Introductory Lecture and Objectives  The Taming of the Shrew
eNotes Lesson Plan content  Introductory Lecture  One of
Shakespeare’s earlier plays and published for the first time in
the First Folio (1623), The Taming of the Shrew was a success
with audiences when it was originally performed. Its main plot
focuses on the “taming” of Katherine—a woman no one will marry
because of her strong personality and sharp tongue. Petruchio,
eager for a challenge and for Kate’s sizable dowry, sets out to
wed Kate and make her into an obedient wife. The secondary plot
concerns the love affair of Lucentio and Bianca—the latter of
whom is courted by several men and controlled by a dominant
father, leading Lucentio to resort to disguise and deceit in
order to make Bianca his own.  Shakespeare structures The Taming
of the Shrew as a play within a play. Preceding the appearance
of any of the central characters, audience members watch the
Induction—explanatory scenes that stand apart from the main
action—in which a drunken membe