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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 4Scene 3
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“make a puppet of me”
Wordplay
Act 4,
Scene 3
Lines 101-105

An explanation of the wordplay on "puppet" in Act 4, Scene 3 of myShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. 

Katherina

I never saw a better-fashioned gown,
More quaint, more pleasing, nor more commendable.
Belike you mean to make a puppet of me.    

Petruchio

Why, true, he means to make a puppet of thee.    

Tailor

She says your worship means to make a puppet of her.

Katherina says that Petruchio is making a puppet of her, controlling her in every way. Petruchio intentionally misunderstands her and responds as if she’s saying that the tailor intends to make her a puppet in a different sense: a woman who dresses with no originality or style.