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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 5Scene 2
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“you hunted for yourself … your deer does hold you at a bay”
Wordplay
Act 5,
Scene 2
Lines 46-56

An explanation of “at bay” in Act 5, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Bianca

Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush,
And then pursue me as you draw your bow.    
You are welcome all.    
[Exit Bianca, Katherina, and Widow]

Petruchio

She hath prevented me here, Signor Tranio,        
This bird you aimed at though you hit her not.    
Therefore a health to all that shot and missed.    

Tranio

O, sir, Lucentio slipped me like his greyhound,    
Which runs himself and catches for his master.

Petruchio

A good swift simile, but something currish.    

Tranio

'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself,
'Tis thought your deer does hold you at a bay.    

Tranio is comparing Petruchio’s pursuit of Kate to hunting dogs pursuing a deer. The dogs are said to hold the deer “at bay” when they have it cornered and are baying, barking, at it. Tranio jokes that Petruchio’s deer (his “dear” Kate) is so fierce that she’s turned the tables and is holding him at bay.

Deer Hunt, Gerard Rijsbrack, c. 1751