The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works Read online

  HORTENSIO

  Petruccio, since we are stepped thus far in,

  I will continue that I broached in jest.

  I can, Petruccio, help thee to a wife

  With wealth enough, and young and beauteous,

  Brought up as best becomes a gentlewoman.

  Her only fault—and that is faults enough—

  Is that she is intolerable curst,

  And shrewd and froward so beyond all measure

  That, were my state far worser than it is,

  I would not wed her for a mine of gold.

  PETRUCCIO

  Hortensio, peace. Thou know‘st not gold’s effect.

  Tell me her father’s name and ’tis enough,

  For I will board her though she chide as loud

  As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.

  HORTENSIO

  Her father is Baptista Minola,

  An affable and courteous gentleman.

  Her name is Katherina Minola,

  Renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue.

  PETRUCCIO

  I know her father, though I know not her,

  And he knew my deceased father well.

  I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her,

  And therefore let me be thus bold with you

  To give you over at this first encounter,

  Unless you will accompany me thither.

  GRUMIO I pray you, sir, let him go while the humour lasts. O’ my word, an she knew him as well as I do she would think scolding would do little good upon him. She may perhaps call him half a score knaves or so. Why, that’s nothing; an he begin once he’ll rail in his rope-tricks. I’ll tell you what, sir, an she stand him but a little he will throw a figure in her face and so disfigure her with it that she shall have no more eyes to see withal than a cat. You know him not, sir.

  HORTENSIO

  Tarry, Petruccio, I must go with thee,

  For in Baptista’s keep my treasure is.

  He hath the jewel of my life in hold,

  His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca,

  And her withholds from me and other more,

  Suitors to her and rivals in my love,

  Supposing it a thing impossible,

  For those defects I have before rehearsed,

  That ever Katherina will be wooed.

  Therefore this order hath Baptista ta’en:

  That none shall have access unto Bianca

  Till Katherine the curst have got a husband.

  GRUMIO Katherine the curst—

  A title for a maid of all titles the worst.

  HORTENSIO

  Now shall my friend Petruccio do me grace,

  And offer me disguised in sober robes

  To old Baptista as a schoolmaster

  Well seen in music, to instruct Bianca,

  That so I may by this device at least

  Have leave and leisure to make love to her,

  And unsuspected court her by herself.

  Enter Gremio with a paper, and Lucentio disguised as a schoolmaster

  GRUMIO Here’s no knavery. See, to beguile the old folks, how the young folks lay their heads together. Master, master, look about you. Who goes there, ha?

  HORTENSIO

  Peace, Grumio, it is the rival of my love.

  Petruccio, stand by a while.

  GRUMIO

  A proper stripling, and an amorous!

  Petruccio, Hortensio, and Grumio stand aside

  GREMIO (to Lucentio)

  O, very well—I have perused the note.

  Hark you, sir, I’ll have them very fairly bound—

  All books of love, see that at any hand—

  And see you read no other lectures to her.

  You understand me. Over and beside

  Signor Baptista’s liberality,

  I’ll mend it with a largess. Take your paper, too,

  And let me have them very well perfumed,

  For she is sweeter than perfume itself

  To whom they go to. What will you read to her?

  LUCENTIO

  Whate’er I read to her, I’ll plead for you

  As for my patron, stand you so assured,

  As firmly as yourself were still in place—

  Yea, and perhaps with more successful words

  Than you, unless you were a scholar, sir.

  GREMIO

  O this learning, what a thing it is!

  GRUMIO (aside)

  O this woodcock, what an ass it is!

  PETRUCCIO Peace, sirrah.

  HORTENSIO

  Grumio, mum. (Coming forward) God save you, Signor Gremio.

  GREMIO

  And you are well met, Signor Hortensio.

  Trow you whither I am going?

  To Baptista Minola.

  I promised to enquire carefully

  About a schoolmaster for the fair Bianca,

  And by good fortune I have lighted well

  On this young man, for learning and behaviour

  Fit for her turn, well read in poetry

  And other books—good ones, I warrant ye.

  HORTENSIO

  ‘Tis well, and I have met a gentleman

  Hath promised me to help me to another,

  A fine musician, to instruct our mistress.

  So shall I no whit be behind in duty

  To fair Bianca, so beloved of me.

  GREMIO

  Beloved of me, and that my deeds shall prove.

  GRUMIO (aside) And that his bags shall prove.

  HORTENSIO

  Gremio, ’tis now no time to vent our love.

  Listen to me, and if you speak me fair

  I’ll tell you news indifferent good for either.

  Here is a gentleman whom by chance I met,

  Upon agreement from us to his liking

  Will undertake to woo curst Katherine,

  Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.

  GREMIO So said, so done, is well.

  Hortensio, have you told him all her faults?

  PETRUCCIO

  I know she is an irksome brawling scold.

  If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.

  GREMIO

  No, sayst me so, friend? What countryman?

  PETRUCCIO

  Born in Verona, old Antonio’s son.

  My father dead, his fortune lives for me,

  And I do hope good days and long to see.

  GREMIO O sir, such a life with such a wife were strange.

  But if you have a stomach, to’t, a’ God’s name.

  You shall have me assisting you in all.

  But will you woo this wildcat?

  PETRUCCIO Will I live!

  GRUMIO

  Will he woo her? Ay, or I’ll hang her.

  PETRUCCIO

  Why came I hither but to that intent?

  Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?

  Have I not in my time heard lions roar?

  Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds,

  Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?

  Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,

  And heaven’s artillery thunder in the skies?

  Have I not in a pitched battle heard

  Loud ’larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets’ clang?

  And do you tell me of a woman’s tongue,

  That gives not half so great a blow to hear

  As will a chestnut in a farmer’s fire ?

  Tush, tush—fear boys with bugs.

  GRUMIO For he fears none.

  GREMIO Hortensio, hark.

  This gentleman is happily arrived,

  My mind presumes, for his own good and ours.

  HORTENSIO

  I promised we would be contributors,

  And bear his charge of wooing, whatsoe’er.

  GREMIO

  And so we will, provided that he win her.

  GRUMIO

  I would I were as sure of a good dinner. />
  Enter Tranio, brave, as Lucentio, and Biondello

  TRANIO Gentlemen, God save you. If I may be bold, tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest way to the house of Signor Baptista Minola?

  BIONDELLO He that has the two fair daughters—is’t he you mean?

  TRANIO Even he, Biondello.

  GREMIO

  Hark you, sir, you mean not her to—

  TRANIO

  Perhaps him and her, sir. What have you to do?

  PETRUCCIO

  Not her that chides, sir, at any hand, I pray.

  TRANIO

  I love no chiders, sir. Biondello, let’s away.

  LUCENTIO (aside)

  Well begun, Tranio.

  HORTENSIO Sir, a word ere you go.

  Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of—yea or no?

  TRANIO

  And if I be, sir, is it any offence?

  GREMIO

  No, if without more words you will get you hence.

  TRANIO

  Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free

  For me as for you?

  GREMIO But so is not she.

  TRANIO

  For what reason, I beseech you?

  GREMIO

  For this reason, if you’ll know—

  That she’s the choice love of Signor Gremio.

  HORTENSIO

  That she’s the chosen of Signor Hortensio.

  TRANIO

  Softly, my masters. If you be gentlemen,

  Do me this right, hear me with patience.

  Baptista is a noble gentleman

  To whom my father is not all unknown,

  And were his daughter fairer than she is

  She may more suitors have, and me for one.

  Fair Leda’s daughter had a thousand wooers;

  Then well one more may fair Bianca have,

  And so she shall. Lucentio shall make one,

  Though Paris came, in hope to speed alone.

  GREMIO

  What, this gentleman will out-talk us all!

  LUCENTIO

  Sir, give him head, I know he’ll prove a jade.

  PETRUCCIO

  Hortensio, to what end are all these words?

  HORTENSIO

  Sir, let me be so bold as ask you,

  Did you yet ever see Baptista’s daughter?

  TRANIO

  No, sir, but hear I do that he hath two,

  The one as famous for a scolding tongue

  As is the other for beauteous modesty.

  PETRUCCIO

  Sir, sir, the first’s for me. Let her go by.

  GREMIO

  Yea, leave that labour to great Hercules,

  And let it be more than Alcides’ twelve.

  PETRUCCIO

  Sir, understand you this of me in sooth,

  The youngest daughter whom you hearken for

  Her father keeps from all access of suitors,

  And will not promise her to any man

  Until the elder sister first be wed.

  The younger then is free, and not before.

  TRANIO

  If it be so, sir, that you are the man

  Must stead us all, and me amongst the rest,

  And if you break the ice and do this feat,

  Achieve the elder, set the younger free

  For our access, whose hap shall be to have her

  Will not so graceless be to be ingrate.

  HORTENSIO

  Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive;

  And since you do profess to be a suitor

  You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman,

  To whom we all rest generally beholden.

  TRANIO

  Sir, I shall not be slack. In sign whereof,

  Please ye we may contrive this afternoon,

  And quaff carouses to our mistress’ health,

  And do as adversaries do in law—

  Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

  GRUMIO and BIONDELLO

  O excellent motion! Fellows, let’s be gone.

  HORTENSIO

  The motion’s good indeed, and be it so.

  Petruccio, I shall be your ben venuto.

  Exeunt

  2.1 Enter Katherina and Bianca, her hands bound

  BIANCA

  Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself

  To make a bondmaid and a slave of me.

  That I disdain, but for these other goods,

  Unbind my hands, I’ll pull them off myself,

  Yea, all my raiment to my petticoat,

  Or what you will command me will I do,

  So well I know my duty to my elders.

  KATHERINE

  Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell

  Whom thou lov’st best. See thou dissemble not.

  BIANCA

  Believe me, sister, of all the men alive

  I never yet beheld that special face

  Which I could fancy more than any other.

  KATHERINE

  Minion, thou liest. Is’t not Hortensio?

  BIANCA

  If you affect him, sister, here I swear

  I’ll plead for you myself but you shall have him.

  KATHERINE

  O then, belike you fancy riches more.

  You will have Gremio to keep you fair.

  BIANCA

  Is it for him you do envy me so?

  Nay, then, you jest, and now I well perceive

  You have but jested with me all this while.

  I prithee, sister Kate, untie my hands.

  KATHERINE (strikes her)

  If that be jest, then all the rest was so.

  Enter Baptista

  BAPTISTA

  Why, how now, dame, whence grows this insolence?

  Bianca, stand aside.—Poor girl, she weeps.—

  Go ply thy needle, meddle not with her.

  (To Katherine) For shame, thou hilding of a devilish

  spirit,

  Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee?

  When did she cross thee with a bitter word?

  KATHERINE

  Her silence flouts me, and I’ll be revenged.

  She flies after Bianca

  BAPTISTA

  What, in my sight? Bianca, get thee in.

  Exit Bianca

  KATHERINE

  What, will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see

  She is your treasure, she must have a husband.

  I must dance barefoot on her wedding day,

  And for your love to her lead apes in hell.

  Talk not to me. I will go sit and weep

  Till I can find occasion of revenge.

  Exit

  BAPTISTA

  Was ever gentleman thus grieved as I?

  But who comes here?

  Enter Gremio, Lucentio as a schoolmaster in the

  habit of a mean man, Petruccio with Hortensio as a

  musician, Tranio as Lucentio, with Biondello his

  boy bearing a lute and books

  GREMIO Good morrow, neighbour Baptista.

  BAPTISTA Good morrow, neighbour Gremio. God save you, gentlemen.

  PETRUCCIO

  And you, good sir. Pray, have you not a daughter

  Called Katherina, fair and virtuous?

  BAPTISTA

  I have a daughter, sir, called Katherina.

  GREMIO

  You are too blunt. Go to it orderly.

  PETRUCCIO

  You wrong me, Signor Gremio. Give me leave.

  (To Baptista) I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,

  That hearing of her beauty and her wit,

  Her affability and bashful modesty,

  Her wondrous qualities and mild behaviour,

  Am bold to show myself a forward guest

  Within your house to make mine eye the witness

  Of that report which I so oft have heard,

  And for an entrance to my entertainment

  I do presen
t you with a man of mine (presenting

  Hortensio)

  Cunning in music and the mathematics

  To instruct her fully in those sciences,

  Whereof I know she is not ignorant.

  Accept of him, or else you do me wrong.

  His name is Licio, born in Mantua.

  BAPTISTA

  You’re welcome, sir, and he for your good sake.

  But for my daughter, Katherine, this I know:

  She is not for your turn, the more my grief.

  PETRUCCIO

  I see you do not mean to part with her,

  Or else you like not of my company.

  BAPTISTA

  Mistake me not, I speak but as I find.

  Whence are you, sir? What may I call your name?

  PETRUCCIO

  Petruccio is my name, Antonio’s son,

  A man well known throughout all Italy.

  BAPTISTA

  I know him well. You are welcome for his sake.

  GREMIO

  Saving your tale, Petruccio, I pray

  Let us that are poor petitioners speak too.

  Baccare, you are marvellous forward.

  PETRUCCIO

  O pardon me, Signor Gremio, I would fain be doing.

  GREMIO

  I doubt it not, sir. But you will curse your wooing. (To Baptista) Neighbour, this is a gift very grateful, I am sure of it. To express the like kindness, myself, that have been more kindly beholden to you than any, freely give unto you this young scholar (presenting Lucentio) that hath been long studying at Rheims, as cunning in Greek, Latin, and other languages as the other in music and mathematics. His name is Cambio. Pray accept his service.

  BAPTISTA A thousand thanks, Signor Gremio. Welcome, good Cambio. (To Tranio) But, gentle sir, methinks you walk like a stranger. May I be so bold to know the cause of your coming?

  TRANIO

  Pardon me, sir, the boldness is mine own

  That, being a stranger in this city here,

  Do make myself a suitor to your daughter,

  Unto Bianca, fair and virtuous.

  Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me

  In the preferment of the eldest sister.

  This liberty is all that I request:

  That upon knowledge of my parentage

  I may have welcome ‘mongst the rest that woo,

  And free access and favour as the rest.

  And toward the education of your daughters

  I here bestow a simple instrument,

  And this small packet of Greek and Latin books.

  If you accept them, then their worth is great.

  BAPTISTA

  Lucentio is your name—of whence, I pray?

  TRANIO

  Of Pisa, sir, son to Vincentio.