by: William Shakespeare
TRANSLATION
https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/shrew
https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/shrew/page_28/
MODERN TEXT
Act 1
Scene 1
THE SOUND OF TRUMPET FANFARE. LUCENTIO AND HIS SERVANT TRANIO ENTER.
LUCENTIO
Well, Tranio, here we are in fertile Lombardy, garden of Italy, about to fulfill my lifelong dream. You know how I’ve always longed to see the fair city of Padua, famous for its arts and letters, and now, thanks to my father’s generosity, here I am—with his blessing and your good company. So, my trusty servant—and you’ve never let me down—why don’t we settle here for a time to institute a course of study, a really rigorous curriculum. I was born in Pisa, famous for its serious citizens, like my father before me; my father, Vincentio, a successful, world-traveled merchant, was one of the Bentivolii. It’s only fitting that I, his son, reared in Florence, should concentrate on adding more virtuous deeds to my father’s own, stacking them on top of his wealth. For this reason, Tranio, I’ll study ethics and—for the time being, anyway—pursue those areas of philosophy that teach a man how to achieve happiness through virtue. What do you think of all this? Leaving Pisa for Padua, I feel a little like a thirsty man who turns from a puddle to a vast lake he can drink from.
TRANIO
Pardon me, gentle master. As usual, I’m in complete agreement with you about everything, and glad that you still relish the idea of studying philosophy—and let me add that I admire your virtue and your moral discipline. That said, let’s not become total stoics or unfeeling blocks of wood and give up all thought of pleasure. We don’t want to become so focused on Aristotle that we forget to read Ovid. Here’s my thought: practice your logic as you chat with your friends, and your rhetoric in ordinary conversation. Use music and poetry to excite your senses. Math and metaphysics—well, I’d play them by ear, spending only as much time on them as you can stand. There’s nothing to be gained from things we take no pleasure in. What I’m saying, sir, is this: study what you most enjoy.
LUCENTIO
Thanks, Tranio. That’s good advice. Now if only Biondello would get here, we could find a nice place to stay where the friends we’ll make here in Padua could visit us. Wait! Who are all these people?
TRANIO
Maybe it’s a parade to welcome us to town, master.
LUCENTIO AND TRANIO STAND OFF TO ONE SIDE
BAPTISTA ENTERS WITH HIS ELDER DAUGHTER, KATHERINE, THE YOUNGER DAUGHTER, BIANCA, AND TWO SUITORS TO BIANCA, AN OLD MAN NAMED GREMIO AND A YOUNGER MAN NAMED HORTENSIO.
BAPTISTA
Enough, gentlemen! You can’t influence me on this point. You know how I feel. I’m determined not to permit my younger daughter to marry until I have a husband for the elder one. I’ve long regarded you both as good friends. Therefore, if either of you is partial to Katherina, he shall have my permission to court her freely.
GREMIO
Cart her, you mean. She’s too much for me. How about you, Hortensio? Are you still interested in marrying?
KATHERINE
(to BAPTISTA) May I ask, sir, if it’s your intention to publicly humiliate me, showing me off like a whore in front of these suitors?
HORTENSIO
We’re not your suitors, that’s for sure! Not until you improve your temper, girl!
KATHERINE
Don’t worry, I couldn’t care less. The only possible interest I could take in you would be to hit you on the head with a stool, paint your face with blood, and make a fool out of you.
HORTENSIO
May the good Lord keep me safe from all women like her!
GREMIO
Me too, Lord!
TRANIO
(speaking so that only LUCENTIO can hear) Wow! This’ll be fun to watch! This girl is either completely crazy or incredibly willful.
LUCENTIO
(speaking so that only TRANIO can hear) But her sister seems quiet and well behaved, as a young girl should be. Shhh, Tranio.
TRANIO
(speaking so that only LUCENTIO can hear) Indeed, master. Let’s keep quiet and watch.
BAPTISTA
(to GREMIO and HORTENSIO) Gentlemen, since I’d like to make good on what I’ve said—Bianca, go inside. And don’t be unhappy, my dear. Whatever happens, you know I’ll never love you less.
KATHERINE
What a spoiled little brat. She’d make herself cry now, if she could think of a reason.
BIANCA
Sister, be happy in my unhappiness.—Sir, I will humbly obey you. I’ll take comfort in my books and music, reading and practicing my instruments.
LUCENTIO
Listen Tranio! That’s Minerva’s voice you hear.
HORTENSIO
Signior Baptista, will you really be this cruel? I regret that our goodwill should cause Bianca unhappiness.
GREMIO
Why are you locking her away because of this fiend from hell, Signor Baptista? Why does the one daughter have to be punished for the other’s mouth?
BAPTISTA
Gentlemen, I’ve made my decision. That’s all there is to it. Go inside, Bianca.
BIANCA EXITS.
And because I know how fond she is of music, playing her instruments, and poetry, I plan to hire live-in tutors for her. If either of you gentlemen knows anyone who would be suitable for the job, send him to me. I’ll pay well for good teachers. I don’t stint when it comes to educating my children. Goodbye, gentlemen. Katherina, you may stay. I have things to discuss with Bianca.
HE EXITS.
KATHERINE
Stay out here? I don’t think so! Am I to be dictated to, like a child? Told when to come and where to go? No.
SHE EXITS.
GREMIO
You can go straight to hell! What you have to offer is nothing anyone wants. Hortensio, our desire to be married isn’t so great that we can’t wait this out patiently. It’s tough on both of us, but I guess we’ll live. So long. But to prove my love for Bianca, I’m going to see if I can find a good tutor to give her lessons in the things she enjoys. If I do, I’ll send him to her father.
HORTENSIO
I’ll do the same. But wait—don’t go just yet, Signior Gremio. I know we’ve never exactly been allies, but it might be in both our interests, if you think about it, to put our heads together about one particular thing. That is, if we ever want to return to being rivals for Bianca’s love.
GREMIO
And that would be—?
HORTENSIO
To find a husband for her sister.
GREMIO
A husband? You mean a devil!
HORTENSIO
I mean a husband.
GREMIO
I say a devil. Do you really think there’s a man fool enough to marry into hell—however rich the father is?
HORTENSIO
Oh, I don’t know. Just because we wouldn’t want to put up with her tantrums, that doesn’t mean there aren’t guys who would, if we could find them. Guys who’d take her with all her faults, provided there were enough money involved.
GREMIO
I don’t know. All I know is I’d rather endure a public whipping every morning than put up with her—even with a big dowry.
HORTENSIO
The two choices are about equal, it’s true. But come, since we must be friends in the face of this new obstacle, let’s work together to find a husband for Baptista’s elder daughter, and thus free his younger daughter to have a husband, too. Then we can go back to fighting with each other. Happy the man that claims you, sweet Bianca! And may the best man win. What do you say, Signior Gremio?
GREMIO
Agreed. This imaginary suitor for Katherina—I’d buy him the best horse in Padua if he’d get here quickly, woo her, marry her, take her to bed, and rid the house of her. Let’s go.
GREMIO AND HORTENSIO EXIT.
TRANIO
Sir, is it possible that a person could fall in love so suddenly?
LUCENTIO
Oh, Tranio, until it happened to me, I never would have thought it possible. But now I confess it openly to you, Tranio. You are to me what Anna, Dido’s sister, was to the Queen of Carthage. I confide in you. I tell you, Tranio, I’m on fire, in agony. I’ll die if I can’t have this modest young girl for my wife. Advise me, Tranio—I know you can. Help me, Tranio—I know you will.
TRANIO
Master, this is no moment to lecture you. The heart won’t be reasoned with. If love has touched you, love has touched you—end of story. But, as the Roman Terence advises, now that you’re a captive, it’s time to buy back your freedom at the lowest possible cost.
LUCENTIO
Yes, you’re right. Please go on. I feel better already, and I know there’s more good advice where that came from.
TRANIO
Master, you were so focused on the girl herself, I wonder if you missed the main point here.
LUCENTIO
Oh no! I saw sweetness and beauty in her face of the kind that humbled great Jove. He saw it in Europa that time she brought him to his knees in Crete.
TRANIO
That’s all you noticed? You missed the part where her sister began to scold her and made such a ruckus that human ears could hardly stand it?
LUCENTIO
Tranio, I saw her coral-pink lips move and perfume the air with her breath. I saw nothing in her except what is virtuous and lovely.
TRANIO
(to the audience) I think it’s time to rouse him from his trance.—Wake up, sir! If you love the girl, it’s time to figure out how to win her. The way things stand, her older sister is so bitchy and difficult that the father can’t wait to get rid of her. But until he does, your sweetheart is grounded, locked up at home and not allowed any suitors.
LUCENTIO
Oh, Tranio, what a cruel father he is. Still, did you notice how ready he was to hire good tutors for her?
TRANIO
I did—and now I’ve got it!
LUCENTIO
Tranio, I think I’ve got it!
TRANIO
I’ll bet we’re both thinking the same thing, master.
LUCENTIO
Tell me your idea first.
TRANIO
You will pretend to be a schoolmaster and offer to teach the girl. Is that your plan?
LUCENTIO
It is. Do you think it would work?
TRANIO
No, not a chance. You’re supposed to be here in Padua studying. So who would fill in for you—pretend to be Vincentio’s son, live in his house, pore over his books, welcome his friends, and wine and dine his fellow expatriates from Pisa?
LUCENTIO
Enough! Don’t worry, I have it all figured out. No one has seen us yet, and no one knows what we look like—which of us is master and which servant. It’s obvious: You will be me, Tranio—live in my house, instruct the servants and do everything in my place just as I would. I, meanwhile, will impersonate some other made-up fellow—some guy from Florence or Naples, or some poor guy from Pisa. There! That’s a plan. Take off what you’re wearing and put on my hat and cloak.
THEY EXCHANGE CLOTHES.
Here comes Biondello. Where have you been, boy?
BIONDELLO
Where have I been? Where are you? Has Tranio stolen your clothes, master? Or have you stolen his? Have you both stolen each other’s? Please, what’s going on?
LUCENTIO
Come here, boy. It’s no time for jokes: sober up. Tranio and I have traded clothes to save my life. I killed a man in a fight since we came ashore, and I’m worried someone saw me. While I make my escape, I need you to wait on Tranio as though he were me. Understand?
BIONDELLO
Of course, sir. (to the audience) Not a word.
LUCENTIO
And you’re not to utter a syllable of Tranio’s name. “Tranio” is now “Lucentio.”
BIONDELLO
Lucky for him. Wish I could say the same.
TRANIO
I’d second your wish if it automatically meant that Lucentio could have Baptista’s youngest daughter. This is for your master’s sake, not mine. So watch your step when there are other people around. When we’re by ourselves you can call me “Tranio.” Everywhere else, address me as your master Lucentio.
LUCENTIO
Tranio, let’s go. One last thing, and this is up to you. You’ll have to woo Bianca like the rest. Don’t ask why. Just trust me—I know what I’m doing.
THEY EXIT.
THE PRESENTERS UP IN THE BALCONY SPEAK.
FIRST SERVANT
(to SLY) My lord, you’re falling asleep. You’re not paying attention to the play.
SLY
No, no. I am. Really. Very impressive. Is there any more, or is that it?
PAGE
(speaking as SLY's wife) My lord, we’ve only just got started.
SLY
And what an excellent piece of work it is, too, madam lady! I wish it were over.
THEY SIT AND WATCH.
Act 1
Scene 2
PETRUCHIO ENTERS WITH HIS SERVANT GRUMIO.
PETRUCHIO
Farewell, Verona! I’m off to visit my friends in Padua—particularly my best friend Hortensio. And I think this is his house. Here, you there, Grumio. Knock.
GRUMIO
Knock, sir? Whom should I knock? Has anyone offended your Worship?
PETRUCHIO
Moron! I’m telling you to make a fist and pound.
GRUMIO
Really, sir, I hardly think it would be appropriate for me to pound you.
PETRUCHIO
Moron, here we are at the gate. Now put your fists to work, or I’ll put mine to work on your head!
GRUMIO
My master is being difficult. If I do as he asks I think I know which one of us will be sorrier—and it’s not going to be him!
PETRUCHIO
What are you standing there for! If you won’t knock, I’ll ring—and you’ll be singing along in falsetto!
HE WRINGS HIM BY THE EARS
HE GRABS HIM BY THE EARS.
GRUMIO
(to the unseen mistress or master of the house) Help, mistress, help! My master has gone mad.
PETRUCHIO
Next time maybe you’ll knock when I tell you, punk kid!
HORTENSIO ENTERS.
HORTENSIO
Say, what’s the trouble? If it isn’t my old friend Grumio—and my dear friend Petruchio! How’s everyone in Verona?
PETRUCHIO
Hortensio, have you come to break up the fight? Con tutto il cuore ben trovato, if I may say so.
HORTENSIO
Alla nostra casa ben venuto, molto honorato signor mio Petruchio! Get up, Grumio. We’ll settle this quarrel.
GRUMIO
I don’t care what he told you in Latin. If this isn’t legal justification for me to leave his service, I don’t know what is. He tells me to knock him, pound him, and put my fists to work on him. Well, I ask you, was that any way for a servant to behave toward his master—especially when he’s clearly a bit crazy. I wish I had hit him. I think I’d feel a lot better.
PETRUCHIO
He’s a worthless dog, Hortensio. I told him to knock at your gate and for the life of me could not get him to do it.
GRUMIO
Knock at the gate? Oh, for Pete’s sake! Didn’t you clearly say “Knock,” “pound,” and “put your fists to work”? Now you say it was “Knock at the gate”?
PETRUCHIO
Grumio, either leave or shut up. I’m warning you.
HORTENSIO
Easy, Petruchio. I’ll vouch for Grumio. It’s terrible—you two fighting! Faithful, funny old Grumio! You guys go way back! Now, my dear friend, what lucky wind blows you in from Verona?
PETRUCHIO
The wind that scatters young men throughout the world, encouraging them to seek their fortunes some place other than home, where there’s little to be found in the way of experience. But to be brief, Hortensio, the situation is that my father, Antonio, is dead, and I have set off into this crazy world to see if I can marry well and make a good life for myself. I have money in my purse and property at home, so I’m off to see the world.
HORTENSIO
Petruchio, shall I be frank? I know where you can find a shrewish and unpleasant wife. I doubt you’d thank me in the end, but she’s rich, all right, very rich. But you’re too good a friend for me to wish her on you.
PETRUCHIO
Hortensio, good friends like us can get by on a few words. If you can find a woman rich enough for me—because money is all I look for in a wife—let her be as ugly as Flotentius’s love, as old as the Sibyl, and as bad-tempered as Xanthippe. It wouldn’t matter one way or the other. I’ve come here in search of a rich wife. If I find a rich wife in Padua, I’ll have found a good wife in Padua.
GRUMIO
(to HORTENSIO) He’s certainly frank, isn’t he, sir? Give him enough money and he’ll be happy with a puppet, a paper doll, or a diseased old hag without a tooth in her head. If she’s got money, what does it matter?
HORTENSIO
Petruchio, since the conversation’s gone this far, I may as well carry on with what I mentioned purely as a joke. I can help you find a wife who’s rich, young, beautiful, and reared in a manner fit for a gentlewoman. Her only flaw—and it’s a big one—is that she’s unbearable, a total witch, so much so that I wouldn’t think of marrying her myself, not even if I were in a worse fix than I am, not for a whole goldmine.
PETRUCHIO
Hush, Hortensio. You don’t know what money can buy. Tell me her father’s name—that’s all I need. I will go after her even if her scolding is as deafening as thunder in an autumn rainstorm.
HORTENSIO
Her father is Baptista Minola, a pleasant and courteous gentleman. Her name is Katherina Minola, famous throughout Padua for her scolding tongue.
PETRUCHIO
I don’t know her, but I know her father and he knew mine well. I won’t sleep until I see her, Hortensio. So I hope you’ll forgive my cutting short this first conversation of ours—unless you want to come with me.
GRUMIO
(to HORTENSIO) Please, sir, let him go while he’s in this mood. Lord! If she knew him as well as I do, she’d realize how little effect a scolding has on him. At best she may come up with nine or ten abusive things to call him. That’s nothing. Once he starts on her, he’ll rant and rave on an epic scale. In fact, if she even tries to face him down, he’ll throw out a figure of speech that so disfigures her she’ll have no more eyes to see with than a cat. You don’t know him, sir.
HORTENSIO
Wait, Petruchio, I should go with you. My own “wealth” is in Baptista’s keeping. His youngest daughter, the beautiful Bianca, is the jewel of my life, and he keeps her hidden away from me and other rivals for her hand. Because he finds it so incredible—owing to those character deficiencies I mentioned before—that any man will ever come courting Katherina, Baptista has therefore issued this edict: that none shall be permitted to court Bianca until that Katherine the shrew finds a husband.
GRUMIO
“Katherine the shrew!” That’s the worst thing you can call a young woman.
HORTENSIO
Now my friend Petruchio will help me out, presenting me to old Baptista as a schoolmaster for Bianca well-versed in music. I’ll disguise myself in somber robes. In this costume, I’ll be able to spend time with her alone, which will give me plenty of opportunity to court her.
GRUMIO
Oh, very nice! See how the young folks conspire to fool the old folks!
GREMIO ENTERS WITH LUCENTIO, DISGUISED AS CAMBIO.
Master, master, look! Who are these people?
HORTENSIO
Hush, Grumio. It is my rival for Bianca. Petruchio, let’s stand over here awhile.
PETRUCHIO, HORTENSIO, AND GRUMIO STAND OFF TO THE SIDE.
GRUMIO
(to the audience, indicating old GREMIO) Check out this stud! What a heartthrob!
GREMIO
(to LUCENTIO) Oh, all right, I’ve reviewed the list of books. But listen: I want them very handsomely bound—only books of love, make sure of that in any case. And see that you give her no other lessons. Do I make myself clear? Over and above what Signior Baptista pays you, I’ll tack on a bonus. Take these notes, too. And make sure they’re pleasantly perfumed. The lady they are meant for is sweeter than perfume itself. What are you planning to read her?
LUCENTIO
(speaking as CAMBIO) Whatever I read her, you can be sure that I’ll plead the case for your love as strongly as if you yourself stood there before her—and perhaps even a bit more successfully than you would do, sir, seeing as you’re not a scholar.
GREMIO
Oh, what an excellent thing this learning is!
GRUMIO
(speaking to the audience) Oh, what an asinine thing this moron is!
PETRUCHIO
(speaking so that only GRUMIO can hear) Silence, boy!
HORTENSIO
(speaking so that only GRUMIO can hear) Grumio, hush! (to GREMIO, who can’t hear him) God save you, Signior Gremio.
GREMIO
Good to see you, Signior Hortensio. Do you know where I’m going? To Baptista Minola’s house. I promised to look into schoolmasters for Miss Bianca, and luck has led me to this young man, perfectly suited in learning and fine manners, well read in poetry and other books—all of them good, I assure you.
HORTENSIO
That’s great. And I have met a gentleman who promises to help me find a good music tutor to instruct our lady love. I wouldn’t want to fall behind in my devotion to my beloved Bianca.
GREMIO
My beloved—as my actions will prove.
GRUMIO
(speaking to the audience) As his moneybags will prove.
HORTENSIO
Gremio, this is no time to compete over how deeply we love Bianca. Be nice and listen to me a moment, and I’ll give you a piece of news that’s equally good for both of us.
(presenting PETRUCHIO) Here is a gentleman I happened to meet who, if we can come to an arrangement that would be to his liking, is willing to undertake to woo fierce Katherine—yes, even willing to marry her, if the price is right.
GREMIO
So said, so done, is well.
Hortensio, have you told him all her faults?
GREMIO
That’s good, if he’ll really do it. Have you told him all her faults, Hortensio?
PETRUCHIO
I know she is a hateful, brawling scold. If that’s all, gentlemen, I see no problem.
GREMIO
No? Tell me, friend. Where are you from?
PETRUCHIO
Born in Verona. I’m old Antonio’s son. My father’s dead, and his fortune is mine now. I hope to see good days—and many of them.
GREMIO
Sir, such a life with such a wife is unlikely! But if you have the stomach for it, you’ll have all the help from me you need. Do you really mean to go after this wildcat?
PETRUCHIO
Do I mean to go on breathing?
GRUMIO
He’ll woo her or I’ll hang her.
PETRUCHIO
Why did I come here if not for that? Do you think a little burst of noise can intimidate me—I, who have heard lions roar? I, who have survived storms at sea where the winds raged like wild animals? I, who have heard the rumble of guns in battle—and thunder in the sky (heaven’s version of artillery).
Have I not stood in the middle of a battle, with loud calls to arms, horses neighing, and trumpets sounding all around me? And you worry how I’ll react to a woman’s tongue, which isn’t even as loud as the pop! of a chestnut roasting in some farmer’s oven? Please. Scare children with your bugaboos.
GRUMIO
Because he’s not afraid of them.
GREMIO
Listen, Hortensio. I think this gentleman’s arrival could be most fortunate—both for himself and for us.
HORTENSIO
I promised him that we would all chip in and take care of the wooing expenses, whatever they come to.
GREMIO
Absolutely—so long as he gets the girl.
GRUMIO
I wish I could be as certain of a good dinner.
TRANIO ENTERS, LAVISHLY DRESSED IN GENTLEMEN’S CLOTHES; HE IS ACCOMPANIED BY BIONDELLO.
TRANIO
(speaking as LUCENTIO) Greetings, gentlemen. May I be so bold as to ask the fastest way to Signior Baptista Minola’s house?
BIONDELLO
The old man with the two pretty daughters? Is that the man you want?
TRANIO
(speaking as LUCENTIO) The very one, Biondello.
GREMIO
Pardon, sir, I hope you’re not looking for the daughter—
TRANIO
(speaking as LUCENTIO) I might be looking for both the daughter and her father. What’s it to you?
PETRUCHIO
But not the woman who scolds, anyway, I hope.
TRANIO
(speaking as LUCENTIO) I’m not a fan of scolds, my friend. Come, Biondello.
LUCENTIO
(speaking quietly) Nice work, Tranio!
HORTENSIO
Sir, a word before you go. Are you a suitor to the girl we speak of, yes or no?
TRANIO
What if I am? Is there a problem?
GREMIO
Not if you go away, there isn’t.
TRANIO
(speaking as LUCENTIO) Well, it seems to me that the streets are as much mine as yours.
GREMIO
But she isn’t.
TRANIO
And why is that, please?
GREMIO
Because, if you must know, she’s been chosen by Signior Gremio.
HORTENSIO
Because she’s been chosen by Signior Hortensio.
TRANIO
Wait a minute, gentlemen. Be good enough to hear me out. Baptista is a noble gentleman—one to whom my father is not completely unknown—and lovely as his daughter is, she is entitled to any number of suitors—myself among them.
Fair Leda’s daughter had a thousand wooers;
Then well one more may fair Bianca have.
And so she shall. Lucentio shall make one,
Though Paris came in hope to speed alone.
The beautiful Helen of Troy had a thousand suitors. Let Bianca have one more—anyway, she’s got one. Lucentio shall join the ranks, even if Paris himself comes to woo her.
GREMIO
This fellow will out-talk us all.
LUCENTIO
(speaking as CAMBIO) Well, let him. He’ll talk himself out, soon.
PETRUCHIO
Hortensio, what’s all this about?
HORTENSIO
(to TRANIO) Forgive me for asking, but have you ever actually seen Baptista’s daughter?
TRANIO
(speaking as LUCENTIO) No, but I hear he has two, the one as famous for her scolding tongue as the other is for her modesty and beauty.
PETRUCHIO
The first one’s mine, so hands off!
GREMIO
Yes, leave that labor to great Hercules—it’s worse than the previous twelve put together.
PETRUCHIO
(to TRANIO) Sir, let me be clear. As far as the youngest daughter, the one you were asking about, is concerned, the father refuses any suitors access to her. He will not promise her to any man until the elder sister is married. Then and only then will the younger be free to marry.
TRANIO
(as LUCENTIO) If that’s the case, then you’re the man to help us, me along with the rest. And if you carry it off and break the ice—win the older and make the younger accessible to us—whoever winds up with her will not be such a boor as to be ungrateful, I’m sure.
HORTENSIO
Sir, that’s well said and well thought out. Now, since you count yourself among Bianca’s suitors, you must—as we already have—pay this gentlemen to whom we are all so indebted.
TRANIO
(speaking as LUCENTIO) I’ll ante up, certainly! And on that note, let’s all pass the time this afternoon drinking rounds to our mistress’s health and following the example of legal adversaries, who fight tooth and nail in court but eat and drink as friends.
GRUMIO AND BIONDELLO
An excellent motion. Let’s go.
HORTENSIO
I second that motion. So be it. Petruchio, I’m buying.
THEY ALL EXIT.