The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew includes different kinds of characters.
The play’s main characters are: Katherine Minola, Petruchio, Bianca Minola, Baptista
Minola, Hortensio, Lucentio, Tranio, and Gremio. Katherine is regarded as a “shrew”­ a bad­tempered, assertive woman. Although her father, Baptista, is very wealthy and will provide a large dowry, Katherine has no suitors. However, her younger sister, Bianca, has many suitors because of her more modest, meek character – traits that were the ideal for women in that time period. Hortensio and Gremio are suitors to Bianca, and Lucentio, at the beginning of the play, falls in love with her at first sight. Despite this, Baptista wants to have his older daughter, Katherine, married first. Hortensio and Gremio plan to find a husband for Katherine. Hortensio meets his friend Petruchio, who is more than willing to marry Katherine despite her fierce personality. It is suggested in the play that Petruchio is not very wealthy, and therefore wants to marry a wealthy wife. Petruchio and Katherine meet, and are betrothed, although Katherine is against it. Hortensio and Lucentio disguise themselves as tutors to woo Bianca. By the end of the play, Petruchio is married to
Katherine, Lucentio is married to Bianca, and Hortensio is married to a widow.
In Elizabethan times, many marriages took place without love. Marriages could be only to gain money and/or reputation. Baptista is very eager to marry off his daughters. He offers Katherine’s hand in marriage even though she protests. He also offers Bianca to the suitor who can offer the most riches. Bianca secretly marries
Lucentio (under the guise of Tranio) for the sake of “love”. They are probably not actually in love with each other; Lucentio fell in love at first sight, which suggests that it

was only her beauty and outward appearance that appealed to Lucentio. This is much like how Romeo fell in love at first sight with Juliet in Romeo and Juliet.
Hortensio, after realizing that Bianca favors Tranio (Lucentio) instead of him, swears revenge on her by marrying a wealthy widow and transferring his affections to