The Taming of the Shrew: Texts and Contexts (Bedford Shakespeare) - Softcover

This teaching edition of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew responds to the needs of instructors using a variety of approaches to Shakespeare, including feminist, historical, and cultural studies approaches. The play is accompanied by four sets of primary documents and illustrations thematically arranged to offer a richly textured understanding of early modern culture and Shakespeare's work within that culture. The texts include facsimiles of period documents, excerpts of conduct literature on marriage and on wife and servant beating, sermons, popular ballads, literary works offering alternative endings to Shakespeare's play, and documents on women's legal status. The primary documents contextualize the play's treatment of assertive women, marital conflict, and domestic disorder and violence.  Editorial features designed to help students read the play in light of the historical documents include an intelligent and engaging general introduction, and introduction to each thematic group of documents, thorough headnotes and glosses for the primary documents (presented in modern spelling), and an extensive bibliography.

William Shakespeare’s ability to sculpt dynamic characters and expose their faults and strengths with exceptionally lyrical wit is perhaps most finely demonstrated in his immortal comedic romance The Taming of the Shrew. The proposed matrimonial pairing of Petruchio and Katherina is not star-crossed by familial conflict, but plagued by the clashing of personalities. The Taming of the Shrew has been lauded for its humor, lambasted for its portrayal of the war between the sexes, and celebrated as a literary tour-de-force.