Tag Archives: Sly

Hi everyone!  After hearing what everyone had to say in class, here is my response post:

The title The Taming of the Shrew is meant to refer to Katherina, but there are subtle instances of taming even before we meet her.  In the induction, when the Lord is talking about his multiple dogs, we inherently know that these animals have been trained to do his bidding.  He even seems to prefer one dog over the others, most likely because this dog is the tamest of the bunch, and responds most obediently to the Lord’s orders.

It’s also interesting to see the Lord’s behavior towards Sly.  He has just been talking about taming his dogs, and now will go on to tame this drunken bum.  Sly falls for his game almost immediately, subtly putting himself on the same level as the dogs – obedient, but not very smart, and certainly not as sophisticated as the Lord.

Even when we meet Lucentio and Tranio, there are notes of taming going on.  Lucentio is a teenager, being subtly pushed and influenced by not only his father, but his servant, who is supposed to be his inferior.  Even though Tranio tells him to study what makes him happy, this is a slight push in one direction.