Enter BAPTISTA,
GREMIO, TRANIO as
LUCENTIO, KATHERINE,
BIANCA, LUCENTIO, and others,
attendants
BAPTISTA and GREMIO
enter, followed by TRANIO disguised as
LUCENTIO, KATHERINE,
BIANCA, LUCENTIO, and
servants.
BAPTISTA
(to
TRANIO) Signior Lucentio, this is the
'pointed day
That Katherine and Petruchio should be married,
And yet we hear not of our son-in-law.
What will be said? What mockery will it be,
5
To want the bridegroom when the priest attends
To speak the ceremonial rites of marriage?
What says Lucentio to this shame of ours?
BAPTISTA
(to TRANIO
as
LUCENTIO) Signior Lucentio, this is
the day appointed for Katherine and Petruchio's wedding,
but there's no sign of the groom. What will people say? To
have the priest right here, ready to perform the marriage ceremony,
and be missing a bridegroom! What do you think about our
humiliation, Lucentio?
KATHERINE
No shame but mine. I must, forsooth, be forced
To give my hand, opposed against my heart,
10
Unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen,
Who wooed in haste and means to wed at leisure.
I told you, I, he was a frantic fool,
Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behavior,
And, to be noted for a merry man,
15
He'll woo a thousand, 'point the day of
marriage,
Make friends, invite, and proclaim the banns,
Yet never means to wed where he hath wooed.
Now must the world point at poor Katherine
And say, “Lo, there is mad Petruchio's wife,
20
If it would please him come and marry her!”
KATHERINE
The humiliation is all mine. You forced me to accept this man
against my will, this fancy con artist who was in such a hurry to
get engaged. He has no intention of marrying me. I knew
it—I told you. The whole thing was a joke. He pretends
to be this simple, backward guy, but it's all a gag to
amuse his witty friends. He goes around proposing to
women—they set a date, he gets introduced around, they
send out the invitations and make a public announcement, but he has
no intention of going through with it. So now everyone will point at
me and say, “Look, there goes the wife of that comedian
Petruchio—if he could be bothered to marry the pathetic
thing!”
TRANIO
(as
LUCENTIO) Patience, good Katherine,
and Baptista too.
Upon my life, Petruchio means but well,
Whatever fortune stays him from his word:
Though he be blunt, I know him passing wise;
25
Though he be merry, yet withal he's honest.
TRANIO
(speaking as
LUCENTIO) No, no, I assure you,
Katherine—and you, too, Baptista—Petruchio
means well, whatever circumstance prevents him from keeping his
word. He's rough-edged, but he's a good man, and
though he likes a joke, he's not a liar.
