(no subject)
Zachary Ryan
Introduction to Shakespeare
July 11th 2008
Petruccio: How are you my Kate? Sweetheart what has you all upset/sad?
Hortensio: how are you miss?
Katherine: Hope, seems distant
Petruccio: Cheer up dear, be happy to see me.
Here, babe, look how hard I have worked for you
I got this meat ready for you myself (Rebhorn, 1995) (Oxford University Press, 2008) (Cahn, 1975)
You have to at the least thank me for doing that
Nothing?! Fine you must not want it.
Despite all my efforts you don’t even care.
Here, take it away.
Katherine: Please, don’t get rid of it.
Petruccio: You would thank somebody for doing less for you,
And you are going to thank me before you get anywhere near what I’ve made.
Katherine: Thanks sir.
Hortensio: Oh come on man, its your fault. (OED)
Kate you can come hang out with me.
Petruccio: {aside}Eat it up, Hortensio, if you are the one that really cares about me.
{to Katherine}It will do you some good.
Kate, eat quickly, and now sweetie,
We will go back to your father’s
And partake in all the pleasantries and look as all the other guests
With silk coats, hats, and gold jewelry
With stylish and ornamental clothing and snappy starched collars,
With gemmed bracelets, beads, and other expensive accessories,
What have you eaten? The tailor is waiting on you
To get you dolled up with his decorative clothing.
Come, tailor, let’s see what you have made.
Bring the gown.
What’s new with you sir?
Haberdasher: here is the cap you asked for.
Petruccio: It looks like it was just made from a breakfast bowl
A dish that you threw velvet on, it is slutty and trashy
Its just the shell of a muscle or walnut,
A kids hat, a joke, a baby’s cap.
Take it away! Make it bigger.
Katherine: I don’t want it bigger. Its stylish now, respectable women wear hats like these now.
Petruccio: When you act like a respectable woman you will have one too
Hortensio: (aside) That’s going to take awhile.
Katherine: I am guessing I have your permission to speak freely
And when and as much as I want. I am not a kid or toddler.
There have been better that have listened to what I have to say
And if you can’t, you should just plug your ears.
I am going to speak about how angry I am inside,
Or else I will go on heartbroken,
And rather than that I will be free,
And to the utmost with my speech.
Petruccio: What you are saying is true. It is a pitiful hat,
It is the crust of a pie on your head, a child’s distracting toy (OED), a silk pie.
I love that you do not like it.
Katherine: Whether you like me or not, I like the hat
And I am going to have it or nothing
Petruccio: How about your gown? Tailor, let’s see it.
Oh my goodness! What a theatrical costume we have here?
Is this a -sleeve? More like a canon.
And these designs are like the slits in a pie
Here cut and snip etc…
Just like scissors in a barber shop.
Why what in the hell tailor do you call this?
Hortensio: {aside} she is likely to have no cap and gown (by the end of this)
Tailor: You told me make it orderly and well,
According to today’s fashions
Petruccio: Yes I did, but if you remembered
I did not ask you to make it a mockery of today’s fashion.
Go peddling to every gutter home,
For you aren’t going to be working for my business, sir.
I’ll have none of it. So, make the best of it.
Katherine: I never saw a better fashioned gown,
More elegant, exquisite, or with better artistry.
It looks like you want me to look like a puppet (OED)
Petruccio: You’re right, he does want to make you look like a puppet.
Tailor: Sir, she is saying YOU mean to make a puppet out of her.
Petruccio: How rude! You are a liar, your thread,
your thimble,
Your penis: three quarters, half yard, smaller, smaller,
You flea(Williams) , you cricket, you parasite, worthless contemptible tailor, (OED)
Attacked {verbally} in my own house, by this little man.
Away you beggar, whatever is left of you,
Or I will beat you with your own yardstick/penis
And you will think about this ass-kicking as long as you live.
I am telling you, you messed up her gown.
Tailor: Sir, you are mistaken. The gown is made
just as you asked for it.
Grumio told me how it was to be done.
Grumio: I didn’t tell him how to make it I just gave him the supplies.
Tailor: But did you not request to have it cut?
Grumio: You have undertaken many things
Tailor: I have.
Grumio: Don’t test me. You have dressed many people nicely. Do not test me.
I will be cut down or talked back to. I am saying to you that your patron wished the gown be cut; but not to pieces.
Therefore, you are lying.
Tailor: Why, here I have your order to prove it.
Petruccio: Read it.
Grumio: the note is lying if it says I did all of this.
Tailor: First, a revealing gown (slutty).
Grumio: Sir, if I ever asked for a slutty gown, make me wear
It and beat me to death with a spool of thread.
I said a gown.
Petruccio: Proceed.
Tailor: With a small flared cape.
Grumio: I confess to that
Tailor: With a wide sleeve.
Grumio: I confess to two sleeves.
Petruccio: Aha, there’s the problem.
Grumio: An error in the order sir…an error with the bill. I asked for the sleeves to be cut out and sewn up again, and that will prove that this little man is armed only with his thimble.
Tailor: What I am saying is true. If we were in a suitable place
You would know it too.
Grumio: Give me your lying order and yardstick and
Give it up.
Hortensio: Lord have mercy, Grumio, the man will have nothing left.
Petruccio: Well to be frank the gown is not for me.
Grumio: You are right sir it is for the Mrs.
Petruccio: Take it away for me.
Grumio: take away her dress so he can see to its USE.
Petruccio: What did you mean by that?
Grumio: Oh think a little harder and you will get it. ‘take away her dress so you can USE it.’ Haha.
Petruccio: Hortensio, please tell me you will make sure the tailor is paid.
Hortensio: Tailor, I will pay you for the gown tomorrow.
Don’t listen to his unkind ramblings.
Move along to your boss.
Petruccio: Well, come, my Kate. We will go to your father’s house even
Under these humble circumstances.
We shall have plenty, but our clothes won’t show it,
But the mind is what makes the body rich,
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
Honor too can be seen in the most meager of looks.
Is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the serpent better than the eel
Because the color of his skin is appealing to the eye?
Oh no, good Kate, you aren’t like this either
Because of this poor clothing and ugly condition.
If you think it shameful then blame it on me,
And therefore move merrily ; we will continue
To feast and have fun at your father’s house.
Go call my men, and lets go straight there,
And bring our horses to Long Lane end.
There we will mount, and later walk on foot.
Let’s see, I think its seven
And we might make it there by noon.
Perhaps this is a double-entendre. “Meat” may double as it could today as sexual slang for the male member. Petruccio in this way suggests that perhaps he can tease her with meat in the sense of starvation and a sexual moratorium.
Baumin describes this as “ludic sophism.” It is ironic and illogical but altogether playful use of language. He says he wants to feed her and doesn’t and he carries on with his male bravado and depiction of Kate as a whore but does not act physically. (Baumin, 1989)
Rebhorn shares this idea of starvation on multiple levels, “Petruccio does not engage in sexual intercourse at all before the play ends and actually uses sexual deprivation as one of his methods for controlling her in Act 4. Rebhorn also while not directly referencing meat does talk about many of Petruccio and Grumio’s rude jokes most notably the “rope tricks.”
Fie according to the Oxford English Dictionary is an exclamation disparaging shameful speech Hortensio could be talking about the sexual humor or just the general nature with which Petruccio is taking amenities from Katherine (OED)
A second play on the meat reference suggesting that Hortensio could satisfy him if he is more sexually ready than Katherine, or willing to sit down to the meal.
The Norton Anthology lists this as a mollusk shell; however, when referencing the Shakespeare glossary at absoluteshakespeare.com they list this as the weed in corn. Both definitions comment on Petruccio’s utter disdain for either the banality of the work or the frailty of its design. Moreover, corn according to William’s dictionary could be a double for semen.
Barber here could be part of a theme of Petruccio’s double entendre rant. Barber in William’s dictionary is a “syphilitic whore” that would apply to the insinuations that Petruccio is making about Kate and how appropriate the dress might be to her lifestyle. (Williams, 2002)e (Greenblatt, 1997) (Absolute Shakespeare, 2000-2005)
Puppet has changed meanings over time; however the play on words is effective with most of the dates listed in the Oxford English dictionary. Puppet can be a child’s play-toy; a woman lacking individuality in her fashion sense; and a person in status operating under the control of another. These all have reference when placed with this conversation and context.
Flea does have an entry in Williams’ dictionary; however it pertains to “sexual intimacy” in this regard Shakespeare’s purpose of belittling the tailor is rendered here.
Skein of thread most likely plays upon both the way Petruccio feels about the gown that is abhorrent to the eyes as well as to the penis joke and the fact the man is a “hopping” tailor. The fragment of the thread that the Norton Anthology defines this as is meant to belittle the Tailor in many different dimensions.
The actual lines reference “laying it on him” which could double as the blame and the dress. The next line contains the word “frolic” which according to Williams is “allusive to sexual activity.
Absolute Shakespeare. (2000-2005). Retrieved July 11, 2008, from ABSOLUTESHAKESPEARE.COM: absoluteshakespeare.com
Baumin, T. F. (1989). Petruchio the Sophist and Language as Creation in Taming of the Shrew. Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 , pp. 247-257.
Cahn, C. (1975). The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare's Mirror of Marriage. modern language studies volume 5 .
Greenblatt, C. H. (1997). The Norton Shakespeare . New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company Inc.
Oxford University Press. (2008). Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rebhorn, W. A. (1995). Petruchio's Rope Tricks: The Taming of the Shrew and the Renaissance Discourse of Rhetoric. Modern Philology , 304-321.
Williams, G. (2002). A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature. London and Atlantic Highlands NJ.
Introduction to Shakespeare
July 11th 2008
Petruccio: How are you my Kate? Sweetheart what has you all upset/sad?
Hortensio: how are you miss?
Katherine: Hope, seems distant
Petruccio: Cheer up dear, be happy to see me.
Here, babe, look how hard I have worked for you
I got this meat ready for you myself (Rebhorn, 1995) (Oxford University Press, 2008) (Cahn, 1975)
You have to at the least thank me for doing that
Nothing?! Fine you must not want it.
Despite all my efforts you don’t even care.
Here, take it away.
Katherine: Please, don’t get rid of it.
Petruccio: You would thank somebody for doing less for you,
And you are going to thank me before you get anywhere near what I’ve made.
Katherine: Thanks sir.
Hortensio: Oh come on man, its your fault. (OED)
Kate you can come hang out with me.
Petruccio: {aside}Eat it up, Hortensio, if you are the one that really cares about me.
{to Katherine}It will do you some good.
Kate, eat quickly, and now sweetie,
We will go back to your father’s
And partake in all the pleasantries and look as all the other guests
With silk coats, hats, and gold jewelry
With stylish and ornamental clothing and snappy starched collars,
With gemmed bracelets, beads, and other expensive accessories,
What have you eaten? The tailor is waiting on you
To get you dolled up with his decorative clothing.
Come, tailor, let’s see what you have made.
Bring the gown.
What’s new with you sir?
Haberdasher: here is the cap you asked for.
Petruccio: It looks like it was just made from a breakfast bowl
A dish that you threw velvet on, it is slutty and trashy
Its just the shell of a muscle or walnut,
A kids hat, a joke, a baby’s cap.
Take it away! Make it bigger.
Katherine: I don’t want it bigger. Its stylish now, respectable women wear hats like these now.
Petruccio: When you act like a respectable woman you will have one too
Hortensio: (aside) That’s going to take awhile.
Katherine: I am guessing I have your permission to speak freely
And when and as much as I want. I am not a kid or toddler.
There have been better that have listened to what I have to say
And if you can’t, you should just plug your ears.
I am going to speak about how angry I am inside,
Or else I will go on heartbroken,
And rather than that I will be free,
And to the utmost with my speech.
Petruccio: What you are saying is true. It is a pitiful hat,
It is the crust of a pie on your head, a child’s distracting toy (OED), a silk pie.
I love that you do not like it.
Katherine: Whether you like me or not, I like the hat
And I am going to have it or nothing
Petruccio: How about your gown? Tailor, let’s see it.
Oh my goodness! What a theatrical costume we have here?
Is this a -sleeve? More like a canon.
And these designs are like the slits in a pie
Here cut and snip etc…
Just like scissors in a barber shop.
Why what in the hell tailor do you call this?
Hortensio: {aside} she is likely to have no cap and gown (by the end of this)
Tailor: You told me make it orderly and well,
According to today’s fashions
Petruccio: Yes I did, but if you remembered
I did not ask you to make it a mockery of today’s fashion.
Go peddling to every gutter home,
For you aren’t going to be working for my business, sir.
I’ll have none of it. So, make the best of it.
Katherine: I never saw a better fashioned gown,
More elegant, exquisite, or with better artistry.
It looks like you want me to look like a puppet (OED)
Petruccio: You’re right, he does want to make you look like a puppet.
Tailor: Sir, she is saying YOU mean to make a puppet out of her.
Petruccio: How rude! You are a liar, your thread,
your thimble,
Your penis: three quarters, half yard, smaller, smaller,
You flea(Williams) , you cricket, you parasite, worthless contemptible tailor, (OED)
Attacked {verbally} in my own house, by this little man.
Away you beggar, whatever is left of you,
Or I will beat you with your own yardstick/penis
And you will think about this ass-kicking as long as you live.
I am telling you, you messed up her gown.
Tailor: Sir, you are mistaken. The gown is made
just as you asked for it.
Grumio told me how it was to be done.
Grumio: I didn’t tell him how to make it I just gave him the supplies.
Tailor: But did you not request to have it cut?
Grumio: You have undertaken many things
Tailor: I have.
Grumio: Don’t test me. You have dressed many people nicely. Do not test me.
I will be cut down or talked back to. I am saying to you that your patron wished the gown be cut; but not to pieces.
Therefore, you are lying.
Tailor: Why, here I have your order to prove it.
Petruccio: Read it.
Grumio: the note is lying if it says I did all of this.
Tailor: First, a revealing gown (slutty).
Grumio: Sir, if I ever asked for a slutty gown, make me wear
It and beat me to death with a spool of thread.
I said a gown.
Petruccio: Proceed.
Tailor: With a small flared cape.
Grumio: I confess to that
Tailor: With a wide sleeve.
Grumio: I confess to two sleeves.
Petruccio: Aha, there’s the problem.
Grumio: An error in the order sir…an error with the bill. I asked for the sleeves to be cut out and sewn up again, and that will prove that this little man is armed only with his thimble.
Tailor: What I am saying is true. If we were in a suitable place
You would know it too.
Grumio: Give me your lying order and yardstick and
Give it up.
Hortensio: Lord have mercy, Grumio, the man will have nothing left.
Petruccio: Well to be frank the gown is not for me.
Grumio: You are right sir it is for the Mrs.
Petruccio: Take it away for me.
Grumio: take away her dress so he can see to its USE.
Petruccio: What did you mean by that?
Grumio: Oh think a little harder and you will get it. ‘take away her dress so you can USE it.’ Haha.
Petruccio: Hortensio, please tell me you will make sure the tailor is paid.
Hortensio: Tailor, I will pay you for the gown tomorrow.
Don’t listen to his unkind ramblings.
Move along to your boss.
Petruccio: Well, come, my Kate. We will go to your father’s house even
Under these humble circumstances.
We shall have plenty, but our clothes won’t show it,
But the mind is what makes the body rich,
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
Honor too can be seen in the most meager of looks.
Is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the serpent better than the eel
Because the color of his skin is appealing to the eye?
Oh no, good Kate, you aren’t like this either
Because of this poor clothing and ugly condition.
If you think it shameful then blame it on me,
And therefore move merrily ; we will continue
To feast and have fun at your father’s house.
Go call my men, and lets go straight there,
And bring our horses to Long Lane end.
There we will mount, and later walk on foot.
Let’s see, I think its seven
And we might make it there by noon.
Perhaps this is a double-entendre. “Meat” may double as it could today as sexual slang for the male member. Petruccio in this way suggests that perhaps he can tease her with meat in the sense of starvation and a sexual moratorium.
Baumin describes this as “ludic sophism.” It is ironic and illogical but altogether playful use of language. He says he wants to feed her and doesn’t and he carries on with his male bravado and depiction of Kate as a whore but does not act physically. (Baumin, 1989)
Rebhorn shares this idea of starvation on multiple levels, “Petruccio does not engage in sexual intercourse at all before the play ends and actually uses sexual deprivation as one of his methods for controlling her in Act 4. Rebhorn also while not directly referencing meat does talk about many of Petruccio and Grumio’s rude jokes most notably the “rope tricks.”
Fie according to the Oxford English Dictionary is an exclamation disparaging shameful speech Hortensio could be talking about the sexual humor or just the general nature with which Petruccio is taking amenities from Katherine (OED)
A second play on the meat reference suggesting that Hortensio could satisfy him if he is more sexually ready than Katherine, or willing to sit down to the meal.
The Norton Anthology lists this as a mollusk shell; however, when referencing the Shakespeare glossary at absoluteshakespeare.com they list this as the weed in corn. Both definitions comment on Petruccio’s utter disdain for either the banality of the work or the frailty of its design. Moreover, corn according to William’s dictionary could be a double for semen.
Barber here could be part of a theme of Petruccio’s double entendre rant. Barber in William’s dictionary is a “syphilitic whore” that would apply to the insinuations that Petruccio is making about Kate and how appropriate the dress might be to her lifestyle. (Williams, 2002)e (Greenblatt, 1997) (Absolute Shakespeare, 2000-2005)
Puppet has changed meanings over time; however the play on words is effective with most of the dates listed in the Oxford English dictionary. Puppet can be a child’s play-toy; a woman lacking individuality in her fashion sense; and a person in status operating under the control of another. These all have reference when placed with this conversation and context.
Flea does have an entry in Williams’ dictionary; however it pertains to “sexual intimacy” in this regard Shakespeare’s purpose of belittling the tailor is rendered here.
Skein of thread most likely plays upon both the way Petruccio feels about the gown that is abhorrent to the eyes as well as to the penis joke and the fact the man is a “hopping” tailor. The fragment of the thread that the Norton Anthology defines this as is meant to belittle the Tailor in many different dimensions.
The actual lines reference “laying it on him” which could double as the blame and the dress. The next line contains the word “frolic” which according to Williams is “allusive to sexual activity.
Absolute Shakespeare. (2000-2005). Retrieved July 11, 2008, from ABSOLUTESHAKESPEARE.COM: absoluteshakespeare.com
Baumin, T. F. (1989). Petruchio the Sophist and Language as Creation in Taming of the Shrew. Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 , pp. 247-257.
Cahn, C. (1975). The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare's Mirror of Marriage. modern language studies volume 5 .
Greenblatt, C. H. (1997). The Norton Shakespeare . New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company Inc.
Oxford University Press. (2008). Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rebhorn, W. A. (1995). Petruchio's Rope Tricks: The Taming of the Shrew and the Renaissance Discourse of Rhetoric. Modern Philology , 304-321.
Williams, G. (2002). A Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature. London and Atlantic Highlands NJ.