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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 4Scene 5
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“And the moon changes even as your mind”
Metaphor
Act 4,
Scene 5
Lines 16a-22

An explanation of Katherina’s comparison of the moon to Petruchio’s mind in Act 4, Scene 5 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Petruchio

I say it is the moon.

Katherina

                                 I know it is the moon. 

Petruchio

Nay, then you lie. It is the blessèd sun.

Katherina

Then, God be blessed, it is the blessèd sun,
But sun it is not when you say it is not,
And the moon changes even as your mind.    
What you will have it named, even that it is,    
And so it shall be so for Katherine.

Katherina is comparing Petruchio’s constant changing of his mind to the changing phases of the moon. People have long made a connection between the moon and strange behavior. The Latin word for moon, lūna, is the root for our modern word lunatic.