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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 5Scene 1
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“His father is come from Padua and here looking out at the window”
Wordplay
Act 5,
Scene 1
Lines 23-30

An explanation of the wordplay in the exchange between the Merchant and Petruchio in Act 5, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Petruchio

To leave frivolous circumstances,    
I pray you, tell Signor Lucentio that his father
is come from Pisa and is here at the door to speak
with him.

Merchant-as-Vincentio

Thou liest. His father is come from Padua and here
looking out at the window.

Vincentio

Art thou his father?

Merchant-as-Vincentio

Ay, sir, so his mother says, if I may believe her.

The merchant is humorously mirroring Petruchio’s phrasing, though what he says is not literally true. He’s come to Padua, not come from Padua.