The Taming of the Shrew

Resources

Here is a quick link to the University of Virginia’s full text of the play. You can select which Act or Scene you want, and you could even print it out. If you’re having some trouble, I always suggest that you check out SparkNotes. Their NoFear Shakespeare is a nice resource, but make sure that you are reading both the original text as well as the modern version. All of our work will deal with the original only. If you want to watch the play, you can check out this production of it, and even download it and put it on your iPod or PSP.

In Class Drawings

You can find my sketch of the relationships between Lucentio, Bianca, Tranio, Hortensio, and Gremio here.

Assignments

Here is the brief assignment dealing with the Induction.

Here is the response to Act III

Here is the response for Act IV

Here is the prep work for our character debate centered around W.H. Auden’s poem.

Fun Stuff

Incidentally, there were several, um… “innovations” made during the late 16th century to deal with shrews. The Scold’s Bridle, pictured below, was one of many such devices. It is interesting to note that, in 16th century England, this was a legal punishment for women who where considered to be gossips.

And on a lighter note, here is another completely bizarre BBC production. It might actually be stranger than the production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.