The Taming of the Shrew (Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages)

Shakespeare, who clearly preferred his women characters to his men (always excepting Falstaff and Hamlet), enlarges the human from the start, by subtly suggesting that women have the truer sense of reality. Contents......Page 6 Series Introduction......Page 10 Introduction by Harold Bloom......Page 12 Biography of William Shakespeare......Page 14 Summary of The Taming of the Shrew......Page 18 Key Passages in The Taming of the Shrew......Page 32 List of Characters in The Taming of the Shrew......Page 44 The Taming of the Shrew in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries......Page 50 The Taming of the Shrew in the Nineteenth Century......Page 62 The Taming of the Shrew in the Twentieth Century......Page 88 The Taming of the Shrew in the Twenty-first Century......Page 176 Bibliography.......Page 196 Acknowledgments......Page 200 Index.......Page 202 Renowned as Shakespeare's most boisterous comedy, The Taming of the Shrew is the tale of two young men -- the hopeful Lucentio and the worldly Petruchio -- and the two sisters they meet in Padua. Lucentio falls in love with Bianca, the apparently ideal younger daughter of the wealthy Baptista Minola. But before they can marry, Bianca's formidable elder sister, Katherine, must be wed. Petruchio, interested only in the huge dowry, arranges to marry Katherine -- against her will -- and enters into a battle of the sexes that has endured as one of Shakespeare's most enjoyable works. The Taming of the Shrew remains one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies. The loving battle of the sexes between its protagonists, Kate and Petruchio, is a theme of nearly universal relevance in Western literature. This study guide to one of the greatest plays contains a selection of the criticism through the centuries on the play. The Taming of the Shrew begins with the very odd two scenes of the Induction, in which a noble practical joker gulls the drunken tinker, Christopher Sly, into the delusion that he is a great lord about to see a performance of Kate and Petruchio's drama. One of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, the loving "battle of the sexes" between its protagonists, Kate and Petruchio, is a theme of nearly universal relevance in Western literature. Also includes a biography of Shakespeare Presents essays written from the seventeenth through the twenty-first centuries that critique the play "The Taming of the Shrew," and includes a summary and presentation of key passages of the play.