How is this humorous? What arrangement does Petruchio make with Baptista before trying to win Katharina's love? Comment on what these arrangements say about a man's reasons for marrying.
Find an example of it when Baptista discusses Katharina's ability to learn the lute wit Hortensio. What does this kind of comparison suggest about how men feel about their wives?
What is his reponse? Katharina:Well aim'd if such a young one. Petruchio:Now, by Saint George, I am too young for you. Katharina:Yet you are wither'd. Why is this tactic a clever move? In what way are these marriage negotiations, unlike those between Baptista and Petruchio? What condition does Baptista put on the marriage between Tranio and Bianca? Whose tongue? Yours, if you talk of tails: and so farewell. Katherina says she is going to leave. What do you think stops her? What, with my tongue in your tail?
Good Kate; I am a gentleman. That I'll try. I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again. So may you lose your arms: If you strike me, you are no gentleman; And if no gentleman, why then no arms.
Both Katherina and Petruchio are described as defying the usual behaviours of their gender. A herald, Kate? O, put me in thy books! What is your crest, a coxcomb? A fool's hat. A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen. No cock of mine; you crow too like a craven. Katherina is calling him a coward. The group is composed of the gentlemen who were on their way to the pub at the end of the last scene: Gremio with Lucentio dressed as a schoolmaster , Petruchio with Hortensio likewise dressed as a schoolmaster , and Tranio dressed as Lucentio with Biondello dressed as his servant.
The introductions begin in a whirlwind of deception. Petruchio starts off, bluntly as always, by asking Baptista for the opportunity to see Katherine. In exchange, he offers a music instructor for her, the disguised Hortensio, whom he introduces as Litio. Baptista accepts the present and intends to tell Petruchio as kindly as possible that Petruchio must be crazy to want to see Katherine, when Gremio, who cannot stand being upstaged, interrupts him.
Gremio presents his own schoolmaster, the disguised Lucentio, whom he calls Cambio, a master of classical languages. Baptista accepts the gift and then hears from Tranio, who, pretending to be Lucentio, presents his own gift of books and a lute, in exchange for the permission to see and woo Bianca.
He very conspicuously asks the suitors to direct him to the house of Baptista Minola, vaguely implying that he might be interested in one of the women there. Hortensio and Gremio have a hard time restraining their anger, for now there will be three competing suitors for Bianca.
Lucentio, of course, has arranged for Tranio to make this entrance in order to distract Hortensio and Gremio and give him more time for his own wooing.
Tranio persuades the suitors that they can all be friends while they compete for Bianca, and he wins their good graces by offering to buy them a drink. The whole company considers this an excellent suggestion, and they all depart together. Several character traits rapidly reveal themselves: he is quick to anger but also quick to laugh, as he displays in his frequent quarreling with his servant Grumio.
He has a coarse personality, but he is educated well enough to spout classical references and has a quick wit. Also, he loves money above all else, which explains his enthusiasm for courting Katherine.
As Grumio remarks, if given enough gold, Petruchio would happily marry a puppet, a clothing ornament, or a toothless hag with venereal diseases. Living with the shrew, he says, could not possibly be worse than enduring the hardships of war or the sea.
0コメント