Contact Us Register
The Taming of the Shrew: A Level York Notes A Level Revision Guide

A Level Study Notes and Revision Guides

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level York Notes

William Shakespeare

Revise the key points

Read through the key points, then print the cards as a handy revision aid.

1 Induction 2

  • In this second part of the Induction, the Lord and servant try to persuade Sly he is of noble birth. Read from: ‘SLY: I am Christophero Sly’ to ‘SLY: And once again a pot o’ th’ smallest ale.’ (Induction 2.5–73)
  • WHY is it important? This section demonstrates how, within a relatively short stage period of time, Sly is transformed via deception from common man to nobleman. In this sense, it offers a ‘trailer’ for what will happen to Kate and to other characters in the play to come.
  • WHAT themes does it explore? The themes of transformation and deception are explored, but also those of violence and suppression via references to hunting, such as the painting of Adonis.
  • HOW does it work dramatically? The scene has the capacity for simple comedy in Sly’s reactions to the offerings made to him, the sudden burst of music, but also of pathos – a certain sadness in our knowing that this is a deception.
  • WHAT language techniques does it employ? Sly moves from rough prose in his first speech, alluding to his life story so far and women such as Marian Hacket, to the elevated verse of his querying lines, ‘Am I a lord, and have I such a lady?’, in which old certainties disappear.

Key extracts

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

2 Act II Scene 1 – Petruccio asks for Kate’s hand in marriage

  • Baptista has sent Bianca’s suitors to introduce themselves to his daughters as their tutors, then talks further with Petruccio. Read from: ‘BAPTISTA: We will go walk a little in the orchard’ to ‘PETRUCCIO: That shakes not though they blow perpetually’. (II.2.110–40)
  • WHY is it important? This conversation focuses on the marriage negotiations between Petruccio and Baptista and sets up our expectations of what is to come both dramatically and thematically. Petruccio’s words as to his own fiery nature are an appetiser for the verbal and physical sparring to come.
  • WHAT themes does it explore? Much of this conversation is given over to discussion of parentage and dowries, as well as inheritance, placing the economic imperative of the marriage centre stage, literally. Ideas about love and attraction are also touched on in Petruccio’s assertions of his ability to woo Kate.
  • HOW does it work dramatically? The conversation is relatively serious in tone and offers a moment’s pause, and narrative ‘set-up’ before the drama of Hortensio entering with his ‘head broke’. This adds spice to what we have just heard about Petruccio’s own fiery nature.
  • WHAT language techniques does it employ? The prosaic negotiations between Baptista and Petruccio give way to hyperbolic analogies of ‘raging fires’ and ‘extreme gusts’, which provide further evidence of Petruccio’s exaggerated sense of himself – but also foreshadow the coming collision of his personality with Kate’s.

Key extracts

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

3 Act III Scene 2 – Petruccio seizes Kate after the wedding

  • At this point in Act III, Petruccio refuses to stay at the wedding feast and says he’ll take Kate off with him. Read from: ‘KATE: Nay then,’ to ‘GREMIO: I warrant him, Petruccio is Kated.’ (lll.2.208–46)
  • WHY is it important? Petruccio, on taking legal ‘ownership’ of Kate, establishes his supreme power over her. She has become a possession which has no less, or more, importance than his fields or horses.
  • WHAT themes does it explore? The issues of gender power and status are clearly explored, as is the marriage market.
  • HOW does it work dramatically? This is a physically active scene, with Petruccio centre stage, possibly with sword drawn, bullying the whole company.
  • WHAT language techniques does it employ? Petruccio’s list of household objects has a rhetorical flourish which ends with the challenge, ‘Touch her whoever dare!’ However, in his final line, ‘I’ll buckler thee against a million’, there is an ironic sense of her worth to him – he will defend her, as his possession, against all-comers.

Key extracts

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

4 Act IV Scene 3 – Petruccio has been continuing with his taming

  • Katherina is at Petruccio’s house and is complaining to Grumio about her treatment. Read from: ‘GRUMIO: No, no, forsooth, I dare not for my life’ to ‘KATHERINA: Go, get thee gone, I say.’ (IV.3.1–35)
  • WHY is it important? The opening to the scene represents a real change of mood and time; we see the full extent of Petruccio’s treatment of Kate, but also the sense that this is a household set up to mock and tame her – Grumio is clearly ‘in on the act’. It might as well be Petruccio speaking.
  • WHAT themes does it explore? The development of the ‘taming’ plot and ideas about love and marriage are revisited; language itself is questioned when Kate says that everything is done ‘under name of perfect love’, as if interrogating the concept altogether.
  • HOW does it work dramatically? The scene begins in media res with a continuing conversation between Grumio and Kate, which then develops into a short monologue that tells us how the marriage has developed. The tone then switches to a more comic one, with Grumio’s twisting of Kate’s words, and elements of slapstick as Kate’s shrewish nature takes over.
  • WHAT language techniques does it employ? The repetition of ‘entreat’ and ‘entreaty’ draws attention to Katherina’s situation, but also gives justification for it; she has never learned how to ask, nor needed to – her education is to make her more polite, courteous, etc. There is also the exchange of questions and responses (‘What say you ...?’) about various food items, which gives rise to the humour.

Key extracts

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

5 Act IV Scene 3 – Petruccio has rejected the clothes ordered for Kate

  • Petruccio now informs Katherina that they will leave to go to her father’s house. Read from: ‘PETRUCCIO: Well, come, my Kate’ to ‘HORTENSIO: Why so, this gallant will command the sun.’ (IV.3.168–95)
  • WHY is it important? Having treated Kate to the prospect of seeing beautiful clothes rejected, Petruccio now seeks to explain himself and tells her that outward show is meaningless. This proves a turning point, as from this moment on Kate appears to submit to him (apart from a final comment when he misrepresents the time) and on the journey back takes part in the trick played on Vincentio.
  • WHAT themes does it explore? The whole idea of what is ‘real’, and what is one’s true self. ‘For ’tis the mind that makes the body rich,’ says Petruccio, which can be linked to the pretence practised in the scene with the tailor, or, more interestingly, as evidence of him seeing in Kate something of worth, of beauty and of spirit. There is also the sense of inverted reality with Petruccio’s claim that it is 7 o’clock, not 2, suggesting his mad behaviour will continue a while longer.
  • HOW does it work dramatically? The speech follows the physical and verbal slapstick of the scene with the tailor, where it might be argued Kate is beaten down by the treatment meted out to her and the tailor. Here Petruccio’s words offer a more conciliatory tone to signal a rebirth in their relationship. Does he offer her his hand to lead her off stage, telling her he will take the blame for the ‘mean array’? Or, thinking her beaten down, does he lose his temper again at Kate ‘still crossing’ him?
  • WHAT language techniques does it employ? Petruccio draws on a number of natural analogies to question Katherina’s desire for beautiful things, for example asking, ‘is the jay more precious than the lark/Because his feathers are more beautiful?’ The use of the masculine form here is interesting: is Petruccio in fact asking Kate to accept him despite his rough, outward behaviour? The language also pre-echoes some of Kate’s references in her speech at the end of the play. In suggesting that the ‘sun breaks through the darkest clouds’, Petruccio suggests that virtue will be recognised whatever might be hiding it. This contrasts with Kate’s words that an angry and shrewish woman is like ‘a fountain troubled,/Muddy, ill-seeming, thick’ (V.2.148–9), implying that one’s skin does reflect one’s nature. Such ideas around identity are central to the play and are re-made with each performance and reading.

Key extracts

The Taming of the Shrew: A Level

Choose another topic: