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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 1Scene 1
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“as dear as Anna to the Queen of Carthage was”
Mythological Allusion
Act 1,
Scene 1
Lines 149-153

An explanation of the allusion to Anna and the Queen of Carthage in Act 1, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Lucentio

And now in plainness do confess to thee —    
That art to me as secret and as dear    
As Anna to the Queen of Carthage was —
Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,    
If I achieve not this young modest girl.

According to Greek mythology, after the Greeks sacked the city of Troy, the Trojan nobleman Aeneas fled to Carthage in north Africa where Queen Dido fell in love him. The first person to whom the queen revealed her love was her sister Anna. Sadly, Aeneas rejected Queen Dido, who then threw herself on a burning funeral pyre. Let’s hope Lucentio’s relationship with Bianca has a happier ending.

Dido and Aeneas, Pompeo Batoni, c. 1747