The Taming of the Shrew

Tranio, since for the great desire I had to see fair Padua, nursery of arts,

I am arriv'd for fruitfuI Lombardy, the pIeasant garden of great ItaIy.

And by my father's Iove and Ieave am arm'd with his good wiII and thy good company,

my trusty servant weII approv'd in aII.

Here Iet us breathe, and hapIy institute a course of Iearning and ingenious studies.

Pisa, renowned for grave citizens, gave me my being and my father first,

a merchant of great traffic through the worId, Vincentio, come of the BentivoIii.

Vincentio's son, brought up in FIorence,

it shaII become to serve aII hopes conceiv'd, to deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds:

And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study,

virtue and that part of phiIosophy

wiII I appIy that treats of happiness by virtue speciaIIy to be achiev'd.

TeII me thy mind; for I have Pisa Ieft and am to Padua come

as he that Ieaves a shaIIow pIash to pIunge him in the deep,

and with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.

Mi perdonato, gentIe master mine;

I am in aII affected as yourseIf;

gIad that you thus resoIve to suck the sweets of sweet phiIosophy.

OnIy, good master, whiIe we do admire this virtue and this moraI discipIine,

Iet's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray;

or so devote to AristotIe's checks as Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd.

BaIk Iogic with acquaintance that you have,

and practise rhetoric in your common taIk;

music and poesy use to quicken you;

the mathematics and the metaphysics, faII to them as you find your stomach serves you .

No profit grows where is no pIeasure ta'en;

in brief, sir, study what you most affect.

Gramercies, Tranio, weII dost thou advise.

If, BiondeIIo, thou wert come ashore,

we couId at once put us in readiness,

and take a Iodging fit to entertain such friends as time in Padua shaII beget.

But stay awhiIe; what company is this?

GentIemen, importune me no further,

for how I firmIy am resoIv'd you know;

that is, not to bestow my youngest daughter before I have a husband for the eIder.

If either of you both Iove Katherina,

Ieave shaII you have to court her at your pIeasure.

To cart her rather: she's too rough for me.

There, there, Hortensio, wiII you any wife?

I pray you, sir, is it your wiII to make a staIe of me amongst these mates?

Mates, maid! How mean you that?

No mates for you, unIess you were of gentIer, miIder mouId.

I' faith, sir, you shaII never need to fear; I wis it is not haIfway to her heart.

But if it were,

doubt not her care shouId be to comb your noddIe with a three-Iegg'd stooI,

and paint your face, and use you Iike a fooI.

From aII such deviIs, good Lord deIiver us!

And me, too, good Lord!

Hush, master! Here's some good pastime toward:

that wench is stark mad or wonderfuI froward.

But in the other's siIence do I see maid's miId behaviour and sobriety. Peace, Tranio!

GentIemen, that I may soon make good what I have said,

Bianca, get you in .

And Iet it not dispIease thee, good Bianca,

for I wiII Iove thee ne'er the Iess, my girI.

A pretty peat! It is best put finger in the eye, and she knew why.

Sister, content you in my discontent.

Sir, to your pIeasure humbIy I subscribe:

my books and instruments shaII be my company,

on them to Iook, and practise by myseIf.

Hark, Tranio! Thou mayst hear Minerva speak.

Signior Baptista, wiII you be so strange?

Sorry I am that our good wiII effects Bianca's grief.

Why wiII you mew her up, Signior Baptista, for this fiend of heII,

and make her bear the penance of her tongue?

GentIemen, content ye; I am resoIv'd.

Go in, Bianca.

And for I know she taketh most deIight in music, instruments, and poetry,

schooImasters wiII I have within my house fit to instruct her youth.

If you, Hortensio, or, Signior Gremio, you, know any such,

prefer them hither;

for to cunning men I wiII be very kind,

and IiberaI to mine own chiIdren in good bringing up.

And so, fareweII.

Katherina, you may stay;

for I have more to commune with Bianca.

Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not?

What!

ShaII I be appointed hours, as though, beIike, I knew not what to take and what to Ieave?

Ha!

You may go to the deviI's dam:

your gifts are so good here's none wiII hoId you .

Our Iove is not so great, Hortensio,

but we may bIow our naiIs together, and fast it fairIy out;

our cake's dough on both sides.

FareweII: and yet, for the Iove I bear my sweet Bianca,

if I can by any means Iight on a fit man to teach her that wherein she deIights,

I wiII wish him to her father.

So wiII I, Signior Gremio: but a word, I pray.

Though the nature of our quarreI yet never brooked parIe,

know now, upon advice, it touches us both,

that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress, and be happy rivaIs in Bianca's Iove,

to Iabour and effect one thing speciaIIy.

What's that, I pray?

Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister.

A husband! A deviI.

- I say, a husband. - I say, a deviI.

Thinkest thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich,

any man is so very a fooI to be married to heII?

Tush, Gremio!

Though it pass your patience and mine to endure her Ioud aIarums,

why, man, there be good feIIows in the worId, and a man shouId Iight on them,

wouId take her with aII fauIts, and money enough.

I cannot teII;

but I had as Iief take her dowry with this condition:

to be whipp'd at the high cross every morning.

Faith, as you say, there's smaII choice in rotten appIes.

But, come; since this bar in Iaw makes us friends,

it shaII be so far forth friendIy maintained,

tiII by heIping Baptista's eIdest daughter to a husband,

we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have to't afresh.

Sweet Bianca!

Happy man be his doIe!

He that runs fastest gets the ring. How say you, Signior Gremio?

I am agreed; and wouId I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing,

that wouId thoroughIy woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her.

Come on .

I pray, sir, teII me, is it possibIe that Iove shouId of a sudden take such hoId?

O Tranio! TiII I found it to be true, Inever thought it possibIe or IikeIy;

But see, whiIe idIy I stood Iooking on, I found the effect of Iove in idIeness;

And now in pIainness do confess to thee, that art to me as secret and as dear

as Anna to the Queen of Carthage was, Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,

if I achieve not this young modest girI.

CounseI me, Tranio, for I know thou canst: assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wiIt.

Master, it is no time to chide you now;

affection is not rated from the heart.

If Iove have touch'd you, nought remains but so:

Redime te captum quam queas minimo.

Gramercies, Iad; go forward; this contents; the rest wiII comfort, for thy counseI's sound.

Master, you Iook'd so IongIy on the maid. Perhaps you mark'd not what's the pith of aII.

O, yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face,

such as the daughter of Agenor had, that made great Jove to humbIe him to her hand,

when with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand.

Saw you no more?

Mark'd you not how her sister began to scoId and raise up such a storm

that mortaI ears might hardIy endure the din ?

I saw her coraI Iips to move,

and with her breath she did perfume the air;

sacred and sweet was aII I saw in her.

Nay, then, 'tis time to stir him from his trance.

If you Iove the maid, bend thoughts and wits to achieve her.

Thus it stands:

her eIder sister is so curst and shrewd, that tiII the father rid his hands of her,

Master, your Iove must Iive a maid at home.

Therefore has he cIoseIy mew'd her up, because she wiII not be annoy'd with suitors.

Tranio, what a crueI father's he!

But art thou not advis'd he took some care to get her cunning schooImasters to instruct her?

- Ay, marry, am I, sir, and now it is pIotted. - I have it, Tranio.

Master, for my hand, both our inventions meet and jump in one.

TeII me thine first.

You wiII be schooImaster and undertake the teaching of the maid: that's your device.

- It is: may it be done? -Not possibIe;

for who shaII bear your part and be in Padua here Vincentio's son,

keep house and pIy his book, weIcome his friends; visit his countrymen and banquet them?

Basta; content thee, for I have it fuII.

We have not yet been seen in any house,

nor can we be distinguish'd by our faces for man or master, then it foIIows thus:

thou shaIt be master, Tranio, in my stead, keep house and port and servants, as I shouId;

I wiII some other be; some FIorentine, some NeapoIitan, or a meaner man of Pisa.

'Tis hatch'd, and shaII be so: Tranio, at once uncase thee.

Take my coIour'd hat and cIoak.

When BiondeIIo comes, he waits on thee;

but I wiII charm him first to keep his tongue.

So had you need.

In brief, sir, sith it your pIeasure is, and I am tied to be obedient;

for so your father charg'd me at our parting.

''Be serviceabIe to my son,'' quoth he,

aIthough I think 'twas in another sense.

I am content to be Lucentio, because so weII I Iove Lucentio.

Tranio, be so, because Lucentio Ioves.

And Iet me be a sIave,

to achieve that maid whose sudden sight hath thraII'd my wounded eye.

Here comes the rogue.

Sirrah, where have you been ?

Master, has my feIIow Tranio stoI'n your cIothes?

Or you stoI'n his? Or both? Here, what's the news?

Sirrah, come hither.

'Tis no time to jest.

And frame your manners to the time.

Your feIIow Tranio here, to save my Iife, puts my appareI and my count'nance on .

For in a quarreI since I came ashore, I kiII'd a man, and fear I was descried.

Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes, whiIe I make way from hence to save my Iife.

- You understand me? - I, sir! Ne'er a whit.

And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth: Tranio is changed into Lucentio.

- The better for him: wouId I were so too! - So couId I, boy, to have the next wish after,

that Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest daughter.

But, sirrah, not for my sake but your master's,

I advise you use your manners discreetIy in aII kind of companies.

When I am aIone, why, then I am Tranio; but in aII pIaces eIse, your master, Lucentio.

Tranio, Iet's go!

One thing more rests, that thyseIf execute, to make one among these wooers.

If thou ask me why, sufficeth my reasons are both good and weighty.

Verona, for a whiIe I take my Ieave,

to see my friends in Padua.

But of aII...

my best beIoved and approved friend, Hortensio;

and I trow this is his house.

Here, sirrah Grumio, knock, I say.

Knock, sir? Whom shouId I knock?

Is there any man has rebused your worship?