Summary
Lucentio, a young traveler, makes his way to Padua in order to further his schooling. When he arrives he falls in love with Bianca, Katherine's younger sister. Baptista Minola, Bianca and Katherine's father, requires that Katherine be married first, because she is older. This is where the conflict is introduced, because Katherine is known as a shrew, because of her temper and personality. Lucentio and Hortensio(a different suitor) dress up as Bianca's tuitors in order to gain access to Bianca.
Meanwhile, Petruchio travels to Padua to meet and marry a rich women. Katherine fits the requirement, so Petruchio decides to marry her sight unseen. When Petruchio and Katherine meet, they exchange rude remarks, but Petruchio lies to Baptista and claims that they have decided to get married.
In the end, Petruchio tames Katherine, through deception and Lucention wins over Bianca.
Meanwhile, Petruchio travels to Padua to meet and marry a rich women. Katherine fits the requirement, so Petruchio decides to marry her sight unseen. When Petruchio and Katherine meet, they exchange rude remarks, but Petruchio lies to Baptista and claims that they have decided to get married.
In the end, Petruchio tames Katherine, through deception and Lucention wins over Bianca.
Connections
Disguise and Deception
In both plays, Shakespeare shows the power of deception and trickery. Shakespeare's characters avoid verbal conflicts and rather pull off really convincing disguises. Shakespeare assumes that all of the disguises work as planned. In both plays, characters are able to break social barriers because of a change in appearance.
Shakespeare's emphasis on the power of money and love
Both plots and conflicts are based on the idea of the relationship of money and love. In the Merchant of Venice, Bassanio requires money to impress the girl he likes. In the Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is willing to go through the work of "taming" Katherine, just to get her money. Regardless, we can take away two things from the story. The first is that social classes were very important in the 1800s. Secondly, we can infer that Shakespeare believes the money and power do not exist independently.
In both plays, Shakespeare shows the power of deception and trickery. Shakespeare's characters avoid verbal conflicts and rather pull off really convincing disguises. Shakespeare assumes that all of the disguises work as planned. In both plays, characters are able to break social barriers because of a change in appearance.
Shakespeare's emphasis on the power of money and love
Both plots and conflicts are based on the idea of the relationship of money and love. In the Merchant of Venice, Bassanio requires money to impress the girl he likes. In the Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is willing to go through the work of "taming" Katherine, just to get her money. Regardless, we can take away two things from the story. The first is that social classes were very important in the 1800s. Secondly, we can infer that Shakespeare believes the money and power do not exist independently.