The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare (books for new readers .TXT) š
- Author: William Shakespeare
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That talkād of her have talkād amiss of her:
If she be curst, it is for policy,
For sheās not froward, but modest as the dove;
She is not hot, but temperate as the morn;
For patience she will prove a second Grissel,
And Roman Lucrece for her chastity;
And to conclude, we have āgreed so well together
That upon Sunday is the wedding-day.
KATHERINA.
Iāll see thee hangād on Sunday first.
GREMIO.
Hark, Petruchio; she says sheāll see thee hangād first.
TRANIO.
Is this your speeding? Nay, then good-night our part!
PETRUCHIO.
Be patient, gentlemen. I choose her for myself;
If she and I be pleasād, whatās that to you?
āTis bargainād ātwixt us twain, being alone,
That she shall still be curst in company.
I tell you, ātis incredible to believe
How much she loves me: O! the kindest Kate
She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss
She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath,
That in a twink she won me to her love.
O! you are novices: ātis a world to see,
How tame, when men and women are alone,
A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.
Give me thy hand, Kate; I will unto Venice,
To buy apparel āgainst the wedding-day.
Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests;
I will be sure my Katherine shall be fine.
BAPTISTA.
I know not what to say; but give me your hands.
God send you joy, Petruchio! āTis a match.
GREMIO, TRANIO.
Amen, say we; we will be witnesses.
PETRUCHIO.
Father, and wife, and gentlemen, adieu.
I will to Venice; Sunday comes apace;
We will have rings and things, and fine array;
And kiss me, Kate; we will be married oā Sunday.
[Exeunt PETRUCHIO and KATHERINA, severally.]
GREMIO.
Was ever match clappād up so suddenly?
BAPTISTA.
Faith, gentlemen, now I play a merchantās part,
And venture madly on a desperate mart.
TRANIO.
āTwas a commodity lay fretting by you;
āTwill bring you gain, or perish on the seas.
BAPTISTA.
The gain I seek is, quiet in the match.
GREMIO.
No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch.
But now, Baptista, to your younger daughter:
Now is the day we long have looked for;
I am your neighbour, and was suitor first.
TRANIO.
And I am one that love Bianca more
Than words can witness or your thoughts can guess.
GREMIO.
Youngling, thou canst not love so dear as I.
TRANIO.
Greybeard, thy love doth freeze.
GREMIO.
But thine doth fry.
Skipper, stand back; ātis age that nourisheth.
TRANIO.
But youth in ladiesā eyes that flourisheth.
BAPTISTA.
Content you, gentlemen; Iāll compound this strife:
āTis deeds must win the prize, and he of both
That can assure my daughter greatest dower
Shall have my Biancaās love.
Say, Signior Gremio, what can you assure her?
GREMIO.
First, as you know, my house within the city
Is richly furnished with plate and gold:
Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands;
My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry;
In ivory coffers I have stuffād my crowns;
In cypress chests my arras counterpoints,
Costly apparel, tents, and canopies,
Fine linen, Turkey cushions bossād with pearl,
Valance of Venice gold in needle-work;
Pewter and brass, and all things that belong
To house or housekeeping: then, at my farm
I have a hundred milch-kine to the pail,
Six score fat oxen standing in my stalls,
And all things answerable to this portion.
Myself am struck in years, I must confess;
And if I die to-morrow this is hers,
If whilst I live she will be only mine.
TRANIO.
That āonlyā came well in. Sir, list to me:
I am my fatherās heir and only son;
If I may have your daughter to my wife,
Iāll leave her houses three or four as good
Within rich Pisaās walls as any one
Old Signior Gremio has in Padua;
Besides two thousand ducats by the year
Of fruitful land, all which shall be her jointure.
What, have I pinchād you, Signior Gremio?
GREMIO.
Two thousand ducats by the year of land!
My land amounts not to so much in all:
That she shall have, besides an argosy
That now is lying in Marseillesā road.
What, have I chokād you with an argosy?
TRANIO.
Gremio, ātis known my father hath no less
Than three great argosies, besides two galliasses,
And twelve tight galleys; these I will assure her,
And twice as much, whateāer thou offerāst next.
GREMIO.
Nay, I have offerād all; I have no more;
And she can have no more than all I have;
If you like me, she shall have me and mine.
TRANIO.
Why, then the maid is mine from all the world,
By your firm promise; Gremio is out-vied.
BAPTISTA.
I must confess your offer is the best;
And let your father make her the assurance,
She is your own; else, you must pardon me;
If you should die before him, whereās her dower?
TRANIO.
Thatās but a cavil; he is old, I young.
GREMIO.
And may not young men die as well as old?
BAPTISTA.
Well, gentlemen,
I am thus resolvād. On Sunday next, you know,
My daughter Katherine is to be married;
Now, on the Sunday following, shall Bianca
Be bride to you, if you make this assurance;
If not, to Signior Gremio.
And so I take my leave, and thank you both.
GREMIO.
Adieu, good neighbour.
[Exit BAPTISTA.]
Now, I fear thee not:
Sirrah young gamester, your father were a fool
To give thee all, and in his waning age
Set foot under thy table. Tut! a toy!
An old Italian fox is not so kind, my boy.
[Exit.]
TRANIO.
A vengeance on your crafty witherād hide!
Yet I have facād it with a card of ten.
āTis in my head to do my master good:
I see no reason but supposād Lucentio
Must get a father, callād āsupposād Vincentioā;
And thatās a wonder: fathers commonly
Do get their children; but in this case of wooing
A child shall get a sire, if I fail not of my cunning.
[Exit.]
ACT III.
SCENE I. Padua. A room in BAPTISTAāS house.
[Enter LUCENTIO, HORTENSIO, and BIANCA.]
LUCENTIO.
Fiddler, forbear; you grow too forward, sir.
Have you so soon forgot the entertainment
Her sister Katherine welcomeād you withal?
HORTENSIO.
But, wrangling pedant, this is
The patroness of heavenly harmony:
Then give me leave to have prerogative;
And when in music we have spent an hour,
Your lecture shall have leisure for as much.
LUCENTIO.
Preposterous ass, that never read so far
To know the cause why music was ordainād!
Was it not to refresh the mind of man
After his studies or his usual pain?
Then give me leave to read philosophy,
And while I pause serve in your harmony.
HORTENSIO.
Sirrah, I will not bear these braves of thine.
BIANCA.
Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong,
To strive for that which resteth in my choice.
I am no breeching scholar in the schools,
Iāll not be tied to hours nor āpointed times,
But learn my lessons as I please myself.
And, to cut off all strife, here sit we down;
Take you your instrument, play you the whiles;
His lecture will be done ere you have tunād.
HORTENSIO.
Youāll leave his lecture when I am in tune?
[Retires.]
LUCENTIO.
That will be never: tune your instrument.
BIANCA.
Where left we last?
LUCENTIO.
Here, madam:ā
Hic ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus;
Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.
BIANCA.
Construe them.
LUCENTIO.
āHic ibat,ā as I told you before, āSimois,ā I am Lucentio, āhic
est,ā son unto Vincentio of Pisa, āSigeia tellus,ā disguised thus
to get your love, āHic steterat,ā and that Lucentio that comes
a-wooing, āPriami,ā is my man Tranio, āregia,ā bearing my port,
ācelsa senis,ā that we might beguile the old pantaloon.
HORTENSIO. {Returning.]
Madam, my instrumentās in tune.
BIANCA.
Letās hear.ā
[HORTENSIO plays.]
O fie! the treble jars.
LUCENTIO.
Spit in the hole, man, and tune again.
BIANCA.
Now let me see if I can construe it: āHic ibat Simois,ā I
know you not; āhic est Sigeia tellus,ā I trust you not; āHic
steterat Priami,ā take heed he hear us not; āregia,ā presume not;
ācelsa senis,ā despair not.
HORTENSIO.
Madam, ātis now in tune.
LUCENTIO.
All but the base.
HORTENSIO.
The base is right; ātis the base knave that jars.
How fiery and forward our pedant is!
[Aside] Now, for my life, the knave doth court my love:
Pedascule, Iāll watch you better yet.
BIANCA.
In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.
LUCENTIO.
Mistrust it not; for sure, AEacides
Was Ajax, callād so from his grandfather.
BIANCA.
I must believe my master; else, I promise you,
I should be arguing still upon that doubt;
But let it rest. Now, Licio, to you.
Good master, take it not unkindly, pray,
That I have been thus pleasant with you both.
HORTENSIO.
[To LUCENTIO] You may go walk and give me leave awhile;
My lessons make no music in three parts.
LUCENTIO.
Are you so formal, sir?
[Aside] Well, I must wait,
And watch withal; for, but I be deceivād,
Our fine musician groweth amorous.
HORTENSIO.
Madam, before you touch the instrument,
To learn the order of my fingering,
I must begin with rudiments of art;
To teach you gamut in a briefer sort,
More pleasant, pithy, and effectual,
Than hath been taught by any of my trade:
And there it is in writing, fairly drawn.
BIANCA.
Why, I am past my gamut long ago.
HORTENSIO.
Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.
BIANCA.
āGamutā I am, the ground of all accord,
āA re,ā to plead Hortensioās passion;
āB mi,ā Bianca, take him for thy lord,
āC fa ut,ā that loves with all affection:
āD sol re,ā one clef, two notes have I
āE la mi,ā show pity or I die.
Call you this gamut? Tut, I like it not:
Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice,
To change true rules for odd inventions.
[Enter a SERVANT.]
SERVANT.
Mistress, your father prays you leave your books,
And help to dress your sisterās chamber up:
You know to-morrow is the wedding-day.
BIANCA.
Farewell, sweet masters, both: I must be gone.
[Exeunt BIANCA and SERVANT.]
LUCENTIO.
Faith, mistress, then I have no cause to stay.
[Exit.]
HORTENSIO.
But I have cause to pry into this pedant:
Methinks he looks as though he were in love.
Yet if thy thoughts, Bianca, be so humble
To cast thy wandāring eyes on every stale,
Seize thee that list: if once I find thee ranging,
Hortensio will be quit with thee by changing.
[Exit.]
SCENE II. The same. Before BAPTISTAāS house.
[Enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, TRANIO, KATHERINA, BIANCA, LUCENTIO, and
ATTENDANTS.]
BAPTISTA. [To TRANIO.]
Signior Lucentio, this is the āpointed day
That Katherine and Petruchio should be married,
And yet we hear not of our son-in-law.
What will be said? What mockery will it be
To want the bridegroom when the priest attends
To speak the ceremonial rites of marriage!
What says Lucentio to this shame of ours?
KATHERINA.
No shame but mine; I must, forsooth, be forcād
To give my hand, opposād against my heart,
Unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen;
Who wooād in haste and means to wed at leisure.
I told you, I, he was a frantic fool,
Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behaviour;
And to be noted for a merry man,
Heāll woo a thousand, āpoint the day of marriage,
Make friends invited, and
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