PLAY REVIEW

The Taming of the Shrew

by William Shakespeare

―Taming of the Shrew‖ is a comedic play by William Shakespeare. It revolves around a deluded and a
wealthy merchant of Padua, Baptista, and her daughters Bianca and Kate. Bianca has many suitors because
of her beautiful face and sweet attitude, but before she gets married, Baptista wants Kate to get married first,
which is most likely to be impossible. Kate is the opposite of Bianca; she has no suitors and not conventionally
attractive, she also hates men which makes it impossible for her to be married.

The characters found in the play are: Baptista, father of Kate and Bianca, Lucentio, Gremio, and
Hortensio—Bianca’s suitors. On the other hand, Pertuchio, a rich bachelor out of the town, wants to marry
Kate. The side characters in the play are: Grumio (servant of Pertuchio), Tranio (Luciento’s servant), and
Vincentio, the father of Lucentio. The play took place in Padua, Italy in Baptista’s place.

Hortensio and Lucentio both disguised as a tutor of Bianca to get close to her and win her heart.
Pertuchio on the other hand, decided to marry Kate and take her in his hometown. He also knew that Kate is
hard headed and that’s what urged him to marry her, he was known for his shrew taming skills and he decided
to try that skill to tame Kate. The day of the wedding, Kate showed up late with inappropriate clothes, Pertuchio
got mad and took her to his hometown. He did not feed her nor let her sleep. Back in Padua, Hortensio
decided to marry a widow when he saw Lucentio and Bianca flirting; he was devastated on what he had seen.
Tranio—Luciento’s servant—found an old man and tricks him into pretending to be Luciento’s father so he
could sign the documents Baptista gave. Going back to Padua for Lucentio and Bianca’s wedding, Pertuchio
and Kate found a man which turned out to be Lucentio’s real father, Vincentio. He found out and shows up on
Lucentio and Bianca’s wedding looking mad, the lovers apologized.

The dramatic devices used in the play are (1) comic relief, when Baptista is on a serious conversation
with Bianca’s suitors, Hoertensio, disguised as a music tutor showed up with a broken lute after teaching Kate
how to play it. (2) Pathos, Pertuchio kidnapped Kate after the wedding day. He plans on taming Kate like how
he tames shrews, he did not let her sleep nor eat. Lastly, (3) dramatis personae, which are the characters of
the story.

The tone of the play is comedic and playful. The author makes fun of the characters; Shakespeare
gave them harsh roles that people were curious whether he was serious or sarcastic. The mood that we
audiences felt was mad and also happy. We didn’t like the idea on how Pertuchio tamed Kate, he could’ve
tamed her in a nice way. We were also happy for Lucentio and Bianca, they loved each other and we were
happy because they ended up with each other.

In conclusion, we liked William Shakespeare’s play. The play is worth reading or watching if you are a
fan of romantic movies with a mix of comedy, or called ―rom-com‖. We explored different kinds of relationships;
a relationship that one will risk just for the sake of getting one’s heart and a relationship that is abusive and
bad.

Youtube links of the play:

– Animated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2RY2GQMBlc
– Actual Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tccWM8wK2Mo

SALVADO, Ma. Racquel D.

MALOS, Migs Andrey C.