A note for readers/teacher: this is based mostly off of the prose version from Tales From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. I forgot most of the details of the original play because it has been a long time since I read it, so I re-read the prose version so I could understand the play better to make this book report even possible.
Here is a quick character introduction to make things easier on myself and on you the reader:
Petruchio is a man from Padua. He is looking for a wife.
Katherine is a “shrew” (a “nagging, ill-tempered woman”) who lives in Padua with her father Baptista and her sister Bianca. She is very ill-tempered, but is also “wealthy and handsome”.
Bianca is Katherine’s younger sister. She is beautiful and mild-tempered, so men come to woo her first. Baptista is reluctant to let her get married before Katherine is.
Baptista is Bianca and Katherine’s father.
Lucentio is the man Bianca marries
Hortensio is another man who gets married at the same time as Lucentio. We do not get his wife’s name (in the prose version at least).
Petruchio wants to find a woman to marry. He hears of how Katherine is a shrew and decides to attempt to tame her. He travels to Baptista’s dwelling place to attempt to woo Katherine. Baptista, after a little bit of doubt, heartily consents to Petruchio’s wooing Katherine as Baptista wants Katherine to wed. Petruchio goes to Katherine and compliments her in every way he can think of.
In Petruchio’s own words, “I’ll … woo her with some spirit when she comes.
Say that she rail; why, then I’ll tell her plain
She sings as sweetly as a nightingale.
Say that she frown; I’ll say she looks as clear
As morning roses newly wash’d with dew.
Say she be mute, and will not speak a word;
Then I’ll commend her volubility,
And say she uttereth piercing eloquence.
If she do bid me pack, I’ll give her thanks,
As though she bid me stay by her a week;
If she deny to wed, I’ll crave the day
When I shall ask the banns, and when be married.”
to sum up that quote, Petruchio basically contradicts every bad thing Katherine says. The conversation ends with Baptista arriving. Petruchio lies and says that Katherine agreed to marry him, and, while Katherine denies it, Baptista agrees to let Petruchio and Katherine marry on the following Sunday.
The next Sunday comes, and it is a mad wedding. Petruchio shows up in ragged clothes and swears not to change them, they go up to the priest and are married quickly, but Petruchio strikes down the priest. Baptista has provided a large feast, but Petruchio takes Katherine straight to his country home to begin to “tame” Katherine. Upon arrival, Petruchio feigns to get Katherine everything she wants, like a gown, cap, food, and bed, but in reality he is finding fault with everything and throwing it away. This continues until Katherine obeys him and agrees with everything he says. Then, they travel back to Baptista’s abode, where Bianca and Luecentio are getting married, as well as Hortensio and his bride. Petruchio, Luecentio, and Hortensio make a wager that their wives will come when they call for them. Katherine is the only one of the three that comes, winning the wager for Petruchio. That’s pretty much everything there is to tell.