The Taming of the Shrew - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141015519 ISBN 13: 9780141015514

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2006

Synopsis

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 would-be 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.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. He wrote about 38 plays (the precise number is uncertain), many of which are regarded as the most exceptional works of drama ever produced, including Romeo and Juliet (1595), Henry V (1599), Hamlet (1601), Othello (1604), King Lear (1606) and Macbeth (1606), as well as a collection of 154 sonnets, which number among the most profound and influential love-poetry in English.

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

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Few of Shakespeare's comedies have proved more popular and enduring than The Taming of the Shrew - and yet it has come to seem one of Shakespeare's more controversial plays. An analysis of the drama that is attentive to its theatrical challenges and stage history allows a better understanding of its power to provoke such diverse responses. How might Katerina's final speech be staged in the twenty-first century? Must it be played for irony, or are her words sincere? How might other characters on stage respond to her account of a woman's duty to her husband?

This Handbook provides students and theatre-goers with a performance-oriented guide to the drama. Its commentary explores the action scene by scene, drawing on discussions elsewhere in the book of Shakespeare's cultural and historical moment, and the play's continued fortunes on the stage and screen. Margaret Jane Kidnie equips readers with the skills and materials with which to explore the variety of ways in which this 'troubling comedy' or 'light tragedy' might take on meaning today for modern audiences.

About the Author:

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright of the 16th and 17 centuries, now widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the word's pre-eminent dramatist.

Stanley Wells is the General Editor of the Penguin Shakespeare. He is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.
Margaret Jane Kidnie is Associate Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario. She has written a critical guide to The Taming of the Shrew and is the editor of Ben Jonson: The Devil is an Ass and Other Plays.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0141015519
• ISBN 13: 9780141015514
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Hibbard G. R., Kidnie M. J.