The Taming of the Shrew (7 page)

GRUMIO
    Katherine the curst!
    A title for a maid of all titles the worst.

HORTENSIO
    Now shall my friend Petruchio do me
grace
¹²⁵
,
    And offer me disguised in sober robes
    To old Baptista as a schoolmaster
    Well
seen
¹²⁸
in music, to instruct Bianca,
    That so I may by this device at least
    Have leave and leisure to
make love to
¹³⁰
her
    And unsuspected court her by herself.

Enter Gremio and Lucentio disguised

GRUMIO
    
Here’s no knavery!
¹³²
See, to beguile the old folks, how
    the young folks lay their heads together! Master, master, look
    about you. Who goes there, ha?

HORTENSIO
    Peace, Grumio, it is the rival of my love.
    Petruchio, stand by a while.

They stand aside

GRUMIO
    A
proper stripling
¹³⁷
and an amorous!

Aside

GREMIO
    O, very well, I have perused the
note
¹³⁸
.

To Lucentio

    Hark you, sir, I’ll have them very
fairly
¹³⁹
bound —
    All books of love, see that
at any hand
¹⁴⁰
—
    And see you
read no other lectures
¹⁴¹
to her.
    You understand me. Over and beside
    Signior Baptista’s
liberality
¹⁴³
,
    I’ll
mend it with a largesse
¹⁴⁴
. Take your paper too,

Gives Lucentio the note

    And let me have
them
¹⁴⁵
very well perfumed,
    For she is sweeter than perfume itself
    To whom they go to. What will you read to her?

LUCENTIO
    Whate’er I read to her, I’ll plead for you
    As for my patron, stand you so assured,
    As firmly as
yourself were still in place
¹⁵⁰
—
    Yea, and perhaps with more successful words
    Than you, unless you were a scholar, sir.

GREMIO
    O, this learning, what a thing it is!

GRUMIO
    O, this
woodcock
¹⁵⁴
, what an ass it is!

Aside

PETRUCHIO
    Peace, sirrah!

HORTENSIO
    Grumio, mum.— God save you, Signior Gremio.

GREMIO
    And
you are well met
¹⁵⁷
, Signior Hortensio.
    
Trow you
¹⁵⁸
whither I am going? To Baptista Minola.
    I promised to inquire carefully
    About a schoolmaster for the fair Bianca,
    And by good fortune I have lighted well
    On this young man, for learning and behaviour
    
Fit for her turn
¹⁶³
, well read in poetry
    And other books, good ones, I warrant ye.

HORTENSIO
    ’Tis well. And I have met a gentleman
    Hath promised me to
help me to
¹⁶⁶
another,
    A fine musician to instruct our mistress.
    So shall I no whit be behind in duty
    To fair Bianca, so beloved of me.

GREMIO
    Beloved of me, and that my deeds shall prove.

GRUMIO
    And that his
bags
¹⁷¹
shall prove.

Aside

HORTENSIO
    Gremio, ’tis now no time to
vent
¹⁷²
our love.
    Listen to me, and if you speak
me fair
¹⁷³
,
    I’ll tell you news
indifferent good for either
¹⁷⁴
.
    Here is a gentleman whom by chance I met,
    Upon
agreement from us to his liking
¹⁷⁶
,
    Will undertake to woo curst Katherine,
    Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.

GREMIO
    
So said, so done, is well
¹⁷⁹
.
    Hortensio, have you told him all her faults?

PETRUCHIO
    I know she is an irksome brawling scold:
    If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.

GREMIO
    No, say’st me so, friend?
What countryman?
¹⁸³

PETRUCHIO
    Born in Verona, old Antonio’s son.
    My father dead, my fortune lives for me,
    And I do hope good days and long to see.

GREMIO
    O sir, such a life with such a wife were strange.
    But if you have a
stomach
¹⁸⁸
, to’t a’ God’s name.
    You shall have me assisting you in all.
    But will you woo this wild-cat?

PETRUCHIO
    
Will I live?
¹⁹¹

GRUMIO
    Will he woo her? Ay, or I’ll hang her.

Aside?

PETRUCHIO
    Why came I hither but to that intent?
    Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
    Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
    Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds,
    Rage like an angry boar
chafèd
¹⁹⁷
with sweat?
    Have I not heard great
ordnance
¹⁹⁸
in the field,
    And heaven’s artillery thunder in the skies?
    Have I not in a
pitchèd
²⁰⁰
battle heard
    Loud
’larums
²⁰¹
, neighing steeds, and trumpets’ clang?
    And do you tell me of a woman’s tongue,
    That gives not half so great a blow to hear
    As will a
chestnut in a farmer’s fire
²⁰⁴
?
    Tush, tush!
Fear
²⁰⁵
boys with bugs.

GRUMIO
    For he fears none.

GREMIO
    Hortensio, hark:
    This gentleman is happily arrived,
    My mind presumes, for his own good and yours.

HORTENSIO
    I promised we would be contributors
    And bear his
charge
²¹¹
of wooing whatsoe’er.

GREMIO
    And so we will, provided that he win her.

GRUMIO
    I would I were as sure of a good dinner.

Enter Tranio brave
[
disguised as Lucentio
]
and Biondello

TRANIO
    Gentlemen, God save you. If I may be bold,
    Tell me, I beseech you, which is the
readiest
²¹⁵
way
    To the house of Signior Baptista Minola?

BIONDELLO
    He that has the two fair daughters, is’t he you mean?

TRANIO
    Even he, Biondello.

GREMIO
    Hark you, sir, you mean not her
to—
²¹⁹

TRANIO
    Perhaps, him and her, sir.
What have you to do?
²²⁰

PETRUCHIO
    Not her that chides, sir, at any hand, I pray.

TRANIO
    I love no
chiders
²²²
, sir. Biondello, let’s away.

LUCENTIO
    Well
begun
²²³
, Tranio.

Aside

HORTENSIO
    Sir, a word
ere
²²⁴
you go:
    Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of, yea or no?

TRANIO
    And if I be, sir, is it any offence?

GREMIO
    No, if without more words you will get you hence.

TRANIO
    Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free
    For me as for you?

GREMIO
    But so is not she.

TRANIO
    For what reason, I beseech you?

GREMIO
    For this reason, if you’ll know,
    That she’s the
choice
²³³
love of Signior Gremio.

HORTENSIO
    That she’s the chosen of Signior Hortensio.

TRANIO
    Softly, my masters. If you be gentlemen,
    Do me this right: hear me with patience.
    Baptista is a noble gentleman,
    To whom my father is not
all
²³⁸
unknown,
    And were his daughter fairer than she is,
    She may more suitors have, and me for one.
    Fair
Leda’s daughter
²⁴¹
had a thousand wooers,
    Then well one more may fair Bianca have,
    And so she shall. Lucentio shall make one,
    
Though
²⁴⁴
Paris came in hope to speed alone.

GREMIO
    What, this gentleman will out-talk us all.

LUCENTIO
    Sir, give him
head
²⁴⁶
. I know he’ll prove a jade.

PETRUCHIO
    Hortensio, to what end are all these words?

HORTENSIO
    Sir, let me be so bold as ask you,
    Did you yet ever see Baptista’s daughter?

TRANIO
    No, sir, but hear I do that he hath two:
    The one as famous for a scolding tongue
    As is the other for beauteous modesty.

PETRUCHIO
    Sir, sir, the first’s for me,
let her go by
²⁵³
.

GREMIO
    Yea, leave that labour to great
Hercules
²⁵⁴
,
    And
let it be
²⁵⁵
more than Alcides’ twelve.

PETRUCHIO
    Sir, understand you this of me, in
sooth
²⁵⁶
:
    The youngest daughter whom you
hearken for
²⁵⁷
,
    Her father keeps from all access of suitors,
    And will not promise her to any man
    Until the elder sister first be wed.
    The younger then is free, and not before.

TRANIO
    If it be so, sir, that you are the man
    Must
stead
²⁶³
us all and me amongst the rest,
    And if you break the ice and do this feat,
    Achieve the elder, set the younger free
    For our access,
whose hap
²⁶⁶
shall be to have her
    
Will not so graceless be to be ingrate
²⁶⁷
.

HORTENSIO
    Sir, you say well, and well you do
conceive
²⁶⁸
.
    And since you do profess to be a suitor,
    You must, as we do,
gratify
²⁷⁰
this gentleman,
    To whom we all
rest
²⁷¹
generally beholding.

TRANIO
    Sir, I shall not be slack, in sign whereof,
    Please ye we may
contrive
²⁷³
this afternoon
    And
quaff carouses
²⁷⁴
to our mistress’ health,
    And do as
adversaries
²⁷⁵
do in law,
    
Strive
²⁷⁶
mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

GRUMIO
AND
BIONDELLO
    O excellent
motion
²⁷⁷
! Fellows, let’s be gone.

HORTENSIO
    The motion’s good indeed and be it so,
    Petruchio, I shall be your
ben venuto
²⁷⁹
.

Exeunt

Enter Katherina and Bianca

Bianca’s hands tied

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

KATE
    Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell
    Whom thou lov’st best: see thou
dissemble
⁹
not.

BIANCA
    Believe me, sister, of all the men alive
    I never yet beheld that
special
¹¹
face
    Which I could fancy more than any other.

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

BIANCA
    If you
affect
¹⁴
him, sister, here I swear
    I’ll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.

KATE
    O, then belike you fancy riches more:
    You will have Gremio to keep you
fair
¹⁷
.

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

KATE
    If that be jest, then all the rest was so.

Strikes her

Enter Baptista

BAPTISTA
    Why, how now,
dame
²³
? Whence grows this insolence?—
    Bianca, stand aside. Poor girl, she weeps.
    Go
ply thy needle
²⁵
, meddle not with her.—
    For shame, thou
hilding
²⁶
of a devilish spirit,
    Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee?
    When did she
cross
²⁸
thee with a bitter word?

KATE
    Her silence
flouts
²⁹
me, and I’ll be revenged.

Flies after Bianca

BAPTISTA
    What, in my sight? Bianca, get thee in.

Exit
[
Bianca
]

KATE
    What, will you not
suffer
³¹
me? Nay, now I see
    She is your treasure, she must have a husband,
    I must
dance barefoot on her wedding day
³³
,
    And for your love to her
lead apes in hell
³⁴
.
    Talk not to me. I will go sit and weep
    Till I can find
occasion of
³⁶
revenge.

[
Exit
]

BAPTISTA
    Was ever gentleman thus grieved as I?
    But who comes here?

Enter Gremio, Lucentio in the habit of a mean man, Petruchio with
[
Hortensio as a musician, and
]
Tranio, with his boy
[
Biondello
]
bearing a lute and books

GREMIO
    Good morrow, neighbour Baptista.

BAPTISTA
    Good morrow, neighbour Gremio.
    God save you, gentlemen!

PETRUCHIO
    And you, good sir. Pray, have you not a daughter
    Called Katherina, fair and virtuous?

BAPTISTA
    I have a daughter, sir, called Katherina.

GREMIO
    You are too blunt.
Go to it orderly
⁴⁵
.

PETRUCHIO
    You wrong me, Signior Gremio,
give me leave
⁴⁶
.—
    I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,

To Baptista

    That, hearing of her beauty and her
wit
⁴⁸
,
    Her affability and bashful modesty,
    Her wondrous qualities and mild behaviour,
    Am bold to show myself a
forward
⁵¹
guest
    Within your house, to make mine eye the witness
    Of that report which I so oft have heard.
    And
for an entrance to my entertainment
⁵⁴
,
    I do present you with a man of mine,

Presents Hortensio

    Cunning in music and the mathematics,
    To instruct her fully in those
sciences
⁵⁷
,
    Whereof I know she is not ignorant.
    
Accept of
⁵⁹
him, or else you do me wrong.
    His name is
Litio
⁶⁰
, born in Mantua.

BAPTISTA
    You’re welcome, sir, and he, for your good sake.
    But for my daughter Katherine, this I know,
    She is not for your
turn
⁶³
, the more my grief.

PETRUCHIO
    I see you do not mean to part with her,
    Or else you like not of my company.

BAPTISTA
    Mistake me not, I speak but as I find.
    Whence are you, sir? What may I call your name?

PETRUCHIO
    Petruchio is my name, Antonio’s son,
    A man well known throughout all Italy.

BAPTISTA
    I know him well. You are welcome for his sake.

GREMIO
    
Saving
⁷¹
your tale, Petruchio, I pray,
    Let us that are
poor petitioners
⁷²
speak too:
    
Baccare
⁷³
! You are marvellous forward.

PETRUCHIO
    O, pardon me, Signior Gremio,
I would fain be doing
⁷⁴
.

GREMIO
    I doubt it not, sir. But you will curse your wooing.—
    Neighbour, this is a gift very
grateful
⁷⁶
, I am

To Baptista

    sure of it. To express the
like
⁷⁷
kindness, myself, that have been
    more
kindly
⁷⁸
beholding to you than any, freely give unto you

Presents Lucentio

    this young scholar, that hath been long studying

    at
Rheims
⁸⁰
, as cunning in Greek, Latin, and other

    languages, as the other in music and mathematics. His name
    is
Cambio
⁸²
. Pray, accept his service.

BAPTISTA
    A thousand thanks, Signior Gremio.
    Welcome, good Cambio.—
    But, gentle sir, methinks you
walk like a stranger
⁸⁵
.

To Tranio

    May I be so bold to know the cause of your coming?

TRANIO
    Pardon me, sir, the boldness is mine own,
    That, being a stranger in this city here,
    Do make myself a suitor to your daughter,
    Unto Bianca, fair and virtuous.
    Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me,
    In the
preferment
⁹²
of the eldest sister.
    This liberty is all that I request,
    That,
upon knowledge
⁹⁴
of my parentage,
    I may have welcome ’mongst the rest that woo,
    And free access and favour as the rest.
    And toward the education of your daughters
    I here bestow a simple instrument,

Presents lute and books

    And this small packet of Greek and Latin books:
    If you accept them, then their worth is great.

BAPTISTA
    
Lucentio is your name?
¹⁰¹
Of whence, I pray?

TRANIO
    Of Pisa, sir, son to Vincentio.

BAPTISTA
    A
mighty
¹⁰³
man of Pisa. By report
    I know him well. You are very welcome, sir.—

To Hortensio and Lucentio

    Take you the lute, and you the set of books,
    You shall go see your pupils
presently
¹⁰⁶
.—
    
Holla
¹⁰⁷
, within!

Enter a Servant
    Sirrah, lead these gentlemen
    To my daughters, and tell them both
    These are their tutors: bid them use them well.

[
Exit Servant, with Lucentio and Hortensio,
Biondello following
]

    We will go walk a little in the
orchard
¹¹¹
,
    And then to
dinner
¹¹²
. You are passing welcome,
    And so I pray you all to think yourselves.

PETRUCHIO
    Signior Baptista, my business
asketh haste
¹¹⁴
,
    And every day I cannot come to woo.
    You knew my father well, and in him me,
    Left solely heir to all his lands and goods,
    Which I have bettered rather than decreased.
    Then tell me, if I get your daughter’s love,
    What dowry shall I have with her to wife?

BAPTISTA
    After my death the one half of my lands,
    And
in possession
¹²²
twenty thousand crowns.

PETRUCHIO
    And for that dowry I’ll
assure her of
    Her widowhood
¹²³
, be it that she survive me,
    In all my lands and
leases
¹²⁵
whatsoever.
    Let
specialties
¹²⁶
be therefore drawn between us,
    That
covenants
¹²⁷
may be kept on either hand.

BAPTISTA
    Ay, when the
special
¹²⁸
thing is well obtained,
    That is, her love, for that is all in all.

PETRUCHIO
    Why, that is nothing, for I tell you,
father
¹³⁰
,
    I am as peremptory as she proud-minded.
    And where two raging fires meet together
    They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
    Though little fire grows great with little wind,
    Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all:
    
So I
¹³⁶
to her and so she yields to me,
    For I am rough and woo not like a babe.

BAPTISTA
    Well mayst thou woo, and
happy be thy speed
¹³⁸
!
    But be thou armed for some unhappy words.

PETRUCHIO
    Ay,
to the proof
¹⁴⁰
, as mountains are for winds,
    That shakes not, though they blow perpetually.

Enter Hortensio
[
disguised as Litio
]
, with his head broke

BAPTISTA
    How now, my friend? Why dost thou look so pale?

HORTENSIO
    For fear, I promise you, if I look pale.

BAPTISTA
    What, will my daughter prove a good musician?

HORTENSIO
    I think she’ll sooner
prove
¹⁴⁵
a soldier.
    Iron may
hold with
¹⁴⁶
her, but never lutes.

BAPTISTA
    Why, then thou canst not
break her to
¹⁴⁷
the lute?

HORTENSIO
    Why, no, for she hath
broke the lute to me
¹⁴⁸
.
    I did but tell her she mistook her
frets
¹⁴⁹
,
    And bowed her hand to teach her fingering,
    When, with a most impatient devilish spirit,
    ‘Frets, call you these?’ quoth she, ‘I’ll
fume
¹⁵²
with them.’
    And with that word, she struck me on the head,
    And through the instrument my
pate
¹⁵⁴
made way,
    And there I stood
amazèd
¹⁵⁵
for a while,
    
As on a pillory
¹⁵⁶
, looking through the lute,
    While she did call me rascal
fiddler
¹⁵⁷
    And twangling
Jack
¹⁵⁸
, with twenty such vile terms,
    As had she
studied
¹⁵⁹
to misuse me so.

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

BAPTISTA
    Well, go with me and be not so
discomfited
¹⁶³
.

To Hortensio

    Proceed
in practice
¹⁶⁴
with my younger daughter,
    She’s apt to learn and thankful for good turns.
    Signior Petruchio, will you go with us,
    Or shall I send my daughter Kate to you?

PETRUCHIO
    I pray you do.

Exeunt all but Petruchio

                                           I’ll
attend
¹⁶⁸
her here,
    And woo her with some spirit when she comes.
    Say that she rail, why then I’ll tell her plain
    She sings as sweetly as a nightingale:
    Say that she frown, I’ll say she looks as
clear
¹⁷²
    As morning roses newly washed with dew:
    Say she be mute and will not speak a word,
    Then I’ll commend her volubility,
    And say she uttereth
piercing
¹⁷⁶
eloquence:
    If she do bid me
pack
¹⁷⁷
, I’ll give her thanks,
    As though she bid me stay by her a week:
    If she deny to wed, I’ll
crave
¹⁷⁹
the day
    When I shall ask the
banns
¹⁸⁰
and when be married.
    But here she comes, and now, Petruchio, speak.