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The Taming of the Shrew: Act II, Scene 1

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The Taming of the Shrew
Act II, Scene 1

Scene 1

Padua. A room in Baptista Minola’s house.

  1. Enter Katherina and Bianca.

Bianca

1 - 7
  1. Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself,
  2. To make a bondmaid and a slave of me—
  3. That I disdain; but for these other gawds,
  4. Unbind my hands, I’ll pull them off myself,
  5. Yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat,
  6. Or what you will command me will I do,
  7. So well I know my duty to my elders.

Katherina

8 - 9
  1. Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell
  2. Whom thou lov’st best; see thou dissemble not.

Bianca

10 - 12
  1. Believe me, sister, of all the men alive
  2. I never yet beheld that special face
  3. Which I could fancy more than any other.

Katherina

13
  1. Minion, thou liest. Is’t not Hortensio?

Bianca

14 - 15
  1. If you affect him, sister, here I swear
  2. I’ll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.

Katherina

16 - 17
  1. O then belike you fancy riches more:
  2. You will have Gremio to keep you fair.

Bianca

18 - 21
  1. Is it for him you do envy me so?
  2. Nay then you jest, and now I well perceive
  3. You have but jested with me all this while.
  4. I prithee, sister Kate, untie my hands.

Katherina

22
  1. If that be jest, then all the rest was so.
  1. Strikes her.
  1. Enter Baptista.

Baptista

23 - 28
  1. Why, how now, dame, whence grows this insolence?
  2. Bianca, stand aside. Poor girl, she weeps.
  3. Go ply thy needle, meddle not with her.
  4. For shame, thou hilding of a devilish spirit,
  5. Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee?
  6. When did she cross thee with a bitter word?

Katherina

29
  1. Her silence flouts me, and I’ll be reveng’d.
  1. Flies after Bianca.

Baptista

30
  1. What, in my sight? Bianca, get thee in.
  1. Exit Bianca.

Katherina

31 - 36
  1. What, will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see
  2. She is your treasure, she must have a husband;
  3. I must dance barefoot on her wedding-day,
  4. And for your love to her lead apes in hell.
  5. Talk not to me, I will go sit and weep,
  6. Till I can find occasion of revenge.
  1. Exit.

Baptista

37 - 38
  1. Was ever gentleman thus griev’d as I?
  2. But who comes here?
  1. Enter Gremio, Lucentio in the habit of a mean man, Petruchio
  2. with Hortensio as a musician, and Tranio as Lucentio with
  3. his boy Biondello bearing a lute and books.

Gremio

39
  1. Good morrow, neighbor Baptista.

Baptista

40
  1. Good morrow, neighbor Gremio. God save you, gentlemen!

Petruchio

41 - 42
  1. And you, good sir! Pray have you not a daughter
  2. Call’d Katherina, fair and virtuous?

Baptista

43
  1. I have a daughter, sir, call’d Katherina.

Gremio

44
  1. You are too blunt, go to it orderly.

Petruchio

45 - 59
  1. You wrong me, Signior Gremio, give me leave.
  2. I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,
  3. That hearing of her beauty and her wit,
  4. Her affability and bashful modesty,
  5. Her wondrous qualities and mild behavior,
  6. Am bold to show myself a forward guest
  7. Within your house, to make mine eye the witness
  8. Of that report which I so oft have heard.
  9. And for an entrance to my entertainment,
  10. I do present you with a man of mine,
  11. Presenting Hortensio.
  12. Cunning in music and the mathematics,
  13. To instruct her fully in those sciences,
  14. Whereof I know she is not ignorant.
  15. Accept of him, or else you do me wrong.
  16. His name is Litio, born in Mantua.

Baptista

60 - 62
  1. Y’ are welcome, sir, and he, for your good sake.
  2. But for my daughter Katherine, this I know,
  3. She is not for your turn, the more my grief.

You lie, in faith, for you are call’d plain Kate,
And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst;

James Dromgole Linton, circa 1900

Petruchio

63 - 64
  1. I see you do not mean to part with her,
  2. Or else you like not of my company.

Baptista

65 - 66
  1. Mistake me not, I speak but as I find.
  2. Whence are you, sir? What may I call your name?

Petruchio

67 - 68
  1. Petruchio is my name, Antonio’s son,
  2. A man well known throughout all Italy.

Baptista

69
  1. I know him well; you are welcome for his sake.

Gremio

70 - 72
  1. Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray
  2. Let us that are poor petitioners speak too.
  3. Backare! You are marvelous forward.

Petruchio

73
  1. O, pardon me, Signior Gremio, I would fain be doing.

Gremio

74 - 81
  1. I doubt it not, sir; but you will curse your wooing.
  2. Neighbor, this is a gift very grateful, I am sure of it. To
  3. express the like kindness, myself, that have been more
  4. kindly beholding to you than any, freely give unto you this
  5. young scholar,
  6. Presenting Lucentio.
  7. that hath been long studying at Rheims, as cunning in Greek,
  8. Latin, and other languages, as the other in music and
  9. mathematics. His name is Cambio; pray accept his service.

Baptista

82 - 84
  1. A thousand thanks, Signior Gremio. Welcome, good Cambio.
  2. To Tranio.
  3. But, gentle sir, methinks you walk like a stranger. May I be
  4. so bold to know the cause of your coming?

Tranio

85 - 98
  1. Pardon me, sir, the boldness is mine own,
  2. That being a stranger in this city here,
  3. Do make myself a suitor to your daughter,
  4. Unto Bianca, fair and virtuous.
  5. Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me,
  6. In the preferment of the eldest sister.
  7. This liberty is all that I request,
  8. That upon knowledge of my parentage,
  9. I may have welcome ’mongst the rest that woo,
  10. And free access and favor as the rest;
  11. And toward the education of your daughters,
  12. I here bestow a simple instrument,
  13. And this small packet of Greek and Latin books.
  14. If you accept them, then their worth is great.

Baptista

99
  1. Lucentio is your name, of whence, I pray?

Tranio

100
  1. Of Pisa, sir, son to Vincentio.

Baptista

101 - 111
  1. A mighty man of Pisa; by report
  2. I know him well. You are very welcome, sir.
  3. Take you the lute, and you the set of books.
  4. You shall go see your pupils presently.
  5. Holla, within!
  6. Enter Baptista’s Servant.
  7.                Sirrah, lead these gentlemen
  8. To my daughters, and tell them both,
  9. These are their tutors. Bid them use them well.
  10. Exit Baptista’s Servant with Lucentio and Hortensio,
  11. Biondello following.
  12. We will go walk a little in the orchard,
  13. And then to dinner. You are passing welcome,
  14. And so I pray you all to think yourselves.

Petruchio

112 - 118
  1. Signior Baptista, my business asketh haste,
  2. And every day I cannot come to woo.
  3. You knew my father well, and in him me,
  4. Left solely heir to all his lands and goods,
  5. Which I have bettered rather than decreas’d.
  6. Then tell me, if I get your daughter’s love,
  7. What dowry shall I have with her to wife?

Baptista

119 - 120
  1. After my death, the one half of my lands,
  2. And in possession twenty thousand crowns.

Petruchio

121 - 125
  1. And for that dowry, I’ll assure her of
  2. Her widowhood, be it that she survive me,
  3. In all my lands and leases whatsoever.
  4. Let specialties be therefore drawn between us,
  5. That covenants may be kept on either hand.

What, will my daughter prove a good musician?

Louis Rhead, not after 1918

Baptista

126 - 127
  1. Ay, when the special thing is well obtain’d,
  2. That is, her love; for that is all in all.

Petruchio

128 - 135
  1. Why, that is nothing; for I tell you, father,
  2. I am as peremptory as she proud-minded;
  3. And where two raging fires meet together,
  4. They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
  5. Though little fire grows great with little wind,
  6. Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all;
  7. So I to her, and so she yields to me,
  8. For I am rough, and woo not like a babe.

Baptista

136 - 137
  1. Well mayst thou woo, and happy be thy speed!
  2. But be thou arm’d for some unhappy words.

Petruchio

138 - 139
  1. Ay, to the proof, as mountains are for winds,
  2. That shake not, though they blow perpetually.
  1. Enter Hortensio as Litio with his head broke.

Baptista

140
  1. How now, my friend, why dost thou look so pale?

Hortensio

141
  1. For fear, I promise you, if I look pale.

Baptista

142
  1. What, will my daughter prove a good musician?

Hortensio

143 - 144
  1. I think she’ll sooner prove a soldier,
  2. Iron may hold with her, but never lutes.

Baptista

145
  1. Why then thou canst not break her to the lute?

Hortensio

146 - 157
  1. Why no, for she hath broke the lute to me.
  2. I did but tell her she mistook her frets,
  3. And bow’d her hand to teach her fingering;
  4. When, with a most impatient devilish spirit,
  5. “Frets, call you these?” quoth she, “I’ll fume with them.”
  6. And with that word she struck me on the head,
  7. And through the instrument my pate made way,
  8. And there I stood amazed for a while,
  9. As on a pillory, looking through the lute,
  10. While she did call me rascal fiddler
  11. And twangling Jack, with twenty such vild terms,
  12. As had she studied to misuse me so.

Petruchio

158 - 160
  1. Now by the world, it is a lusty wench!
  2. I love her ten times more than e’er I did.
  3. O, how I long to have some chat with her!

Baptista

161 - 165
  1. Well, go with me and be not so discomfited.
  2. Proceed in practice with my younger daughter;
  3. She’s apt to learn, and thankful for good turns.
  4. Signior Petruchio, will you go with us,
  5. Or shall I send my daughter Kate to you?

Petruchio

166 - 180
  1. I pray you do. I’ll attend her here,
  2. Exit Baptista with Gremio, Tranio, and Hortensio. Manet
  3. Petruchio.
  4. And woo her with some spirit when she comes.
  5. Say that she rail, why then I’ll tell her plain
  6. She sings as sweetly as a nightingale;
  7. Say that she frown, I’ll say she looks as clear
  8. As morning roses newly wash’d with dew;
  9. Say she be mute, and will not speak a word,
  10. Then I’ll commend her volubility,
  11. And say she uttereth piercing eloquence;
  12. If she do bid me pack, I’ll give her thanks,
  13. As though she bid me stay by her a week;
  14. If she deny to wed, I’ll crave the day
  15. When I shall ask the banes, and when be married.
  16. But here she comes, and now, Petruchio, speak.
  17. Enter Katherina.
  18. Good morrow, Kate, for that’s your name, I hear.

Katherina

181 - 182
  1. Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing:
  2. They call me Katherine that do talk of me.

Petruchio

183 - 192
  1. You lie, in faith, for you are call’d plain Kate,
  2. And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst;
  3. But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,
  4. Kate of Kate-Hall, my super-dainty Kate,
  5. For dainties are all Kates, and therefore, Kate,
  6. Take this of me, Kate of my consolation—
  7. Hearing thy mildness prais’d in every town,
  8. Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
  9. Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,
  10. Myself am mov’d to woo thee for my wife.
Jefferson Winter as Petruchio and Elsie Leslie as Katherine

Jefferson Winter as Petruchio and Elsie Leslie as Katherine

Byron Company, photographer; circa 1903

Katherina

193 - 195
  1. Mov’d! In good time! Let him that mov’d you hither
  2. Remove you hence. I knew you at the first
  3. You were a moveable.

Petruchio

196
  1.                      Why, what’s a moveable?

Katherina

197
  1. A join’d-stool.

Petruchio

198
  1.                 Thou hast hit it; come sit on me.

Katherina

199
  1. Asses are made to bear, and so are you.

Petruchio

200
  1. Women are made to bear, and so are you.

Katherina

201
  1. No such jade as you, if me you mean.

Petruchio

202 - 203
  1. Alas, good Kate, I will not burden thee,
  2. For knowing thee to be but young and light.

Katherina

204 - 205
  1. Too light for such a swain as you to catch,
  2. And yet as heavy as my weight should be.

Petruchio

206
  1. Should be! Should—buzz!

Katherina

207
  1.                         Well ta’en, and like a buzzard.

Petruchio

208
  1. O slow-wing’d turtle, shall a buzzard take thee?

Katherina

209
  1. Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard.

Petruchio

210
  1. Come, come, you wasp, i’ faith you are too angry.

Katherina

211
  1. If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

Petruchio

212
  1. My remedy is then to pluck it out.

Katherina

213
  1. Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.

Petruchio

214 - 215
  1. Who knows not where a wasp does wear his sting?
  2. In his tail.

Katherina

216
  1. In his tongue.

Petruchio

217
  1. Whose tongue?

Katherina

218
  1. Yours, if you talk of tales, and so farewell.

Petruchio

219 - 220
  1. What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again,
  2. Good Kate; I am a gentleman—

Katherina

221
  1.                              That I’ll try.
  1. She strikes him.

Petruchio

222
  1. I swear I’ll cuff you, if you strike again.

Katherina

223 - 225
  1. So may you lose your arms.
  2. If you strike me, you are no gentleman,
  3. And if no gentleman, why then no arms.

Petruchio

226
  1. A herald, Kate? O, put me in thy books!

Katherina

227
  1. What is your crest? A coxcomb?

Petruchio

228
  1. A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen.

Katherina

229
  1. No cock of mine, you crow too like a craven.

Petruchio

230
  1. Nay, come, Kate, come; you must not look so sour.

Katherina

231
  1. It is my fashion when I see a crab.

Petruchio

232
  1. Why, here’s no crab, and therefore look not sour.

Katherina

233
  1. There is, there is.

Petruchio

234
  1. Then show it me.

Katherina

235
  1. Had I a glass, I would.

Petruchio

236
  1. What, you mean my face?

Katherina

237
  1. Well aim’d of such a young one.

Petruchio

238
  1. Now, by Saint George, I am too young for you.

Katherina

239
  1. Yet you are wither’d.

Petruchio

240
  1. ’Tis with cares.

Katherina

241
  1. I care not.

Petruchio

242
  1. Nay, hear you, Kate. In sooth you scape not so.

Katherina

243
  1. I chafe you if I tarry. Let me go.

Petruchio

244 - 258
  1. No, not a whit, I find you passing gentle:
  2. ’Twas told me you were rough and coy and sullen,
  3. And now I find report a very liar;
  4. For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous,
  5. But slow in speech, yet sweet as spring-time flowers.
  6. Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askaunce,
  7. Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will,
  8. Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk;
  9. But thou with mildness entertain’st thy wooers,
  10. With gentle conference, soft, and affable.
  11. Why does the world report that Kate doth limp?
  12. O sland’rous world! Kate like the hazel-twig
  13. Is straight and slender, and as brown in hue
  14. As hazel-nuts, and sweeter than the kernels.
  15. O, let me see thee walk. Thou dost not halt.
Petruchio Banters Katharina

Petruchio Banters Katharina

Edwin Austin Abbey, 1892

Katherina

259
  1. Go, fool, and whom thou keep’st command.

Petruchio

260 - 263
  1. Did ever Dian so become a grove
  2. As Kate this chamber with her princely gait?
  3. O, be thou Dian, and let her be Kate,
  4. And then let Kate be chaste, and Dian sportful!

Katherina

264
  1. Where did you study all this goodly speech?

Petruchio

265
  1. It is extempore, from my mother-wit.

Katherina

266
  1. A witty mother! Witless else her son.

Petruchio

267
  1. Am I not wise?

Katherina

268
  1. Yes, keep you warm.

Petruchio

269 - 282
  1. Marry, so I mean, sweet Katherine, in thy bed;
  2. And therefore setting all this chat aside,
  3. Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented
  4. That you shall be my wife; your dowry ’greed on;
  5. And will you, nill you, I will marry you.
  6. Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn,
  7. For by this light whereby I see thy beauty,
  8. Thy beauty that doth make me like thee well,
  9. Thou must be married to no man but me;
  10. For I am he am born to tame you, Kate,
  11. And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate
  12. Conformable as other household Kates.
  13. Enter Baptista, Gremio, Tranio as Lucentio.
  14. Here comes your father. Never make denial;
  15. I must and will have Katherine to my wife.

Baptista

283
  1. Now, Signior Petruchio, how speed you with my daughter?

Petruchio

284 - 285
  1. How but well, sir? How but well?
  2. It were impossible I should speed amiss.

Baptista

286
  1. Why, how now, daughter Katherine, in your dumps?

Katherina

287 - 291
  1. Call you me daughter? Now I promise you
  2. You have show’d a tender fatherly regard,
  3. To wish me wed to one half lunatic,
  4. A madcap ruffian and a swearing Jack,
  5. That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.

Petruchio

292 - 300
  1. Father, ’tis thus: yourself and all the world,
  2. That talk’d of her, have talk’d amiss of her.
  3. If she be curst, it is for policy,
  4. For she’s not froward, but modest as the dove;
  5. She is not hot, but temperate as the morn;
  6. For patience she will prove a second Grissel,
  7. And Roman Lucrece for her chastity;
  8. And to conclude, we have ’greed so well together
  9. That upon Sunday is the wedding-day.

Katherina

301
  1. I’ll see thee hang’d on Sunday first.

Gremio

302
  1. Hark, Petruchio, she says she’ll see thee hang’d first.

Tranio

303
  1. Is this your speeding? Nay then good night our part!

Petruchio

304 - 319
  1. Be patient, gentlemen, I choose her for myself.
  2. If she and I be pleas’d, what’s that to you?
  3. ’Tis bargain’d ’twixt us twain, being alone,
  4. That she shall still be curst in company.
  5. I tell you ’tis incredible to believe
  6. How much she loves me. O, the kindest Kate,
  7. She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss
  8. She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath,
  9. That in a twink she won me to her love.
  10. O, you are novices! ’tis a world to see
  11. How tame, when men and women are alone,
  12. A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.
  13. Give me thy hand, Kate, I will unto Venice
  14. To buy apparel ’gainst the wedding-day.
  15. Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests,
  16. I will be sure my Katherine shall be fine.
The plant-lore and garden-craft of Shakespeare

As brown in hue as hazel-nuts

From: The plant-lore and garden-craft of Shakespeare

Henry Nicholson Ellacombe, University College Library Services, 1896

Baptista

320 - 321
  1. I know not what to say, but give me your hands.
  2. God send you joy, Petruchio, ’tis a match.

Both Gremio and Tranio

322
  1. Amen, say we. We will be witnesses.

Petruchio

323 - 326
  1. Father, and wife, and gentlemen, adieu.
  2. I will to Venice, Sunday comes apace.
  3. We will have rings and things, and fine array;
  4. And kiss me, Kate, we will be married a’ Sunday.
  1. Exeunt Petruchio and Katherine severally.

Gremio

327
  1. Was ever match clapp’d up so suddenly?

Baptista

328 - 329
  1. Faith, gentlemen, now I play a merchant’s part,
  2. And venture madly on a desperate mart.

Tranio

330 - 331
  1. ’Twas a commodity lay fretting by you;
  2. ’Twill bring you gain, or perish on the seas.

Baptista

332
  1. The gain I seek is, quiet in the match.

Gremio

333 - 336
  1. No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch.
  2. But now, Baptista, to your younger daughter;
  3. Now is the day we long have looked for.
  4. I am your neighbor, and was suitor first.

Tranio

337 - 338
  1. And I am one that love Bianca more
  2. Than words can witness, or your thoughts can guess.

Gremio

339
  1. Youngling, thou canst not love so dear as I.

Tranio

340
  1. Greybeard, thy love doth freeze.

Gremio

341 - 342
  1.                                  But thine doth fry.
  2. Skipper, stand back, ’tis age that nourisheth.

Tranio

343
  1. But youth in ladies’ eyes that flourisheth.

Baptista

344 - 348
  1. Content you, gentlemen, I will compound this strife.
  2. ’Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both
  3. That can assure my daughter greatest dower
  4. Shall have my Bianca’s love.
  5. Say, Signior Gremio, what can you assure her?

Gremio

349 - 365
  1. First, as you know, my house within the city
  2. Is richly furnished with plate and gold,
  3. Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands;
  4. My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry;
  5. In ivory coffers I have stuff’d my crowns;
  6. In cypress chests my arras counterpoints,
  7. Costly apparel, tents, and canopies,
  8. Fine linen, Turkey cushions boss’d with pearl,
  9. Valance of Venice gold in needle-work;
  10. Pewter and brass, and all things that belongs
  11. To house or house-keeping. Then at my farm
  12. I have a hundred milch-kine to the pail,
  13. Six score fat oxen standing in my stalls,
  14. And all things answerable to this portion.
  15. Myself am struck in years, I must confess,
  16. And if I die tomorrow, this is hers,
  17. If whilst I live she will be only mine.

Tranio

366 - 374
  1. That “only” came well in. Sir, list to me:
  2. I am my father’s heir and only son.
  3. If I may have your daughter to my wife,
  4. I’ll leave her houses three or four as good,
  5. Within rich Pisa walls, as any one
  6. Old Signior Gremio has in Padua,
  7. Besides two thousand ducats by the year
  8. Of fruitful land, all which shall be her jointer.
  9. What, have I pinch’d you, Signior Gremio?

Gremio

375 - 379
  1. Two thousand ducats by the year of land!
  2. Aside.
  3. My land amounts not to so much in all.—
  4. That she shall have, besides an argosy
  5. That now is lying in Marsellis road.
  6. What, have I chok’d you with an argosy?
Elsie Leslie as Katherine

Elsie Leslie as Katherine

circa 1903

Tranio

380 - 383
  1. Gremio, ’tis known my father hath no less
  2. Than three great argosies, besides two galliasses
  3. And twelve tight galleys. These I will assure her,
  4. And twice as much, what e’er thou off’rest next.

Gremio

384 - 386
  1. Nay, I have off’red all, I have no more,
  2. And she can have no more than all I have;
  3. If you like me, she shall have me and mine.

Tranio

387 - 388
  1. Why then the maid is mine from all the world,
  2. By your firm promise; Gremio is outvied.

Baptista

389 - 392
  1. I must confess your offer is the best,
  2. And let your father make her the assurance,
  3. She is your own, else you must pardon me;
  4. If you should die before him, where’s her dower?

Tranio

393
  1. That’s but a cavil; he is old, I young.

Gremio

394
  1. And may not young men die as well as old?

Baptista

395 - 401
  1. Well, gentlemen,
  2. I am thus resolv’d: on Sunday next you know
  3. My daughter Katherine is to be married.
  4. Now on the Sunday following shall Bianca
  5. Be bride to you, if you make this assurance;
  6. If not, to Signior Gremio.
  7. And so I take my leave, and thank you both.
  1. Exit.

Gremio

402 - 406
  1. Adieu, good neighbor. Now I fear thee not.
  2. Sirrah, young gamester, your father were a fool
  3. To give thee all, and in his waning age
  4. Set foot under thy table. Tut, a toy!
  5. An old Italian fox is not so kind, my boy.
  1. Exit.

Tranio

407 - 414
  1. A vengeance on your crafty withered hide!
  2. Yet I have fac’d it with a card of ten.
  3. ’Tis in my head to do my master good.
  4. I see no reason but suppos’d Lucentio
  5. Must get a father, call’d suppos’d Vincentio;
  6. And that’s a wonder. Fathers commonly
  7. Do get their children; but in this case of wooing,
  8. A child shall get a sire, if I fail not of my cunning.
  1. Exit.

Byam Shaw, 1901

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