Fighting Words - Royal Shakespeare Company

Resource A: Introduction (video one)
The online videos provide a very brief introduction to the main plot – the relationship and conflict
between Kate and Petruchio.
Further resources, including a longer synopsis, are available on the RSC website. Please visit:
http://www.rsc.org.uk/education/resources/bank/ and select The Taming of the Shrew
This summary appears in the Pupil Resource Pack:
What’s The Taming of the Shrew about?
In brief
• A rich man has two daughters.
• Kate is the eldest. She has a reputation for being rude – a shrew 1 . She has no interest in
being married.
• Bianca is the youngest. By contrast she is quiet and gentle and has several suitors – men
who would like to marry her.
• But Kate and Bianca’s father has said his elder daughter must marry first.
• Petruchio has come as a ‘suitor’ to the ‘shrewish’ Kate. He likes a challenge, but also Kate
comes with a dowry, a sum of money for her future husband.
• Petruchio and Kate argue from the start but they do end up married.
• Petruchio sets out to ‘tame’ his shrewish wife by denying her everything she wants –
but pretending it is out of his love for her.
• The play follows the arguments and conflicts between Petruchio and Kate.
1
A shrew is a small mouse-like creature with sharp teeth. It can also mean a vicious, nagging woman.
Registered charity no. 212481 Page 4 of 19 © RSC