A relentlessly witty battle of the sexes, William Shakespeare's comedy
The Taming of the Shrew is edited by G.R. Hibbard, with an introduction
by Margaret Jane Kidnie in Penguin Shakespeare. The beautiful but
sharp-tongued 'shrew' Katherina has sworn never to accept the demands of
any would-be husband. Her younger sister Bianca, meanwhile, is forbidden
to be married until Katherina finds a suitable match - much to the
dismay of Bianca's suitors, Hortensio and Gremio. But when Katherina is
pursued by the wily Petruchio, it seems that she has finally met her
match. And as he meets her own caustic words with a feigned, capricious
cruelty, Katherina quickly comes to understand the absurdity of her
shrewish behaviour, in one of the greatest of all comic conquests.
Famously adapted into Cole Porter's musical Kiss Me, Kate and filmed as
10 Things I Hate About You with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, The
Taming of the Shrew is an unforgettable battle of wits. This book
contains a general introduction to Shakespeare's life and Elizabethan
theatre, a separate introduction to The Taming of the Shrew, a
chronology, suggestions for further reading, an essay discussing
performance options on both stage and screen, and a commentary. If you
enjoyed The Taming of the Shrew, you might like Love's Labour's Lost,
also available in Penguin Shakespeare. 'I pity the man who cannot enjoy
Shakespeare' George Bernard Shaw
