Taming of The Shrew by William Shakespeare – Act I Scene Ii Summary and Analysis

Act I, Scene ii

Summary: Act I, Scene ii

A brash young man named Petruchio, newly arrived in Padua, goes with his servant Grumio to see Hortensio, whom he knows of Verona. Grumio and Petruchio being drawn into the cartoon of a misunderstanding at the door, but then descends to greet Hortensio Petruchio and wonder why it is in Padua. Petruchio replies that, when his father died, he started looking for a woman, hoping to marry the daughter of a rich man, and thus increase his family fortune. Hortensio, determined to find a potential suitor for Katherine so that he can marry Bianca, recognizes his good fortune and decides to convince Petruchio to marry the shrew. Be a friend, he first tries to offer a warning about her, but Petruchio does not care about his behavior. He pays attention to one thing: that it has a rich father. Full of confidence, he tells Hortensio to lead to the shrew. Hortensio, for its part, plans to disguise himself as a teacher so he can woo Bianca secretly.

Gremio and Lucentio come on their way home Baptista, Hortensio and Petruchio interrupting. Lucentio has already disguised himself as a schoolmaster and introduced himself to Gremio, who willingly accepts the tutor to Bianca. Gremio brags to Hortensio that he found a schoolmaster for Bianca, ignoring the fact that Lucentio will be courting the girl himself. Hortensio then tells Gremio the good news, as Petruchio wants to seduce Katherine. Gremio can hardly believe it, but Petruchio says confidently that he will be victorious.

At this point, between Tranio disguised as Lucentio, with Biondello as his servant. He asks very apparent pretenders to aim it at the house of Baptista Minola, vaguely that he might be interested in one of the women there. Hortensio and Gremio have a difficult time retaining their anger, for now, there will be three competing suitors for Bianca.Lucentio, of course, has arranged for Tranio to make this entry in order to distract Hortensio and Gremio and give him more time to his own court. Tranio persuades the suitors that they can all be friends while they compete for Bianca, and he won the good graces of their offers to buy them a drink. The company considers all of this suggestion of an excellent and they all leave together.

Analysis: Act I, Scene ii

The reader is bombarded in the first half of the scene by the authoritarian personality of Petruchio. Several traits are revealed quickly: he is quick to anger, but quick to laugh, as he appears in his quarrel with his servant Grumio frequent. It has a rough personality, but he is educated well enough to spout classical references and has a quick wit. In addition, he loves money above all else, which explains his enthusiasm to woo Katherine. As Grumio remarks, if given enough gold, Petruchio willingly marry a puppet, an ornament of clothes, or a toothless witch with venereal diseases. These are superficial reasons, of course, but the Petruchio proclaims proudly, and Shakespeare uses his proclamations to introduce another dimension to the exploration of the part of marriage: the idea that marriage is essentially an economic activity, for consolidate wealth and facilitate the distribution of inheritances. Petruchio, having been left money by her own father, knows he can strike it rich if he leaves “bought” as a husband.

The money is not only engine of Petruchio. As more characters warn him of the hard language of Katherine, he begins to see the wedding of her as a challenge rather than simply making money opportunity. Live with a shrew, he said, could not be worse than endure the hardships of war or the sea Gremio says that subduing Kate would be a heroic challenge, comparing the task to one of the labors of Hercules, as Petruchio itself discourages the undertaking. In their minds, Katherine has apparently transformed into a rebellious woman is a monster in need of submission or a storm that must be resisted. In fact, they give him the title of “Katherine the Cursed” (I.ii.122). More men speak of it, the worse the report of his behavior becomes.

In his absence, the situation becomes a little clearer Katherine. People talk about her more than they listened, the more people gossip about it, the more they dislike her. She has her tongue to defend themselves in the only way she can, but it earns its greater disrepute. After all, in the last scene between Katherine and the two suitors, Katherine becomes angry after Gremio insult her, even if we do not know what happened before they come on stage. Anyway, this particular scene the general trend of men and arouses a certain sympathy for Katherine. In many ways, men are more interested in competing in tests of machismo and go to the pub than they are in the thoughts or feelings of the women they want to woo.