The Taming of the Shrew is considered to be the second of Shakespeare’s early comedies to have been written and performed, with a first staging probably in 1594, although it may have been written as early as 1590. As usual, it is impossible to be sure in exactly which order the plays were written and in some senses it does not really matter, since the plays were organic in the early years after they were first produced. That is, they could be changed not only by the playwright but by the directors of the plays and by the actors themselves (only men were permitted on the stage in this period). Actors would, it is believed, vary their lines and their stage business from performance to performance based on how the audience was responding and when current events or special occasions warranted a particular mention. Theatre is different from cinema and television in that it is always different from one performance to another (although not always in a very noticeable way), while movies and shows remain frozen and identical every time screened and for every one who watches them.

In common with most of Shakespeare’s plays and the plays of his contemporaries, The Taming of the Shrew is reminiscent of a number of earlier plays and tales. It was considered perfectly acceptable for a playwright to reuse well-known stories or characters and, indeed, it showed the writer to be a person of learning and distinction. The principal part of the plot surrounds the character of Katherina Minola or Kate, who is portrayed as a ‘shrew’ – that is, a woman who refuses to accept inferior status and loudly stands up for her own status and dignity. Such characters were common fare for writers and the plots around them were, as in the case of this play, largely concerned with the effort required to force the woman concerned to comply with her position in society and to obey her husband and male relatives. In the modern western world, we might celebrate such a ‘shrew’ for her personality and strength but, in the past, she was considered to be a representative of an aberration or a monstrous overturning of the natural order. Since it was generally believed that the institutions of society, including marriage, were created by God and supported by God’s representatives on earth, then anything that altered those institutions was seen as a perversion. The fact that the plot concerned a woman being treated badly was, in symbolic terms, of secondary importance but, Shakespeare being Shakespeare, it is clear that his humane approach to his characters extends to Kate and the terrible things that are said to and about her and the physical abuse with which she is threatened – the ‘Scold’s Bridle’ was a real device and has been used in history to gag a woman who is considered to speak too much and too abrasively, while also restraining her movements. As others of Shakespeare’s comedies show, there is an undercurrent of violence lying beneath the action that makes the thoughtful reader or audience member wonder whether the joyful celebrations that conclude the action are really as joyful as they are made out to seem.