubbornness. Other men, like Hortensio and Gremio, want to marry her younger sister, Bianca. However, Baptista refuses to let Bianca marry until Katherina is wed. This pushes Bianca’s suitors to help find Katherina a husband so they can later compete for Bianca. The situation becomes more complicated when Lucentio, a young man who has come to Padua to study, falls in love with Bianca. He overhears Baptista looking for tutors for his daughters and decides to disguise himself as a Latin teacher named Cambio to secretly court Bianca. At the same time, he sends his servant Tranio to pretend to be him.

Meanwhile, Petruchio, a man from Verona, arrives in Padua with his servant Grumio. He tells his friend Hortensio that he is looking for a wife to enjoy life after his father’s death. Hortensio then invites Petruchio to marry Katherina. He also has Petruchio pretend to be a music tutor named Litio to meet Baptista. This allows Lucentio and Hortensio to pursue Bianca while pretending to be the tutors Cambio and Litio.

To manage Katherina’s strong personality, Petruchio acts as if her harsh words and actions are kind and gentle. Katherina agrees to marry him because he is the only man willing to challenge her. However, during the wedding ceremony, Petruchio causes a scene by hitting the priest and drinking the communion wine. After the wedding, he takes Katherina to his home against her will. Later, Gremio and Tranio (disguised as Lucentio) compete for Bianca’s hand, with Tranio promising more than Lucentio can afford. When Baptista agrees to let Bianca marry Lucentio once his father confirms the dowry, Tranio convinces Hortensio that Bianca is not worth his attention, removing his last rival.

In Verona, Petruchio begins to "tame" Katherina by refusing to give her food or clothing, claiming nothing is good enough. He also forces her to agree with his absurd statements, such as calling the sun the moon. On their way back to Padua, Katherina agrees with Petruchio’s claims, even apologizing to a man he falsely identifies as a woman.

Back in Padua, Lucentio and Tranio convince a passing teacher to pretend to be Vincentio, Lucentio’s father, to confirm the dowry. Baptista agrees to let Bianca marry Lucentio (still disguised as Tranio). Bianca, knowing the deception, secretly runs away with the real Lucentio to get married. When Vincentio arrives in Padua, he meets the teacher, who claims to be Lucentio’s father. Tranio (still disguised as Lucentio) appears, and the teacher confirms his identity. In the confusion, Vincentio is nearly arrested until the real Lucentio and Bianca arrive, revealing the truth to Baptista and Vincentio. Lucentio explains everything, and both fathers forgive him.

Meanwhile, Hortensio has married a wealthy widow. In the final scene, three couples are married: Bianca and Lucentio, the widow and Hortensio, and Katherina and Petruchio. The men argue about whose wife is the most obedient. Petruchio suggests a contest where each husband sends a servant to call his wife. Katherina is the only one who arrives, winning the contest for Petruchio. She then brings the other two wives into the room and gives a speech about why wives should obey their husbands. The play ends with Baptista, Hortensio, and Lucentio impressed by how successfully Petruchio has tamed Katherina.

Date and text

Efforts to determine when the play was written are difficult because of its unclear connection to another Elizabethan play called A Pleasant Conceited Historie, also known as The Taming of a Shrew. This play has a plot almost identical to The Shrew but uses different words and character names. The exact relationship between The Shrew and A Shrew is unknown. Some theories suggest A Shrew could be a written record of a performance of The Shrew, a source used to create The Shrew, an early version of The Shrew, or a version of The Shrew that was changed later. A Shrew was recorded in the Stationers' Register on 2 May 1594, which suggests The Shrew was likely written between 1590 and 1594.

Some writers believe the date can be narrowed further. A date before which The Shrew was written could be August 1592, as a stage direction in A Shrew mentions "Simon," likely referring to the actor Simon Jewell, who died on 21 August 1592. Additionally, The Shrew may have been written before 1593, as a play called Beauty Dishonoured, published in June 1593, includes a line about "kissing," which appears in The Shrew but not in A Shrew. Both plays also share similarities with an anonymous play called A Knack To Know A Knave, first performed on 10 June 1592. This play includes passages found in both The Shrew and A Shrew, but also includes parts unique to The Shrew, suggesting The Shrew was performed before June 1592.

In his 1982 edition of the play for The Oxford Shakespeare, H.J. Oliver suggests The Shrew was written no later than 1592. He bases this on the title page of A Shrew, which states the play was performed "sundry times" by Pembroke's Men. When London theaters closed in June 1592 due to plague, Pembroke's Men toured regions like Bath and Ludlow. Their tour failed financially, and they returned to London in September 1592. Over the next three years, four plays with Pembroke's Men on their title pages were published, including Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus (1594) and A Shrew (May 1594). Oliver believes these were sold by members of the company after their failed tour. He assumes A Shrew is a written record of The Shrew, meaning The Shrew must have been in their possession before the tour began in June 1592.

Ann Thompson, in her 1984 and 2003 editions of the play for the New Cambridge Shakespeare, considers A Shrew to be a written record of The Shrew. She argues The Shrew must have been written before June 1592, citing the reference to "Simon," the line in Beauty Dishonoured, and similarities with A Knack To Know A Knave. Stephen Roy Miller, in his 1998 edition of A Shrew, agrees The Shrew was written in late 1591 or early 1592, though he believes A Shrew is a rewrite of The Shrew, not a written record. Gary Taylor, in William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion, suggests The Shrew was written around 1590–1591, using similar evidence but acknowledging the difficulty of pinpointing the exact date.

Keir Elam argues The Shrew was written no earlier than 1591, based on Shakespeare's use of two sources published that year: Abraham Ortelius' map of Italy and John Florio's Second Fruits. Shakespeare incorrectly placed Padua in Lombardy instead of Veneto, likely because Ortelius' map labeled all northern Italy as Lombardy. Elam also believes Shakespeare borrowed Italian phrases and dialogue from Florio's work, such as Lucentio's opening lines, which resemble a dialogue in Florio's book between two characters. These arguments place the writing of The Shrew between 1591 and 1592.

The 1594 quarto of A Shrew was printed by Peter Short for Cuthbert Burbie. It was republished in 1596 and 1607. The Shrew was not published until the First Folio in 1623. The only quarto version of The Shrew was printed in 1631 by William Stansby for John Smethwick, titled A Wittie and Pleasant comedie called The Taming of the Shrew, based on the 1623 folio text. W.W. Greg showed that A Shrew and The Shrew were treated as the same text for copyright purposes. When Smethwick bought the rights to print The Shrew in the First Folio in 1609, he actually acquired the rights to A Shrew, not The Shrew. This led Darren Freebury-Jones to argue that Shakespeare's play was originally titled A Shrew, but the Folio compilers changed the title to distinguish it from what he sees as an adaptation.

Analysis and criticism

One of the most important questions among scholars about The Shrew is how it is connected to another play called A Shrew. There are five main ideas about how these two plays are related:

• The two plays are not connected except that they both come from a lost play, now forgotten. This idea is called the Ur-Shrew theory, similar to how Ur-Hamlet is used to describe an earlier version of Hamlet.
• A Shrew is a version of The Shrew made by actors trying to remember the original play from memory. This is called a "bad quarto."
• Shakespeare used A Shrew, a play he did not write, as a source for The Shrew.
• Both plays were written by Shakespeare himself; A Shrew is an early version of The Shrew.
• A Shrew is a version of The Shrew made by someone other than Shakespeare.

Scholars are not sure about the exact relationship between the two plays, but many believe The Shrew is the original, with A Shrew based on it. H.J. Oliver noted that some parts of A Shrew only make sense if they were taken from the version of The Shrew in the First Folio, a well-known collection of Shakespeare’s plays.

The debate about these plays began in 1725 when Alexander Pope included parts of A Shrew in his version of The Shrew. In The Shrew, a framing story about a man named Christopher Sly appears only twice, but in A Shrew, it appears five times, including after the main story ends. Pope added most of the Sly framework to The Shrew, even though he believed A Shrew was not written by Shakespeare. Other editors later did the same, including Lewis Theobald, Thomas Hanmer, and Samuel Johnson. However, in 1790, Edmond Malone removed all parts of A Shrew and returned The Shrew to its original version from the 1623 First Folio. By the end of the 18th century, most scholars thought A Shrew was not written by Shakespeare and that including it in The Shrew added material not originally part of the play.

This idea changed in 1850 when Samuel Hickson compared the two plays and concluded that The Shrew was the original, with A Shrew based on it. He believed A Shrew was written by Christopher Marlowe, using The Shrew as a model. His reasoning was that A Shrew includes lines similar to those in Marlowe’s plays Tamburlaine and Dr. Faustus.

In 1926, Peter Alexander suggested that A Shrew was a "bad quarto," a version made from memory by someone who forgot details. He argued that the subplot in A Shrew lacks clear motivation for characters, unlike The Shrew, and that this shows the person who wrote it was confused. Alexander also believed the subplot in The Shrew was closer to a play called I Suppositi than the one in A Shrew, suggesting The Shrew was based directly on I Suppositi while A Shrew was a step removed. Arthur Quiller-Couch and John Dover Wilson supported this idea in 1928, though some critics disagreed.

E.K. Chambers, an early scholar, argued against the "bad quarto" theory, saying A Shrew did not fit the pattern of other bad quartos. He believed The Shrew’s subplot was based on both A Shrew and an earlier version of the story by Ariosto or Gascoigne.

In 1938, Leo Kirschbaum also disagreed with the "bad quarto" idea, saying A Shrew was too different from The Shrew to be classified as one. In 1998, Stephen Roy Miller added that the differences between the two plays are too significant to be explained by a simple memory-based version. He noted changes in character names, plot details, and the setting, suggesting the author of A Shrew was not trying to copy The Shrew but instead working on a different play.

In 1942, R.A. Houk proposed the Ur-Shrew theory, suggesting both plays were based on a lost third play. G.I. Duthie later refined this idea, saying A Shrew was a version of an early draft of The Shrew that no longer exists. Hickson had previously hinted at this idea, suggesting Marlowe might have used a different version of The Shrew than the one in the First Folio.

Alexander revisited his "bad quarto" theory in 1969, focusing on the differences between the two plays and the inconsistencies in their plots.

Themes

In plays about The Taming of the Shrew, the way people interpret Katherina’s final speech (the longest in the play) often determines how the whole production feels. This speech is important because it seems to talk about whether women should obey men.

Many critics in the past, like G.I. Duthie in 1943, believed Katherina’s speech meant Shakespeare was showing how important it is to follow rules and not cause chaos. However, in today’s society, where people believe men and women should be treated equally, this idea can feel confusing or unfair, as it seems to support the idea that women should be controlled by men.

Scholars have proposed four main ways to understand Katherina’s speech:
1. She truly changed and now respects Petruchio.
2. She changed because she fell in love with Petruchio and chose to accept her role as his wife.
3. Her speech is sarcastic, and she tricked Petruchio into thinking she changed when she actually outsmarted him.
4. The speech should not be taken seriously—it is part of the play’s humorous style.

George Bernard Shaw, writing in 1897, said no decent person could watch the play without feeling ashamed of the message it sends about men being in charge. According to Duthie, Katherina’s speech supports the idea that women should obey men, both in politics and in society.

Actress Meryl Streep, who played Katherina in 1978, said the play shows that Katherina’s change comes from love, not just being forced to obey. John C. Bean believed the speech shows Katherina changed her heart toward Petruchio, not just her behavior.

Today, many people think Katherina’s speech is ironic, meaning she never truly changed. In films like Sam Taylor’s 1929 version and Franco Zeffirelli’s 1967 version, Katherina’s actions during the speech suggest she is mocking Petruchio. For example, in Taylor’s film, Katherina winks at another character, showing she is not serious. In Zeffirelli’s film, Katherina ends the speech and leaves the room, forcing Petruchio to chase her. Scholars like Phyllis Rackin and Philippa Kelly argue the speech is ironic because, in Shakespeare’s time, boys played female roles, making the idea of women being controlled seem strange.

William Empson suggested Katherina might have been played by an adult man, not a boy, because the play shows her being physically strong, like when she lifts a horse or throws Petruchio off someone. He said the ending is ironic because a strong man dressed as a woman tells women how to behave.

Some scholars, like Robert B. Heilman, think the play is a comedy, so Katherina’s speech should not be taken seriously. Heilman said the speech is like a joke, not a serious message. H.J. Oliver argued the story within the story (called the Induction) warns the audience to treat the play as a farce, not a real lesson.

Emma Smith proposed a fifth idea: Katherina and Petruchio planned the speech together to win a bet.

The play’s themes about gender are important. George Bernard Shaw called the play an insult to men and women. Emily Detmer noted that in Shakespeare’s time, laws were changing to stop husbands from beating their wives. She said the play shows a new way to control women without violence, which some people supported. However, she criticized scholars who praise Shakespeare for being less violent than other writers of his time.

Adaptations

The first opera based on the play was Ferdinando Bertoni’s opera buffa Il duca di Atene (1780), with a libretto by Carlo Francesco Badini.

Frederic Reynolds’ Catherine and Petruchio (1828) was an adaptation of Garrick’s version. It included an overture from Gioachino Rossini, songs from Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, and music by John Braham and Thomas Simpson Cooke. The opera starred Fanny Ayton and James William Wallack and premiered at Drury Lane. However, it was not successful and closed after only a few performances. Hermann Goetz’s Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung (1874), with a libretto by Joseph Viktor Widmann, was a comic opera that focused on the Bianca subplot and reduced the taming story. It first performed at the original National Theatre in Mannheim. John Kendrick Bangs’ Katherine: A Travesty (1888) was a Gilbert and Sullivan-style parody operetta that premiered at the Metropolitan Opera. Spyridon Samaras’ La furia domata: commedia musicale in tre atti (1895) was a lost lyric comedy with a libretto by Enrico Annibale Butti and Giulio Macchi. It premiered at the Teatro Lirico. Ruperto Chapí’s Las bravías (1896), with a libretto by José López Silva and Carlos Fernández Shaw, was a one-act zarzuela clearly based on the story. Names and locations were changed to Madrid, and it was a major success in Spain, with over 200 performances in 1896 alone. It continues to be performed regularly.

Johan Wagenaar’s De getemde feeks (1909) was the second of three overtures he wrote based on Shakespeare. The others were Koning Jan (1891) and Driekoningenavond (1928). Another overture inspired by the play was Alfred Reynolds’ The Taming of the Shrew Overture (1927). Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s verismo opera Sly, ovvero la leggenda del dormiente risvegliato (1927) focused on the Induction, with a libretto by Giovacchino Forzano. The opera, a tragedy, depicted Sly as a hard-drinking poet who believed he was a lord after being tricked. When he learned the truth, he mistakenly thought the woman he loved (Dolly) had lied to him. In despair, he killed himself. The opera starred Aureliano Pertile and Mercedes Llopart and premiered at La Scala in Milan. Rudolf Karel’s The Taming of the Shrew was an unfinished opera he worked on between 1942 and 1944. Philip Greeley Clapp’s The Taming of the Shrew (1948) premiered at the Metropolitan Opera. Vittorio Giannini’s The Taming of the Shrew (1953) was an opera buffa with a libretto by Giannini and Dorothy Fee. It premiered at the Cincinnati Music Hall, starring Dorothy Short and Robert Kircher. Vissarion Shebalin’s Ukroshchenye stroptivoy (1957), with a libretto by Abram Akimovich Gozenpud, was Shebalin’s last opera and was immediately praised as a masterpiece in Russia. Dominick Argento’s Christopher Sly (1962), with a libretto by John Manlove, was a comic opera in two scenes and an interlude. It premiered at the University of Minnesota. In the opera, Sly is tricked into believing he is a lord. When he learns the truth, he flees with the Lord’s valuables and his two mistresses.

The earliest known musical adaptation of the play was a ballad opera based on Charles Johnson’s The Cobler of Preston. Called The Cobler of Preston’s Opera, the piece was anonymously written, though some scholars believe William Dunkin may have been the author. Rehearsals for the premiere began in Smock Alley in October 1731, but the show was canceled in November or December. It was later performed by children, including an eleven-year-old named Peg Woffington, in January 1732 at Signora Violante’s New Booth in Dame Street. It was published in March.

James Worsdale’s A Cure for a Scold was also a ballad opera. It premiered at Drury Lane in 1735, starring Kitty Clive and Charles Macklin. The opera was based on Lacy’s Sauny the Scot, not Shakespeare’s original Taming of the Shrew. Petruchio was renamed Manly, and Katherina was renamed Margaret (nicknamed Peg). At the end, there was no wager. Instead, Peg pretended to be dying, then revealed she was fine and said, “You have taught me what ‘tis to be a Wife, and I shall make it my Study to be obliging and obedient.” Manly replied, “My best Peg, we will exchange Kindness, and be each others Servants.” After the play, the actress playing Peg spoke directly to the audience: “Well, I must own, it wounds me to the Heart / To play, unwomanly, so mean a Part. / What – to submit, so tamely – so contented, / Thank Heav’n! I’m not the Thing I represented.”

Cole Porter’s musical Kiss Me, Kate was an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. The music and lyrics were by Porter, and the book was by Samuel and Bella Spewack. It was based on the 1935/1936 Theatre Guild production, which starred Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, whose backstage fights became famous. The musical told the story of a husband and wife acting duo, Fred and Lilli, who tried to stage The Taming of the Shrew but faced problems with their arguments. It opened on Broadway in 1948 at the New Century Theatre, running for 1,077 performances. Directed by John C. Wilson with choreography by Hanya Holm, it starred Patricia Morison and Alfred Drake. It later moved to the West End in 1951, directed by Samuel Spewack with choreography by Holm, and starred Patricia Morison and Bill Johnson. It ran for 501 performances. The musical was a box office and critical success, winning five Tony Awards: Best Authors (Musical), Best Original Score, Best Costume Design, Best Musical, and Best Producers (Musical). The play has been revived many times in different countries. Its 1999 revival at the Martin Beck Theatre