What is the relation to the source and what has been altered from the old tale.

The local Warwickshire touches in the Induction and their explanation.  (For these see “Story of the Induction” in the Play).

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Ought the Induction play to be left out?  How might it be made more effective by special treatment on the stage?  Should the additional scenes be interpolated as was the stage custom, or should Shakespeare’s diminishing notice of them be adopted to produce the most artistic effect?

II

THE DOUBLE PLOT OF THE MAIN PLAY

In “A Shrew” and “The Shrew”:  Show how the story, with respect to the Taming scenes, is the same substantially, with comparatively minor differences, except for the characterization.  But with respect to the Bianca scenes it has been expanded and altered.  This suggests, most naturally, that the part Shakespeare did not write or answer for in “A Shrew” was merely the Bianca scenes, and that his task in “The Shrew” was to cut out and rewrite the scenes that were not his so as to be unhampered with the disharmony of the two parts of the plot as it appears in the Quarto of 1594.

The story of the Play as it now stands consists of an interweaving of the Taming story and the story of Bianca’s Courtship in such a way that while they keep their separateness of necessity, they balance better in interest and are more continually brought to bear upon each other from time to time.  What are their points of contact in each Act?  The sisters with relation to their father and their suitors in Act I:  How does this initiate the action?

With relation to each other and the Music Master in Act ii:  How does this separate the action into two lines of Courtship.

After Katherine’s marriage in Act iii the interest divides between the Taming of Katherine and the Courtship of Bianca.

In Act iv two or three points of contact are arranged by means of the journey and what two characters?

In Act V how is contact both objective and moral obtained?

Alternative interest in the Bianca Courtship after Kate’s marriage and taming is attained by the elaborate scheme to make Lucentio the most successful suitor and the droll surprises and difficulties met with in the process.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is the lack of unity in the Play sufficiently remedied by enriching the Bianca counterplot and arranging for alternate interest first in the plot and then in the counterplot, or is the original difficulty irremediable?

In which story is plot or else character the supreme interest?

Is the Bianca story or the Katherine story the more entertaining?  Why?

III