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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 1Scene 2
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“I'll ring it; I'll try how you can ‘sol’ ‘fa’, and sing it.”
Wordplay
Act 1,
Scene 2
Lines 13-18

An explanation of “sol fa” in Act 1, Scene 2 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Grumio

My master is grown quarrelsome.
I should knock you first,
And then I know after who comes by the worst.

Petruchio

Will it not be?
Faith, sirrah, an you'll not knock, I'll ring it;
[He wrings Grumio by the ears. Grumio falls to the ground screaming]
I'll try how you can ‘sol,’ ‘fa,’ and sing it.

After “ringing” the door (using the metal knocker), Petruchio wrings, or twists, Grumio’s ears until he “sings” out. To “sol-fa” means to sing the musical scale: do, re, mi, fa, so(l), la, ti, do. Petruchio is also making a subtle pun; the verb to sol also meant to seize an animal such as a rabbit by the ears.