PROTEUS
She says it is a fair one.
THURIO
Nay, then, the wanton lies. My face is black.
PROTEUS
But pearls are fair; and the old saying is,
‘Black men are pearls in beauteous ladies’ eyes’.
JULIA (aside)
’Tis true, such pearls as put out ladies’ eyes,
For I had rather wink than look on them.
THURIO
How likes she my discourse?
PROTEUS
Ill, when you talk of war.
THURIO
But well when I discourse of love and peace.
JULIA (aside)
But better indeed when you hold your peace.
THURIO
What says she to my valour?
PROTEUS
O sir, she makes no doubt of that.
JULIA (aside)
She needs not, when she knows it cowardice.
THURIO
What says she to my birth?
PROTEUS
That you are well derived.
JULIA (aside)
True: from a gentleman to a fool.
THURIO
Considers she my possessions?
PROTEUS
O ay, and pities them.
THURIO Wherefore?
JULIA (aside)
That such an ass should owe them.
PROTEUS
That they are out by lease.
JULIA Here comes the Duke.
Enter the Duke
DUKE
How now, Sir Proteus. How now, Thurio.
Which of you saw Eglamour of late?
THURIO
Not I.
PROTEUS Nor I.
DUKE Saw you my daughter?
PROTEUS Neither.
DUKE
Why then, she’s fled unto that peasant Valentine,
And Eglamour is in her company.
’Tis true, for Friar Laurence met them both
As he in penance wandered through the forest.
Him he knew well, and guessed that it was she,
But being masked, he was not sure of it.
Besides, she did intend confession
At Patrick’s cell this even, and there she was not.
These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence;
Therefore I pray you stand not to discourse,
But mount you presently, and meet with me
Upon the rising of the mountain foot
That leads toward Mantua, whither they are fled.
Dispatch, sweet gentlemen, and follow me.
Exit
THURIO
Why, this it is to be a peevish girl,
That flies her fortune when it follows her.
I’ll after, more to be revenged on Eglamour
Than for the love of reckless Silvia.
[exit]
PROTEUS
And I will follow, more for Silvia’s love
Than hate of Eglamour that goes with her.
[Exit]
JULIA
And I will follow, more to cross that love
Than hate for Silvia, that is gone for love.
[Exit]
5.3 Enter the Outlaws with Silvia captive
FIRST OUTLAW
Come, come, be patient. We must bring you to our captain.
SILVIA
A thousand more mischances than this one
Have learned me how to brook this patiently.
SECOND OUTLAW Come, bring her away.
FIRST OUTLAW
Where is the gentleman that was with her?
THIRD OUTLAW
Being nimble-footed he hath outrun us;
But Moses and Valerius follow him.
Go thou with her to the west end of the wood.
There is our captain. We’ll follow him that’s fled.
The thicket is beset, he cannot scape.
Exeunt the Second and Third Outlaws
FIRST OUTLAW (to Silvia)
Come, I must bring you to our captain’s cave.
Fear not. He bears an honourable mind,
And will not use a woman lawlessly.
SILVIA (aside)
O Valentine! This I endure for thee.
Exeunt
5.4 Enter Valentine
VALENTINE
How use doth breed a habit in a man!
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,
And to the nightingale’s complaining notes
Tune my distresses and record my woes.
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall
And leave no memory of what it was.
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia.
Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain.
What hallooing and what stir is this today?
These are my mates, that make their wills their law,
Have some unhappy passenger in chase.
They love me well, yet I have much to do
To keep them from uncivil outrages.
Withdraw thee, Valentine. Who’s this comes here?
He stands aside.
Enter Proteus, Silvia, and Julia dressed as a pageboy
PROTEUS
Madam, this service I have done for you—
Though you respect not aught your servant doth—
To hazard life, and rescue you from him
That would have forced your honour and your love.
Vouchsafe me for my meed but one fair look.
A smaller boon than this I cannot beg,
And less than this I am sure you cannot give.
VALENTINE (aside)
How like a dream is this I see and hear!
Love lend me patience to forbear awhile.
SILVIA
O miserable, unhappy that I am!
PROTEUS
Unhappy were you, madam, ere I came.
But by my coming I have made you happy.
SILVIA
By thy approach thou mak’st me most unhappy.
JULIA (aside)
And me, when he approacheth to your presence.
SILVIA
Had I been seized by a hungry lion
I would have been a breakfast to the beast
Rather than have false Proteus rescue me.
O heaven be judge how I love Valentine,
Whose life’s as tender to me as my soul.
And full as much, for more there cannot be,
I do detest false perjured Proteus.
Therefore be gone, solicit me no more.
PROTEUS
What dangerous action, stood it next to death,
Would I not undergo for one calm look!
O, ’tis the curse in love, and still approved,
When women cannot love where they’re beloved.
SILVIA
When Proteus cannot love where he’s beloved.
Read over Julia’s heart, thy first, best love,
For whose dear sake thou didst then rend thy faith
Into a thousand oaths, and all those oaths
Descended into perjury to love me.
Thou hast no faith left now, unless thou’dst two,
And that’s far worse than none. Better have none
Than plural faith, which is too much by one,
Thou counterfeit to thy true friend.
PROTEUS
In love
Who respects friend?
SILVIA All men but Proteus.
PROTEUS
Nay, if the gentle spirit of moving words
Can no way change you to a milder form
I’ll woo you like a soldier, at arm’s end,
And love you ’gainst the nature of love: force ye.
SILVIA
O heaven!
VALENTINE (coming forward)
Ruffian, let go that rude uncivil touch,
Thou friend of an ill fashion.
PROTEUS Valentine!
VALENTINE
Thou common friend, that’s without faith or love,
For such is a friend now. Treacherous man,
Thou hast beguiled my hopes. Naught but mine eye
Could have persuaded me. Now I dare not say
I have one friend alive. Thou wouldst disprove me.
Who should be trusted, when one’s right hand
Is perjured to the bosom? Proteus,
I am sorry I must never trust thee more,
But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
The private wound is deepest. O time most accursed,
’Mongst all foes that a friend should be the worst!
PROTEUS My shame and guilt confounds me.
Forgive me, Valentine. If hearty sorrow
Be a sufficient ransom for offence,
I tender’t here. I do as truly suffer
As e’er I did commit.
VALENTINE Then I am paid,
And once again I do receive thee honest.
Who by repentance is not satisfied
Is nor of heaven nor earth. For these are pleased;
By penitence th’ Eternal’s wrath’s appeased.
And that my love may appear plain and free,
All that was mine in Silvia I give thee.
JULIA
O me unhappy!
She faints
PROTEUS
Look to the boy.
VALENTINE Why, boy!
Why wag, how now? What’s the matter? Look up. Speak.
JULIA O good sir, my master charged me to deliver a ring to Madam Silvia, which out of my neglect was never done.
PROTEUS Where is that ring, boy?
JULIA Here ’tis. This is it.
She gives Proteus the ring
PROTEUS How, let me see!
Why, this is the ring I gave to Julia.
JULIA
O, cry you mercy, sir, I have mistook.
She offers Proteus another ring
This is the ring you sent to Silvia.
PROTEUS
But how cam’st thou by this ring? At my depart
I gave this unto Julia.
JULIA
And Julia herself did give it me,
And Julia herself hath brought it hither.
PROTEUS How? Julia?
JULIA
Behold her that gave aim to all thy oaths
And entertained ’em deeply in her heart.
How oft hast thou with perjury cleft the root?
O Proteus, let this habit make thee blush.
Be thou ashamed that I have took upon me
Such an immodest raiment, if shame live
In a disguise of love.
It is the lesser blot, modesty finds,
Women to change their shapes than men their minds.
PROTEUS
Than men their minds! ‘Tis true. O heaven, were man
But constant, he were perfect. That one error
Fills him with faults, makes him run through all th’
sins;
Inconstancy falls off ere it begins.
What is in Silvia’s face but I may spy
More fresh in Julia’s, with a constant eye?
VALENTINE Come, come, a hand from either.
Let me be blessed to make this happy close.
’Twere pity two such friends should be long foes.
Julia and Proteus join hands
PROTEUS
Bear witness, heaven, I have my wish for ever.
JULIA
And I mine.
Enter the Outlaws with the Duke and Thurio as captives
OUTLAWS
A prize, a prize, a prize!
VALENTINE
Forbear, forbear, I say. It is my lord the Duke.
The Outlaws release the Duke and Thurio
(To the Duke) Your grace is welcome to a man
disgraced,
Banished Valentine.
DUKE Sir Valentine!
THURIO
Yonder is Silvia, and Silvia’s mine.
VALENTINE
Thurio, give back, or else embrace thy death.
Come not within the measure of my wrath.
Do not name Silvia thine. If once again,
Verona shall not hold thee. Here she stands.
Take but possession of her with a touch—
I dare thee but to breathe upon my love.
THURIO
Sir Valentine, I care not for her, I.
I hold him but a fool that will endanger
His body for a girl that loves him not.
I claim her not, and therefore she is thine.
DUKE
The more degenerate and base art thou
To make such means for her as thou hast done,
And leave her on such slight conditions.
Now by the honour of my ancestry
I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine,
And think thee worthy of an empress’ love.
Know then I here forget all former griefs,
Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again,
Plead a new state in thy unrivalled merit,
To which I thus subscribe: Sir Valentine,
Thou art a gentleman, and well derived.
Take thou thy Silvia, for thou hast deserved her.
VALENTINE
I thank your grace. The gift hath made me happy.
I now beseech you, for your daughter’s sake,
To grant one boon that I shall ask of you.
DUKE
I grant it, for thine own, whate’er it be.
VALENTINE
These banished men that I have kept withal
Are men endowed with worthy qualities.
Forgive them what they have committed here,
And let them be recalled from their exile.
They are reformed, civil, full of good,
And fit for great employment, worthy lord.
DUKE
Thou hast prevailed. I pardon them and thee.
Dispose of them as thou know’st their deserts.
Come, let us go. We will include all jars
With triumphs, mirth, and rare solemnity.
VALENTINE
And as we walk along I dare be bold
With our discourse to make your grace to smile.
What think you of this page, my lord?
DUKE
I think the boy hath grace in him. He blushes.
VALENTINE
I warrant you, my lord, more grace than boy.
DUKE What mean you by that saying?
VALENTINE
Please you, I’ll tell you as we pass along,
That you will wonder what hath fortunèd.
Come, Proteus, ’tis your penance but to hear
The story of your loves discovered.
That done, our day of marriage shall be yours,
One feast, one house, one mutual happiness.
Exeunt
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
The Taming of the Shrew was first published in the 1623 Folio, but a related play, shorter and simpler, with the title The Taming of a Shrew, had appeared in print in 1594. The exact relationship of these plays is disputed. A Shrew has sometimes been regarded as the source for The Shrew; some scholars have believed that both plays derive independently from an earlier play, now lost; it has even been suggested that Shakespeare wrote both plays. In our view Shakespeare’s play was written first, not necessarily on the foundation of an earlier play, and A Shrew is an anonymous imitation, written in the hope of capitalizing on the success of Shakespeare’s play. The difference between the titles is probably no more significant than the fact that The Winter’s Tale is even now often loosely referred to as A Winter’s
Tale, or The Comedy of Errors as A Comedy of Errors.
The plot of The Taming of the Shrew has three main strands. First comes the Induction showing how a drunken tinker, Christopher Sly, is made to believe himself a lord for whose entertainment a play is to be presented. This resembles an episode in The Arabian Nights, in which Caliph Haroun al Raschid plays a similar trick on Abu Hassan. A Latin version of this story was known in Shakespeare’s England; it may also have circulated by word of mouth. Second comes the principal plot of the play performed for Sly, in which the shrewish Katherine is wooed, won, and tamed by the fortune-hunting Petruccio. This is a popular narrative theme; Shakespeare may have known a ballad called ‘A merry jest of a shrewd and curst wife lapped in morel’s skin for her good behaviour’, printed around 1550. The third strand of the play involves Lucentio, Gremio, and Hortensio, all of them suitors for the hand of Katherine’s sister, Bianca. This is based on the first English prose comedy, George Gascoigne’s Supposes, translated from Ludovico Ariosto’s I Suppositi (1509), acted in 1566, and published in 1573. In The Taming of the Shrew as printed in the 1623 Folio Christopher Sly fades out after Act 1, Scene 1, in A Shrew he makes other appearances, and rounds off the play. These episodes may derive from a version of Shakespeare’s play different from that preserved in the Folio; we print them as Additional Passages.
The adapting of Shakespeare’s play that seems to have occurred early in its career foreshadows its later history on the stage. Seven versions appeared during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, culminating in David Garrick’s Catharine and Petruchio, first performed in 1754. This version, omitting Christopher Sly and concentrating on the taming story, held the stage almost unchallenged until late in the nineteenth century. In various incarnations The Taming of the Shrew has always been popular on the stage, but its reputation as a robust comedy verging on farce has often obscured its more subtle and imaginative aspects, brutalizing Petruccio and trivializing Kate. The Induction, finely written, establishes a fundamentally serious concern with the powers of persuasion to change not merely appearance but reality, and this theme is acted out at different levels in both strands of the subsequent action.
THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY
In the Induction
CHRISTOPHER SLY, beggar and tinker
A HOSTESS
A LORD
BARTHOLOMEW, his page
HUNTSMEN
SERVANTS
PLAYERS
In the play-within-the-play
BAPTISTA Minola, a gentleman of Padua
KATHERINE, his elder daughter
BIANCA, his younger daughter
The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works Page 18
