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
William Shakespeare was born in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and died in 1616. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Margaret Jane Kidnie is Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario.