Click on any scene below for a side-by-side translation from the original Shakespeare into modern English.
Induction, Scene 1
This play begins with an "induction," which serves as a kind of frame for the story. A belligerent beggar (Sly) is arguing with the Hostess of a bar. He's busted a bunch of glasses but won't p...
Induction, Scene 2
In a plush bedroom in the Lord's house, Sly demands a pot of "small ale." (Historical tidbit: "small ale" is the Elizabethan equivalent of cheap, light beer.)Sly is surrounded by servants who offer...
Act 1, Scene 1
(This is where the inset play begins. We're still in Sly's bedroom at the Lord's house, which is apparently big enough for a live theater performance. Sly and his "wife" watch the play from a lofte...
Act 1, Scene 2
Having just arrived in Padua from Verona, Petruchio and his servant Grumio stand at Hortensio's front door. When Petruchio says "Here, sirrah Grumio; knock, I say," Grumio thinks he is being a...
Act 2, Scene 1
At Baptista's house, Kate has tied up Bianca, who begs her sister to let her go. Bianca says she'll do whatever Kate wants because she knows how to be obedient to her "elders." Translation: "You're...
Act 3, Scene 1
At Baptista's place, Hortensio (as Litio) and Lucentio (as Cambio) bicker over who gets to tutor Bianca first. Bianca interjects and tells the men that she, not them, decides when, what,...
Act 3, Scene 2
Fast forward to the wedding day. Baptista and Katherine are ticked off because Petruchio is very late. Both worry about looking like a couple of idiots if he blows them off. Kate run...
Act 4, Scene 1
Grumio enters Petruchio's country house, where Curtis and some other servants are prepping for the arrival of their master and his new wife. Grumio complains that he has been traveling from Padua w...
Act 4, Scene 2
Back in Padua, outside of Baptista's house, Tranio (as Lucentio) and Hortensio (as Litio) spy on Bianca and Lucentio (as Cambio) as the pair flirt with each other.Hortensio thinks Bianca is acting...
Act 4, Scene 3
Back at Petruchio's country house, Kate begs Grumio to make her something to eat because she's starving, sleep deprived, and has been verbally abused by Petruchio.Grumio taunts Kate with tasty trea...
Act 4, Scene 4
Back in Padua, Tranio (as Lucentio) and the Merchant (as Lucentio's father Vincentio) wait for Baptista outside his houseThe Merchant is introduced to Baptista as Vincentio and the two men seem ple...
Act 4, Scene 5
On the road to Padua in the middle of the afternoon, Petruchio looks up at the sun and says the "moon" looks beautiful. Kate corrects him, but Petruchio says it's the moon or whatever else he...
Act 5, Scene 1
Lucentio and Bianca run off to get married at St. Luke's church.Meanwhile, Petruchio, Kate, and Vincentio arrive at Lucentio's house, where the Merchant is pretending to be Lucentio's father while...
Act 5, Scene 2
Lucentio welcomes his guests to the wedding banquet and everybody hangs out and shoots the breeze, which involves a lot of trash talk, of course.Petruchio says Hortensio is afraid of his wife, the...