Taming of the Shrew

Comedy Conventions

Shakespearean plays are often seen as sad or depressing. In “The Taming of the Shrew,” Shakespeare takes a somewhat sad topic of a man marrying off his daughters and makes it quite humorous. “The Taming of the Shrew” is about a man named Baptista, who has two daughters, one who is very loud and vicious named Katerina, and another sweet, sincere daughter named Bianca. Baptista makes a rule in his house that Bianca may not get married until Kate does, therefore a man sets up Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, to marry Kate because Kate offers a very high dowry of 20,000 crowns, and Petruchio loves money. In “The Taming of the Shrew,” Shakespeare uses many definitions of comedy to produce humor such as a disguises, fluid action, and love at first sight.

Disguises play an integral part in the play “The Taming of the Shrew” and are a part of the definition of comedy used by Shakespeare. The men in this play decide that the only way to woo Bianca is to be in her life everyday. They find out that she needs tutors for her schooling and immediately disguise themselves as such. The disguises the men use are very funny because they wear the typical tutor clothing but very accentuated. They look very ridiculous and silly because they really do not know what they are doing and Bianca sort of realizes it but her father Baptista does not. Her first suitor, Lucentio,

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has a servant named Tranio whom Lucentio has dress as Lucentio while the real Lucentio dresses as a Latin tutor in an attempt to woo Bianca. Hortensio, Bianca’s second suitor also dresses as a music tutor in an attempt to woo her. Also Gremio, the

third suitor, although much older than the other boys, dresses as a Literature tutor. Throughout the play, the action shifts from a couple of different locations. After Petruchio marries Katerina, the fluid action of the play shifts evenly from different locations in Padua to Petruchio’s house. In Padua, the action of the play is usually somewhat positive. However when the play moves to Petruchio’s house, the action is somewhat negative. Fluid action shows the different points of view of the characters in different situations. Petruchio acts differently at his own home than