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Petruchio and Katherina, Lines 238-277
Performance Videos
Act 2,
Scene 1
Lines 238-277

Petruchio and Katherina perform lines 238-277 of Act 2, Scene 1 of myShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. 

myShakespeare | Taming of the Shrew 2.1 Performance: Petruchio and Katherina, Lines 238-277

Katherina

I chafe you if I tarry. Let me go.    

Petruchio

No, not a whit. I find you passing gentle.    
'Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen,    
And now I find report a very liar;
For thou are pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous,
But slow in speech, yet sweet as springtime flowers.
Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance,    
Nor bite the lip as angry wenches will.
Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk;    
But thou, with mildness, entertain'st thy wooers
With gentle conference, soft and affable.    
Why does the world report that Kate doth limp?
O slanderous world! Kate, like the hazel-twig,
Is straight and slender, and as brown in hue
As hazelnuts, and sweeter than the kernels.
O, let me see thee walk. Thou dost not halt.    

Katherina

Go, fool, and whom thou keep'st command.    

Petruchio

Did ever Dian so become a grove    
As Kate this chamber with her princely gait?    
O, be thou Dian, and let her be Kate;
And then let Kate be chaste and Dian sportful.           

Katherina

Where did you study all this goodly speech?

Petruchio

It is extempore, from my mother-wit.    

Katherina

A witty mother, witless else her son.    

Petruchio

Am I not wise?

Katherina

Yes, keep you warm.        

Petruchio

Marry, so I mean, sweet Katherina, in thy bed.    
And therefore, setting all this chat aside,
Thus, in plain terms, your father hath consented
That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on;
And, will you nill you, I will marry you.    
Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn.   
For by this light whereby I see thy beauty —
Thy beauty that doth make me like thee well —
Thou must be married to no man but me.
For I am he, am born to tame you, Kate,
And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate
Conformable as other household Kates.    
[Enter Baptista, Gremio and Tranio-as-Lucentio]
Here comes your father. Never make denial.
I must and will have Katherine to my wife.