The Taming of the Shrew | Act V, Scene 2

Scene 2

[Padua. Lucentio's house.]

Enter Baptista, Vincentio, Gremio, the Pedant, Lucentio, and Bianca. [Petruchio, Katharina, Hortensio,] Tranio, Biondello, Grumio, and Widow:. The Serving men with Tranio bringing in a Banquet.

LUC:
At last, though long, our jarring notes agree:
And time it is, when raging war is done,
To smile at scapes and perils overblown.
My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,
While I with self-same kindness welcome thine.(5)
Brother Petruchio, sister Katharina,
And thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow,
Feast with the best, and welcome to my house:
My banquet is to close our stomachs up,
After our great good cheer. Pray you, sit down;(10)
For now we sit to chat as well as eat.
PET:
Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!
BAP:
Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.
PET:
Padua affords nothing but what is kind.
HOR:
For both our sakes, I would that word were true.(15)
PET:
Now, for my life, Hortensio fears his widow.
WID:
Then never trust me, if I be afeard.
PET:
You are very sensible, and yet you miss my sense:
I mean, Hortensio is afeard of you.
WID:
He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.(20)
PET:
Roundly replied.
KAT:
Mistress, how mean you that?
WID:
Thus I conceive by him.
PET:
Conceives by me! How likes Hortensio that?
HOR:
My widow says, thus she conceives her tale.(25)
PET:
Very well mended. Kiss him for that, good widow.
KAT:
‘He that is giddy thinks the world turns round:’
I pray you, tell me what you meant by that.
WID:
Your husband, being troubled with a shrew,
Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe:(30)
And now you know my meaning.
KAT:
A very mean meaning.
WID:
Right, I mean you.
KAT:
And I am mean indeed, respecting you.
PET:
To her, Kate!(35)
HOR:
To her, widow!
PET:
A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.
HOR:
That's my office.
PET:
Spoke like an officer; ha' to thee, lad!

Drinks to Hortensio.

BAP:
How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks?(40)
GRE:
Believe me, sir, they butt together well.
BIA:
Head, and butt! an hasty-witted body
Would say your head and butt were head and horn.
VIN:
Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you?
BIA:
Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.(45)
PET:
Nay, that you shall not: since you have begun,
Have at you for a bitter jest or two!
BIA:
Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush;
And then pursue me as you draw your bow.
You are welcome all.(50)

Exit Bianca [Katharina, and Widow.]

PET:
She hath prevented me. Here, Signior Tranio.
This bird you aim'd at, though you hit her not;
Therefore a health to all that shot and miss'd.
TRA:
O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his greyhound,
Which runs himself and catches for his master.(55)
PET:
A good swift simile, but something currish.
TRA:
'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself:
'Tis thought your deer does hold you at a bay.
BAP:
O ho, Petruchio! Tranio hits you now.
LUC:
I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio.(60)
HOR:
Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here?
PET:
A' has a little gall'd me, I confess;
And, as the jest did glance away from me,
'Tis ten to one it maim'd you two outright.
BAP:
Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio,(65)
I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.
PET:
Well, I say no: and therefore for assurance
Let's each one send unto his wife;
And he whose wife is most obedient
To come at first when he doth send for her,(70)
Shall win the wager which we will propose.
HOR:
Content. What is the wager?
LUC:
Twenty crowns.
PET:
Twenty crowns!
I'll venture so much of my hawk or hound,(75)
But twenty times so much upon my wife.
LUC:
A hundred then.
HOR:
Content.
PET:
A match! 'tis done.
HOR:
Who shall begin?(80)
LUC:
That will I.
Go, Biondello, bid your mistress come to me.
BIO:
I go.

Exit.

BAP:
Son, I'll be your half, Bianca comes.
LUC:
I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself.(85)

Enter Biondello.

How now! what news?
BIO:
Sir, my mistress sends you word
That she is busy and she cannot come.
PET:
How! she is busy and she cannot come!
Is that an answer?(90)
GRE:
Ay, and a kind one too:
Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse.
PET:
I hope better.
HOR:
Sirrah Biondello, go and entreat my wife
To come to me forthwith.(95)

Exit Biondello.

PET:
O, ho! entreat her!
Nay, then she must needs come.
HOR:
I am afraid, sir, do what you can.

Enter Biondello.

Yours will not be entreated: Now, where's my wife?
BIO:
She says you have some goodly jest in hand:(100)
She will not come: she bids you come to her.
PET:
Worse and worse; she will not come! O vile,
Intolerable, not to be endured!
Sirrah Grumio, go to your mistress;
Say, I command her to come to me.(105)

Exit [Grumio.]

HOR:
I know her answer.
PET:
What?
HOR:
She will not.
PET:
The fouler fortune mine, and there an end.
BAP:
Now, by my holidame, here comes Katherine!(110)

Enter Katherina.

KAT:
What is your will, sir, that you send for me?
PET:
Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife?
KAT:
They sit conferring by the parlor fire.
PET:
Go fetch them hither: if they deny to come,
Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands:(115)
Away, I say, and bring them hither straight.

[Exit Katherine]

LUC:
Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder.
HOR:
And so it is: I wonder what it bodes.
PET:
Marry, peace it bodes, and love and quiet life,
And awful rule and right supremacy;(120)
And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and happy?
BAP:
Now, fair befal thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,(125)
For she is changed, as she had never been.
  • conclude from
  • becomes pregnant
  • horn of a cuckold
  • “holy dame,” i.e., the Virgin Mary
  • whip
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