The Taming of the Shrew (27 page)

Preparation of “
The Taming of the Shrew
in Performance” was assisted by a generous grant from the CAPITAL Centre (Creativity and Performance in Teaching and Learning) of the University of Warwick for research in the RSC archive at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

The second half of the introduction (“The Critics Debate”) draws extensively on a longer overview of the play’s critical history prepared for us by Sarah Carter.

Thanks as always to our indefatigable and eagle-eyed copy editor Tracey Day and to Ray Addicott for overseeing the production process with rigor and calmness.

Picture research by Michelle Morton. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust for assistance with picture research (special thanks to Helen Hargest) and reproduction fees.

Images of RSC productions are supplied by the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford-upon-Avon. This Library, maintained by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, holds the most important collection of Shakespeare material in the UK, including the Royal Shakespeare Company’s official archive. It is open to the public free of charge.

For more information see
www.shakespeare.org.uk
.

¹
pheeze
fix, get even with

²
A … stocks
i.e. I’ll put you in the stocks (instrument of punishment in which the arms or legs were confined)

³
baggage
good-for-nothing woman, harlot

⁴
chronicles
historical account
Richard Conqueror
Sly may confuse Richard Coeur-de-lion (Lionheart) with William the Conquerer

⁵
paucas pallabris
“few words” (corruption of the Spanish)
Sessa!
Be off! (cry used in hunting)/be quiet

⁶
burst
broken

⁷
denier
tenth of a penny
Go … Jeronimy
Sly confuses Saint Jerome with Hieronimo, a character in Thomas Kyd’s
The Spanish Tragedy
who cautioned himself with “Hieronimo, beware! Go by, go by!”

⁸
cold bed
perhaps a beggar’s bed, the damp ground

⁹
thirdborough
parish constable

¹⁰
by law
in court

¹¹
kindly
by all means

¹²
charge
order
tender well
take good care of

¹³
Brach
bitch-hound (given that
Merriman
would seem a more suitable name for a male dog, some editors emend to “breathe”—i.e. “give breathing space to”—thus also improving the grammar)
cur
dog
embossed
exhausted, foaming at the mouth

¹⁴
couple
leash together
deep-mouthed brach
bitch with a loud bark

¹⁵
made it good
i.e. picked up the scent

¹⁶
coldest fault
when the scent was lost

¹⁹
cried … loss
howled upon discovering the scent when it had been completely lost
merest
total

²²
fleet
swift

²⁴
sup
feed
unto
after

²⁹
bed but cold
cold bed in which

³¹
Grim … image
in his drunken stupor Sly resembles a corpse

³²
practise on
trick

³⁴
sweet
delightful/perfumed

³⁵
banquet
light meal

³⁶
brave
fine

³⁷
forget himself
behave inappropriately/forget who he was

³⁸
cannot choose
is bound to

³⁹
strange
odd/wonderful

⁴⁰
fancy
fanciful thought/imagining

⁴³
hang it round
adorn it
wanton
lively

⁴⁴
Balm
anoint, bathe
foul
dirty/unattractive
distillèd
fragrant

⁴⁵
sweet
scented

⁴⁷
dulcet
sweet

⁴⁸
straight
straight away

⁴⁹
low
humble
reverence
bow/servitude

⁵³
ewer
jug containing water for handwashing
diaper
cloth

⁵⁸
disease
illness/derangement

⁶⁰
is
must be (mad)

⁶²
kindly
naturally

⁶³
passing
exceedingly

⁶⁴
husbanded
managed
modesty
care/moderation

⁶⁵
warrant
assure

⁶⁶
As
so that

⁶⁹
office
duty, role

⁷⁰
Sirrah
sir (used to an inferior)

⁷¹
Belike
perhaps

⁷⁴
An’t
if it

⁷⁹
So please
if it please
duty
services

⁸⁴
fitted
suited (to you)

⁸⁷
happy
fortunate

⁸⁸
rather for
more so because

⁸⁹
cunning
professional skill

⁹¹
doubtful
apprehensive about
modesties
propriety, self-control

⁹²
over-eyeing of
observing/staring at

⁹⁴
merry passion
fit of laughter

⁹⁶
impatient
angry

⁹⁸
veriest antic
most complete buffoon

⁹⁹
buttery
storeroom for provisions

¹⁰¹
want
lack
affords
has to offer

¹⁰³
all suits
every aspect (puns on sense of “outfits”)

¹⁰⁵
do him obeisance
bow/be submissive

¹⁰⁶
as he will
if he wishes to

¹⁰⁷
bear
must conduct
honourable action
dignified behavior

¹⁰⁹
by them accomplishèd
performed by them (the
ladies
)

¹¹⁰
duty
reverence

¹¹¹
tongue
voice
lowly
humble

¹¹⁶
with … bosom
bowing his head to his chest

¹¹⁹
esteemèd him
believed himself to be

¹²²
commanded tears
tears on command

¹²³
shift
purpose/trick

¹²⁴
napkin
handkerchief
close conveyed
secretly carried

¹²⁵
in despite
notwithstanding anything

¹²⁶
dispatched
carried out

¹²⁷
Anon
shortly

¹²⁸
usurp the grace
take on the elegance

¹³¹
how
to see how
stay
prevent

¹³³
in
go in
Haply
perhaps/hopefully

¹³⁴
spleen
i.e. mood, impulse (the
spleen
was thought to be the seat of laughter)

running scene 1 continues
most editions assume a shift of location from “outside an ale-house” to “a bedroom in the lord’s house,” but the text suggests that the location of the whole induction is the lord’s house, the only move being from outside (the main stage) to the bedroom (above space)

¹
small
weak (hence cheap)

²
sack
Spanish white wine

³
conserves
confections, sweetmeats

⁴
raiment
clothing

⁷
conserves of beef
salted beef

⁸
doublets
close-fitting jackets

¹¹
look … over-leather
i.e. peep through holes

¹²
idle humour
mad whim

¹⁵
spirit
temperament/mood/fiend

¹⁷
Burtonheath
possibly Barton-on-the-heath, a village near Stratford-upon-Avon

¹⁸
cardmaker
maker of cards, instruments for combing wool
transmutation
change of condition
bear-herd
keeper of a performing bear

¹⁹
tinker
pot-mender

²⁰
ale-wife
woman who keeps an ale-house
Wincot
village four miles south of Stratford-upon-Avon

²¹
on the score
in debt
score
tally kept by marking notches on a piece of wood
sheer
weak/drunk without food
score … for
reckon me to be

²³
bestraught
out of my mind

²⁵
droop
become despondent

²⁷
As
as if

²⁹
ancient
former

³⁰
dreams
delusions

³³
Apollo
Greek god of music

³⁶
lustful
arousing desire

³⁷
trimmed up
decked out
Semiramis
legendary queen of Assyria, famous for her voluptuousness

³⁸
bestrow
scatter (probably with rushes)

³⁹
trapped
adorned/fitted out