Texts:Shakespeare/cw162331: Difference between revisions

<h2>THE TAMING OF THE SHREW</h2>

<hr />

<h4>Dramatis Personæ</h4>

<p>Persons in the Induction<br/>

A LORD<br/>

CHRISTOPHER SLY, a tinker<br/>

HOSTESS<br/>

PAGE<br/>

PLAYERS<br/>

HUNTSMEN<br/>

SERVANTS<br/>

</p>

<p>BAPTISTA MINOLA, a rich gentleman of Padua<br/>

VINCENTIO, an old gentleman of Pisa<br/>

LUCENTIO, son to Vincentio; in love with Bianca<br/>

PETRUCHIO, a gentleman of Verona; suitor to Katherina<br/>

</p>

<p>Suitors to Bianca<br/>

GREMIO<br/>

HORTENSIO<br/>

</p>

<p>Servants to Lucentio<br/>

TRANIO<br/>

BIONDELLO<br/>

</p>

<p>Servants to Petruchio<br/>

GRUMIO<br/>

CURTIS<br/>

</p>

<p>Daughters to Baptista<br/>

KATHERINA, the shrew<br/>

BIANCA<br/>

</p>

<p>Tailor, Haberdasher, and Servants attending on Baptista and Petruchio<br/>

</p>

<h4>SCENE: Sometimes in Padua, and sometimes in PETRUCHIO'S house in

the country.</h4>

<h3 id="sceneIN_311"> <b>INDUCTION</b></h3>

<p class="scenedesc">

Enter <span class="charname">Hostess</span> and <span class="charname">Sly</span></p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

I'll pheeze you, in faith.<br/>

</p>

<p>HOSTESS.<br/>

A pair of stocks, you rogue!<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Y'are a baggage; the Slys are no rogues; look in the

chronicles: we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore, <i>paucas

pallabris</i>; let the world slide. Sessa!</p>

<p>HOSTESS.<br/>

You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

No, not a denier. Go by, Saint Jeronimy, go to thy cold bed

and warm thee.</p>

<p>HOSTESS.<br/>

I know my remedy; I must go fetch the third-borough.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I'll answer him by law.

I'll not budge an inch, boy: let him come, and kindly.

</p>

<p class="scenedesc">

Horns winded. Enter a <span class="charname">Lord</span> from hunting, with <span

class="charname">Huntsmen</span> and <span class="charname">Servants.</span></p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds;<br/>

Brach Merriman, the poor cur is emboss'd,<br/>

And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach.<br/>

Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good<br/>

At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault?<br/>

I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST HUNTSMAN.<br/>

Why, Bellman is as good as he, my lord;<br/>

He cried upon it at the merest loss,<br/>

And twice today pick'd out the dullest scent;<br/>

Trust me, I take him for the better dog.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Thou art a fool: if Echo were as fleet,<br/>

I would esteem him worth a dozen such.<br/>

But sup them well, and look unto them all;<br/>

Tomorrow I intend to hunt again.<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST HUNTSMAN.<br/>

I will, my lord.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

[ <i>Sees Sly</i>.] What's here? One dead, or drunk?<br/>

See, doth he breathe?<br/>

</p>

<p>SECOND HUNTSMAN.<br/>

He breathes, my lord. Were he not warm'd with ale,<br/>

This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

O monstrous beast! how like a swine he lies!<br/>

Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!<br/>

Sirs, I will practise on this drunken man.<br/>

What think you, if he were convey'd to bed,<br/>

Wrapp'd in sweet clothes, rings put upon his fingers,<br/>

A most delicious banquet by his bed,<br/>

And brave attendants near him when he wakes,<br/>

Would not the beggar then forget himself?<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST HUNTSMAN.<br/>

Believe me, lord, I think he cannot choose.<br/>

</p>

<p>SECOND HUNTSMAN.<br/>

It would seem strange unto him when he wak'd.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Even as a flattering dream or worthless fancy.<br/>

Then take him up, and manage well the jest.<br/>

Carry him gently to my fairest chamber,<br/>

And hang it round with all my wanton pictures;<br/>

Balm his foul head in warm distilled waters,<br/>

And burn sweet wood to make the lodging sweet.<br/>

Procure me music ready when he wakes,<br/>

To make a dulcet and a heavenly sound;<br/>

And if he chance to speak, be ready straight,<br/>

And with a low submissive reverence<br/>

Say 'What is it your honour will command?'<br/>

Let one attend him with a silver basin<br/>

Full of rose-water and bestrew'd with flowers;<br/>

Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper,<br/>

And say 'Will't please your lordship cool your hands?'<br/>

Someone be ready with a costly suit,<br/>

And ask him what apparel he will wear;<br/>

Another tell him of his hounds and horse,<br/>

And that his lady mourns at his disease.<br/>

Persuade him that he hath been lunatic;<br/>

And, when he says he is—say that he dreams,<br/>

For he is nothing but a mighty lord.<br/>

This do, and do it kindly, gentle sirs;<br/>

It will be pastime passing excellent,<br/>

If it be husbanded with modesty.<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST HUNTSMAN.<br/>

My lord, I warrant you we will play our part,<br/>

As he shall think by our true diligence,<br/>

He is no less than what we say he is.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Take him up gently, and to bed with him,<br/>

And each one to his office when he wakes.<br/>

</p>

<p class="right">[<span class="charname">Sly</span> <i>is bourne out. A trumpet

sounds.</i>]</p>

<p>Belike some noble gentleman that means,<br/>

Travelling some journey, to repose him here.<br/>

</p>

<p class="scenedesc">

Re-enter <span class="charname">Servant.</span></p>

<p>SERVANT.<br/>

An it please your honour, players<br/>

That offer service to your lordship.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Bid them come near.<br/>

</p>

<p class="scenedesc">

Enter <span class="charname">Players.</span></p>

<p>PLAYERS.<br/>

We thank your honour.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Do you intend to stay with me tonight?<br/>

</p>

<p>PLAYER.<br/>

So please your lordship to accept our duty.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

With all my heart. This fellow I remember<br/>

Since once he play'd a farmer's eldest son;<br/>

'Twas where you woo'd the gentlewoman so well.<br/>

I have forgot your name; but, sure, that part<br/>

Was aptly fitted and naturally perform'd.<br/>

</p>

<p>PLAYER.<br/>

I think 'twas Soto that your honour means.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

'Tis very true; thou didst it excellent.<br/>

Well, you are come to me in happy time,<br/>

The rather for I have some sport in hand<br/>

Wherein your cunning can assist me much.<br/>

There is a lord will hear you play tonight;<br/>

But I am doubtful of your modesties,<br/>

Lest, over-eying of his odd behaviour,—<br/>

For yet his honour never heard a play,—<br/>

You break into some merry passion<br/>

And so offend him; for I tell you, sirs,<br/>

If you should smile, he grows impatient.<br/>

</p>

<p>PLAYER.<br/>

Fear not, my lord; we can contain ourselves,<br/>

Were he the veriest antick in the world.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Go, sirrah, take them to the buttery,<br/>

And give them friendly welcome everyone:<br/>

Let them want nothing that my house affords.<br/>

</p>

<p>Sirrah, go you to Barthol'mew my page,<br/>

And see him dress'd in all suits like a lady;<br/>

That done, conduct him to the drunkard's chamber,<br/>

And call him 'madam,' do him obeisance.<br/>

Tell him from me—as he will win my love,—<br/>

He bear himself with honourable action,<br/>

Such as he hath observ'd in noble ladies<br/>

Unto their lords, by them accomplished;<br/>

Such duty to the drunkard let him do,<br/>

With soft low tongue and lowly courtesy,<br/>

And say 'What is't your honour will command,<br/>

Wherein your lady and your humble wife<br/>

May show her duty and make known her love?'<br/>

And then with kind embracements, tempting kisses,<br/>

And with declining head into his bosom,<br/>

Bid him shed tears, as being overjoy'd<br/>

To see her noble lord restor'd to health,<br/>

Who for this seven years hath esteemed him<br/>

No better than a poor and loathsome beggar.<br/>

And if the boy have not a woman's gift<br/>

To rain a shower of commanded tears,<br/>

An onion will do well for such a shift,<br/>

Which, in a napkin being close convey'd,<br/>

Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.<br/>

See this dispatch'd with all the haste thou canst;<br/>

Anon I'll give thee more instructions.<br/>

</p>

<p>I know the boy will well usurp the grace,<br/>

Voice, gait, and action of a gentlewoman;<br/>

I long to hear him call the drunkard husband;<br/>

And how my men will stay themselves from laughter<br/>

When they do homage to this simple peasant.<br/>

I'll in to counsel them; haply my presence<br/>

May well abate the over-merry spleen,<br/>

Which otherwise would grow into extremes.<br/>

</p>

<p class="scenedesc">

<span class="charname">Sly</span> is discovered in a rich nightgown, with <span

class="charname">Attendants</span>: some with apparel, basin, ewer, and other

appurtenances; and <span class="charname">Lord</span>, dressed like a servant.</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

For God's sake! a pot of small ale.<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST SERVANT.<br/>

Will't please your lordship drink a cup of sack?<br/>

</p>

<p>SECOND SERVANT.<br/>

Will't please your honour taste of these conserves?<br/>

</p>

<p>THIRD SERVANT.<br/>

What raiment will your honour wear today?<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

I am Christophero Sly; call not me honour nor lordship. I

ne'er drank sack in my life; and if you give me any conserves,

give me conserves of beef. Ne'er ask me what raiment I'll wear,

for I have no more doublets than backs, no more stockings than

legs, nor no more shoes than feet: nay, sometime more feet than

shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the over-leather.</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Heaven cease this idle humour in your honour!<br/>

O, that a mighty man of such descent,<br/>

Of such possessions, and so high esteem,<br/>

Should be infused with so foul a spirit!<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

What! would you make me mad? Am not I Christopher Sly, old

Sly's son of Burton-heath; by birth a pedlar, by education a

cardmaker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present

profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of

Wincot, if she know me not: if she say I am not fourteen pence on

the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in

Christendom. What! I am not bestraught. Here's—</p>

<p>THIRD SERVANT.<br/>

O! this it is that makes your lady mourn.<br/>

</p>

<p>SECOND SERVANT.<br/>

O! this is it that makes your servants droop.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Hence comes it that your kindred shuns your house,<br/>

As beaten hence by your strange lunacy.<br/>

O noble lord, bethink thee of thy birth,<br/>

Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,<br/>

And banish hence these abject lowly dreams.<br/>

Look how thy servants do attend on thee,<br/>

Each in his office ready at thy beck:<br/>

Wilt thou have music? Hark! Apollo plays,<br/>

</p>

<p>And twenty caged nightingales do sing:<br/>

Or wilt thou sleep? We'll have thee to a couch<br/>

Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed<br/>

On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis.<br/>

Say thou wilt walk: we will bestrew the ground:<br/>

Or wilt thou ride? Thy horses shall be trapp'd,<br/>

Their harness studded all with gold and pearl.<br/>

Dost thou love hawking? Thou hast hawks will soar<br/>

Above the morning lark: or wilt thou hunt?<br/>

Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them<br/>

And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth.<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST SERVANT.<br/>

Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift<br/>

As breathed stags; ay, fleeter than the roe.<br/>

</p>

<p>SECOND SERVANT.<br/>

Dost thou love pictures? We will fetch thee straight<br/>

Adonis painted by a running brook,<br/>

And Cytherea all in sedges hid,<br/>

Which seem to move and wanton with her breath<br/>

Even as the waving sedges play with wind.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

We'll show thee Io as she was a maid<br/>

And how she was beguiled and surpris'd,<br/>

As lively painted as the deed was done.<br/>

</p>

<p>THIRD SERVANT.<br/>

Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood,<br/>

Scratching her legs, that one shall swear she bleeds<br/>

And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,<br/>

So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord:<br/>

Thou hast a lady far more beautiful<br/>

Than any woman in this waning age.<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST SERVANT.<br/>

And, till the tears that she hath shed for thee<br/>

Like envious floods o'er-run her lovely face,<br/>

She was the fairest creature in the world;<br/>

And yet she is inferior to none.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Am I a lord? and have I such a lady?<br/>

Or do I dream? Or have I dream'd till now?<br/>

I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak;<br/>

I smell sweet savours, and I feel soft things:<br/>

Upon my life, I am a lord indeed;<br/>

And not a tinker, nor Christophero Sly.<br/>

Well, bring our lady hither to our sight;<br/>

And once again, a pot o' the smallest ale.<br/>

</p>

<p>SECOND SERVANT.<br/>

Will't please your mightiness to wash your hands?<br/>

</p>

<p>O, how we joy to see your wit restor'd!<br/>

O, that once more you knew but what you are!<br/>

These fifteen years you have been in a dream,<br/>

Or, when you wak'd, so wak'd as if you slept.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

These fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly nap.<br/>

But did I never speak of all that time?<br/>

</p>

<p>FIRST SERVANT.<br/>

O! yes, my lord, but very idle words;<br/>

For though you lay here in this goodly chamber,<br/>

Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door,<br/>

And rail upon the hostess of the house,<br/>

And say you would present her at the leet,<br/>

Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts.<br/>

Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Ay, the woman's maid of the house.<br/>

</p>

<p>THIRD SERVANT.<br/>

Why, sir, you know no house nor no such maid,<br/>

Nor no such men as you have reckon'd up,<br/>

As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece,<br/>

And Peter Turph, and Henry Pimpernell;<br/>

And twenty more such names and men as these,<br/>

Which never were, nor no man ever saw.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Now, Lord be thanked for my good amends!<br/>

</p>

<p>ALL.<br/>

Amen.<br/>

</p>

<p class="scenedesc">

Enter the <span class="charname">Page</span>, as a lady, with <span

class="charname">Attendants.</span></p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it.<br/>

</p>

<p>PAGE.<br/>

How fares my noble lord?<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough.<br/>

Where is my wife?<br/>

</p>

<p>PAGE.<br/>

Here, noble lord: what is thy will with her?<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Are you my wife, and will not call me husband?<br/>

My men should call me lord: I am your goodman.<br/>

</p>

<p>PAGE.<br/>

My husband and my lord, my lord and husband;<br/>

I am your wife in all obedience.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

I know it well. What must I call her?<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Madam.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Alice madam, or Joan madam?<br/>

</p>

<p>LORD.<br/>

Madam, and nothing else; so lords call ladies.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Madam wife, they say that I have dream'd<br/>

And slept above some fifteen year or more.<br/>

</p>

<p>PAGE.<br/>

Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me,<br/>

Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

'Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone.<br/>

Madam, undress you, and come now to bed.<br/>

</p>

<p>PAGE.<br/>

Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you<br/>

To pardon me yet for a night or two;<br/>

Or, if not so, until the sun be set:<br/>

For your physicians have expressly charg'd,<br/>

In peril to incur your former malady,<br/>

That I should yet absent me from your bed:<br/>

I hope this reason stands for my excuse.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Ay, it stands so that I may hardly tarry so long; but I would

be loath to fall into my dreams again: I will therefore tarry in

despite of the flesh and the blood.</p>

<p class="scenedesc">

Enter a <span class="charname">Messenger.</span></p>

<p>MESSENGER.<br/>

Your honour's players, hearing your amendment,<br/>

Are come to play a pleasant comedy;<br/>

For so your doctors hold it very meet,<br/>

Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,<br/>

And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy:<br/>

Therefore they thought it good you hear a play,<br/>

And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,<br/>

Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Marry, I will; let them play it. Is not a commonty a

Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick?

</p>

<p>PAGE.<br/>

No, my good lord; it is more pleasing stuff.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

What! household stuff?<br/>

</p>

<p>PAGE.<br/>

It is a kind of history.<br/>

</p>

<p>SLY.<br/>

Well, we'll see't. Come, madam wife, sit by my side and let

the world slip: we shall ne'er be younger.</p>

<h3 id="sceneI_311"> <b>ACT I</b></h3>

<p class="scenedesc">

Flourish. Enter <span class="charname">Lucentio</span> and <span

class="charname">Tranio.</span></p>

<p>LUCENTIO.<br/>

Tranio, since for the great desire I had<br/>

To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,<br/>

I am arriv'd for fruitful Lombardy,<br/>

The pleasant garden of great Italy,<br/>

And by my father's love and leave am arm'd<br/>

With his good will and thy good company,<br/>

My trusty servant well approv'd in all,<br/>

Here let us breathe, and haply institute<br/>

A course of learning and ingenious studies.<br/>

Pisa, renowned for grave citizens,<br/>

Gave me my being and my father first,<br/>

A merchant of great traffic through the world,<br/>

Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii.<br/>

Vincentio's son, brought up in Florence,<br/>

It shall become to serve all hopes conceiv'd,<br/>

To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds:<br/>

And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study,<br/>

Virtue and that part of philosophy<br/>

Will I apply that treats of happiness<br/>

By virtue specially to be achiev'd.<br/>

Tell me thy mind; for I have Pisa left<br/>

And am to Padua come as he that leaves<br/>

A shallow plash to plunge him in the deep,<br/>

And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.<br/>

</p>

<p>TRANIO.<br/>

<i>Mi perdonato</i>, gentle master mine;<br/>

I am in all affected as yourself;<br/>

Glad that you thus continue your resolve<br/>

To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.<br/>

Only, good master, while we do admire<br/>

This virtue and this moral discipline,<br/>

Let's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray;<br/>

Or so devote to Aristotle's checks<br/>

As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd.<br/>

Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,<br/>

And practise rhetoric in your common talk;<br/>

Music and poesy use to quicken you;<br/>

The mathematics and the metaphysics,<br/>

Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you:<br/>

No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en;<br/>

In brief, sir, study what you most affect.<br/>

</p>

<p>LUCENTIO.<br/>

Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise.<br/>

If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore,<br/>

We could at once put us in readiness,<br/>

And take a lodging fit to entertain<br/>

Such friends as time in Padua shall beget.<br/>

But stay awhile; what company is this?<br/>

</p>

<p>TRANIO.<br/>

Master, some show to welcome us to town.<br/>

</p>

<p class="right">[<i><span class="charname">Lucentio</span> and <span

class="charname">Tranio</span> stand aside.</i>]</p>

<p class="scenedesc">

Enter <span class="charname">Baptista, Katherina, Bianca, Gremio</span> and

<span class="charname">Hortensio.</span></p>

<p>BAPTISTA.<br/>

Gentlemen, importune me no farther,<br/>

For how I firmly am resolv'd you know;<br/>

That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter<br/>

Before I have a husband for the elder.<br/>

If either of you both love Katherina,<br/>

Because I know you well and love you well,<br/>

Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.<br/>

</p>

<p>GREMIO.<br/>

To cart her rather: she's too rough for me.<br/>

There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?<br/>

</p>

<p>KATHERINA.<br/>

[<i>To Baptista</i>] I pray you, sir, is it your will<br/>

To make a stale of me amongst these mates?<br/>

</p>

<p>HORTENSIO.<br/>

Mates, maid! How mean you that? No mates for you,<br/>

Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.<br/>

</p>

<p>KATHERINA.<br/>

I' faith, sir, you shall never need to fear;<br/>