The Taming of the Shrew

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. With more than 150 works in his lifetime, William Shakespeare is one of the world’s most well-known writers. What are some of Shakespeare’s greatest contributions to poetry and plays? List 5-6 titles by Shakespeare (or more, if you can!). What do you know about Shakespeare’s life and the time period in which he lived? How does the world know so much about Shakespeare today?

Teaching Suggestion: This question guides students into researching Shakespeare’s life and contributions, as well as his impact on literature.

• This biography from Britannica offers outlined information on Shakespeare’s works and background; images and video are available as well.

2. Shakespeare’s plays are generally divided into three main categories: tragedies, histories, and comedies. Plays within a category show great variety, but similarities can be found as well. What do you think are the main differences between these categories of plays? What qualities or characteristics do you suppose are shared among the titles categorized as comedies? As tragedies?

Teaching Suggestion: This question allows students to think about Shakespeare’s titles in a comparative sense and helps them to see where and how The Taming of the Shrew fits in among the body of plays. Students can create and reference a brief list of characteristics often shared by Shakespeare’s comedies (e.g., comedies often end in weddings, reunions, or other celebratory events). In discussing shared characteristics, mention how several comedies including The Taming of the Shrew feature the theme ideas of Trickery, Transformation, Money, and Marriage in ways that contribute to humorous plots and subplots. This question can also be linked to the first full essay question on the role of “confusion” within the play.

• This article is a collection of links to Shakespeare’s plays, along with their respective categories.
• This article provides a brief overview on the differences between Shakespearean comedies and dramas.

Short Activity

Shakespeare wrote plays and acted in Elizabethan England. Considering the absence of technology at that time, what acting skills and theatrical approaches would have been especially important on Shakespeare’s stage? As a playwright and actor, how might Shakespeare have held the audience’s attention? Brainstorm and list your ideas. Then rearrange a presentation space in your classroom so that desks and chairs of the “audience” are on three sides. Present your responses from this three-quarter “stage.”

Teaching Suggestion: Guide student responses regarding how a lack of electricity, lighting, microphones, elaborate scenery, and modern special effects would prompt Shakespeare to focus on storytelling methods (like announcing locations within lines) and language (word choice and connotation that characterizes the speaker). Point out how Shakespeare used the intimacy of three-quarter staging to hold audience attention.

• The Royal Shakespeare Company sums up performance challenges of a play in Elizabethan times.
• Students can see a three-quarter thrust stage in this image from DK Find Out.
• Staging layouts from Theatres Trust will inform comparisons to Shakespeare’s stage.