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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 4Scene 5
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“Pardon, old father”
Cultural Context
Act 4,
Scene 5
Lines 41-48

A discussion of Katherine's calling Vincentio "old father" in Act 4, Scene 5 of myShakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. 

Petruchio

Why, how now, Kate! I hope thou art not mad.
This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, withered;
And not a maiden as thou say'st he is.

Katherina

[To Vincentio] Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes
That have been so bedazzled with the sun,
That everything I look on seemeth green.
Now I perceive thou art a reverend father;
Pardon, I pray thee, for my mad mistaking.

Katherina addresses Vincentio as “father,” then a term of respect for any elderly gentleman, not realizing that he is, in fact, her father-in-law (since he’s the father of her brother-in-law Lucentio).