The Taming of the Shrew (Hardcover-2023)

About the Book

Lucentio loves Bianca but cannot court her until her formidable elder sister Katherine is wedded off. The wily Petruchio plans a courtship with tough Katherine, who deems herself beyond the institute of marriage. Petruchio wins Katherine in a sum of dowry, and as the play unfolds, the historic comic battle of the sexes commences. Established as a play within a play, the text commences with a framing device called “induction”, which foreshadows the play's story. The story is of the Baptista and his two daughters, the virtuous and admirable Bianca and the fiery and controversial Katherine. First written between 1590-94, The Taming of the Shrew was published in 1623 in the first folio. This play by Shakespeare has influenced many other literary and popular culture adaptations, such as the film 10 Things I Hate About You.

About the Author

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet and the “Bard of Avon” (or simply “The Bard”). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623 two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare’s.