THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

I believe that in order to be truly

happy, people need to be married.

Your parents should have a say in who you marry.

It is better to go against the values and norms of

society (including those of your family) if it will

ensure that you are truly happy.

You should marry someone you are

passionately in love with and find

attractive.

You should marry someone who is your intellectual

equal.

You should marry someone who can take care of you

financially.

A man should ask permission from a girl’s father before asking her to marry

him.

The guy should be the one to

ask the girl out on a date.

The guy should be the one to

propose to the girl.

At times in my life I have been frustrated

by the expectations put on me (by my family,

society, etc.)

You can easily change your true social status

and how people perceive you with external things (i.e. clothes, a car, etc.)

Based on our discussion, what

predictions do you have for the play?

Directions: In your group, you each will apply one of the following emotions to give an oral

interpretation of two haikus. Your job is to show the emotion with your voice and tone (volume,

emphasis, rate, etc), not your non-verbals. After each group member shares, guess which emotion

s/he was using and share how you know.

Tired as yesterday’s news

Madder than a wet hen

Deliriously happy

Guilty as Tiger Woods

HAIKU VOICE INFLECTION EXERCISES: THE FAMOUS SPAM HAIKUS BY MICHAEL LUBIC

GETTING US READY FOR VOICE/TONE & THE SUMMATIVE

And who dares mock Spam?you? you? you are not worthy

of one rich pink fleck

Grotesque pinkish massIn a blue can on a shelf

Quivering alone

 TIRED AS YESTERDAY’S

NEWSMADDER THAN A WET HEN

DELIRIOUSLY HAPPYGUILTY AS TIGER WOODS

 TIRED AS YESTERDAY’S

NEWSMADDER THAN A WET HEN

DELIRIOUSLY HAPPYGUILTY AS TIGER WOODS

The color of Spamis natural as the sky:A block of sunrise

Oh tin of pink meatI ponder what you may be:Snout or ear or feet?

 TIRED AS YESTERDAY’S

NEWSMADDER THAN A WET HEN

DELIRIOUSLY HAPPYGUILTY AS TIGER WOODS

In the cool morningI fry up a slab of SpamA dog barks next door

Pink tender morselGlistening with salty gelWhat the hell is it?

 TIRED AS YESTERDAY’S

NEWSMADDER THAN A WET HEN

DELIRIOUSLY HAPPYGUILTY AS TIGER WOODS

Old man seeks doctor"I eat Spam daily", he says.Angioplasty

Highly unnaturalThe tortured shape of this "food"A small pink coffin

Slicing your sweet selfSalivating in suspenseSizzle, sizzle...Spam

Pink, beefy temptressI can no longer remain

Vegetarian

 TIRED AS YESTERDAY’S

NEWSMADDER THAN A WET HEN

DELIRIOUSLY HAPPYGUILTY AS TIGER WOODS

Please sign up for a role in TOS Acts I & II (sheet is on the board)

5th Hour – Everyone sign up for one role.

8th Hour – Everyone sign up for one role... Three ingenious friends need deck their fortune with virtuous deeds and sign up

for two roles (in different scenes).

WHEN TURNING IN

As we read, please take notes as necessary to help you understand

the plot and characterization.

Also, please be filling in your “code switching” chart with words that have an unfamiliar meaning.

1.1

• Argument between Hostess and Sly at a bar

• Sly is indignant; he calls her a whore, claims he is the descendant of "Richard the Conqueror" (whoops – he's probably thinking of a William the Conqueror), and refuses to pay for some broken beer mugs.

• Hostess goes for the police• Drunk Sly continues to talk trash until

he passes out cold.

INDUCTIONSHMOOP EDITORIAL TEAM. WWW.SCHMOOP.COM/TAMING-OF-

THE-SHREW

• The Lord and his posse come along: “We want a few cold beers after a long day of hunting. Our hunting dogs are awesome.”

• The Lord, who basically owns the entire countryside, is totally disgusted. He calls Sly a "monstrous beast" and a "swine" and says he's going to play an elaborate prank to teach Sly a lesson.

INDUCTION CONT’D

• Sly is cleaned up and surrounded with delicious food, great music, and obedient servants. The plan, he says, is to trick Sly into believing he is a nobleman instead of a drunken beggar.

• Sly is carried up to a bedroom. Meanwhile, a bunch of actors just happen to show up at the estate. Being a big theater buff, the Lord offers to let them crash for the night in exchange for some entertainment. He tells them he'd like them to put on a play for a fellow "Lord" but there's one small thing: the actors can't laugh at this guy when he acts like a hillbilly who has never seen a play before.

INDUCTION CONT’D

• The Lord's work isn't quite done – since he still needs someone to pretend to be Sly's wife, he tells one of his lackeys to fetch his best boy servant, Bartholomew, and to dress up Bart like a trophy wife.

• The Lord gives all sorts of pointers on how the role of an obedient nobleman's wife should be played – what she should wear, how she should speak and act, and what to do if Bart can't make himself cry on cue (use an onion, of course).

INDUCTION CONT’D

• Sly is surrounded by servants who offer tasty snacks, expensive booze, and the coolest clothes, all of which Sly rejects on the grounds that he is Christopher Sly, the guy who eats discounted beef, drinks cheap beer, owns only one outfit, and often goes barefoot.

• Undaunted, the Lord and his servants apply even more pressure, insisting that this behavior is upsetting Sly's wife, his servants, and all his rich friends. They offer him more luxuries and tell him he can have anything he wants – music, mid-day naps, riding, hawking, hunting, pornography – all the things that the average Elizabethan nobleman adores. The final enticement is news that Sly has the hottest wife in town, and she really misses her man.

INDUCTION CONT’D

• Sly wonders if he's dreaming and decides that no, he is awake and therefore he must be a nobleman. His first command as a "nobleman" is something like this: "Bring me my woman… and another pitcher of Coors light!"

• Bartholomew enters the room dressed like a woman and says all the things an obedient and loving noblewoman would say – "I'm obedient to you," and "not sleeping with you for the past fifteen years has been a real bummer." Sly orders everybody out of the room and tells Bart to take off her clothes and hop in the sack.

INDUCTION CONT’D

• Bart is in quite a fix, so he says Sly's doctor has put the kibosh on sex for at least 24 hours, because it might cause Sly to relapse. Sly responds with a lame pun on his erection and says he'll just have to wait a little longer.

• A messenger enters the room and announces that some actors want to perform for Sly as a "welcome back from your coma" gift. The messenger says that, according to the doctor, a play is just the right kind of medicine for a guy recovering from a fifteen-year-long nap.

• Sly tells his wife to slide her bootylicious self on over next to him so they can watch the play together.

INDUCTION CONT’D

Please Define “Shrew” and “Tame” Using these definitions, discuss your

thoughts on the play’s title.______________________

(8th Hour) Read PP. XVII-XXV and write down key points

______________________Read over the schmoop notes for 1.1. If you wish to challenge yourself and

go schmoop-less, forgo this luxury.

HOMEWORK

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW

“Changed from a wild state, domesticated”

“Vexatious, scolding, brawling woman”

Thoughts? What is suggested by these definitions?

Imagine you are directing this opening scene. You

need to focus the audience's interest on the new story after the highly theatrical

Induction.

Talk together about how you might do this. Some directors make lines 1-45 funny. Find at least three points where you would attempt to

make the audience laugh aloud.

(1.1) 5 MINUTE STAGING ACTIVITY

Talk about Kate & Bianca – what are they like, and what are their attitudes

toward each other?

QUICK TALK

Punctuation – Read these lines“But sirrah, not for my sake, but your master’s, I advise

You to use your manners discreetly in all kind of companies” (I.i.235-236)

READING TIPS

You to use your manners discreetly in all kind of companies” (I.i.235-236)

Context Clues - What does this mean?“in all kind of companies”

READING TIPS

Word Variations/Roots“Perhaps you marked not what’s the pith of all” (I.i.168) = I wonder if you missed the main point here.

READING TIPS

Shakespeare’s Words• No longer used• Local references specific

to place/time• Words we still use, but

with different meaning

PP. XVII-XXV

Shakespeare’s Sentences

• Inversion – switch subject and verb

• Interruption – to add extra detail

**When you’re confused, check for inversion or interruption.

**Do as the actors do and rearrange words, put together word clusters without the interruptions

to help you understand the play.

PP. XVII-XXV

Shakespearean Wordplay

• Pun – a play on words that sound the same but have different meanings. Used to create humor within scenes.

• Metaphors/Extended Metaphors – a play on words in which one object or idea is expressed as if it were something else, something with which it shares common features.

PP. XVII-XXV

Implied Stage Action

• Some stage directions are suggested within the dialogue itself.

• Other movements, gestures, use of props, etc. must be inferred and are open to interpretation.

PP. XVII-XXV

Creatively emulate Shakespeare’s writing style as closely as possible.

Include inversion, interruption, pun/metaphor, allusions, and words/phrases from your code switching sheet.

You’re free to write about whatever you want, but here are some ideas:

1. Tell your best friend what happened on your date last Saturday night

2. Tell your parents why you failed P.E.

3. 3. Explain to a potential employer why you should be hired at ______.

4. Convince your parents they should buy you a car when you get your license.

5. Create a monologue about something you love/hate/admire

TALKIN’ LIKE THE BARD – 10 PTS

If you were making a new film production of Taming of the Shrew who

would you cast as Kate? Bianca? Petruchio? Lucentio? Why? Say

something about these characters that shows who they are.

Use DC, T, P, ADJ, ADV, A in your five-sentence response.

1.2 QUICK CHATCHARACTER DISCUSSION

Act one introduces a number of characters, several are in love, some adopt disguises,

and some have particularrelationships with others.

Draw a diagram to show as clearly as possible who’s who, who’s pretending to be

someone else, and the chiefrelationships among the characters.

The list of characters at the beginning of the play will help you. It should take up the

whole page and be easy to read.

ACT I: REVIEW

Do K & P belong together? Explain.

2.1

What advice do women receive nowadays on “how to get a man”? Survey some current magazines offering advice on

this topic. How might this advice relate to Kate or Bianca?*

3.1

Is this play sexist? Explain.

3.2

Read this scene over again and write down at least two new observations/insights.

4.1

Is Kate tamed?

4.4

Read to the end of the play and write what you think of the ending.

Discuss Kate’s last speech.

Suppose that Kate and Petruchio each decide to write an advice column. Write a letter from a modern figure who asks for advice on marriage or dating, and then

write the reply that Kate and Petruchio would give. (For example, what would Kate and Petruchio tell Roseanne of TV sitcom fame?)*

Americans should return to the tradition of arranged marriages. Argue this as the characters from the play.

In the manner of Saturday Night Live, create a parody of The Taming of the Shrew.

Suppose Petruchio and Kate or Bianca and Lucentio were to visit a modern TV talk show. What might happen? Plan and portray their appearance.+

5.1/5.2