Ralph: Welcome back, everyone. The story of the Minola daughters is over. Kate and Bianca are both married, and Kate, the shrew, is tamed-- though we're all going to have to think a lot more about what it means that she's tamed. Did Petruchio somehow turn her into a submissive, obedient wife, or did he just help Kate learn to more successfully navigate the world in which she lives? 
Are we supposed to throw up our hands in despair at Kate's forceful description of marriage in the final scene, or should we find something to admire in her total mastery of this new role that she's playing? So you might try deciding for yourself, based on the play, what taming a shrew means, and whether Kate has been tamed or not. But you may also remember that the story of the Minolas was actually a play within a play. 
The "Taming of the Shrew" was a play performed for Christopher Sly, a drunk beggar, who was having a trick played on him when a Lord who was passing by with his entourage dressed Sly up and convinced him that he was a Lord himself. And when an acting troupe happened to be passing by, they performed "Taming of the Shrew" as part of the trick on Sly. 
Well, we've decided to check back in with Sly. As you can see, Sly is now out of the Lord's clothes and back into the shirt of the drunk beggar he was at the start of Shakespeare's play. But before we wake him up, I have one more thing to tell you about. 
The version of Shakespeare's play that we use in school and in performances is one that was printed in 1623, and most scholars think that some version of "The Taming of the Shrew" story was performed as early as 1592-- so over 30 years earlier. And to make things even more complicated, there's a version of the play printed around that same time in the 1590s that's called "The Taming of a Shrew." So "the Shrew" for Shakespeare's version, and "a Shrew" for the much earlier version. 
The problem is is that we have no idea if Shakespeare had any involvement with "a Shrew," the early printing, or if "the Shrew" is just his own separate adaptation of what might have been a lot of different shrew stories being performed in the London theaters. But one thing is clear in the printed Shakespeare version-- the Sly character isn't seen again after the very brief appearance at the end of Act I, Scene I. But the early versions, "The Taming of a Shrew," come back to Sly throughout the story. 
These little scenes throughout are just as you might expect. Sly keeps asking for more to drink. Sometimes he falls asleep. And in one scene in particular, when some characters are calling for some other characters to be sent to jail, Sly interrupts and demands-- at a Lord-- that nobody be sent to jail. 
It's pretty clear from this scene that Sly thinks that the things that are happening on stage are really happening. And finally, at the end of "a Shrew," there's a return to Sly. He's now out of his lordly robes and back to being a drunk beggar in a tavern. So even though the official printed version of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" never returns to Christopher Sly, we thought we'd check on him one last time. 
In the earlier versions of the play, the bartender finds him at the tavern in the early morning and realizes that Sly must have slept there all night. And when the bartender wakes him up to send him home, well, it goes a little something like this. 

Sly: Could I get that beer now? 

Ralph: Oh, maybe. Do we have any more beer that we can get for Sly? Although I'm not sure he should keep drinking. 

Sly: Is the play over? Am I not a Lord? 

Ralph: Still a Lord-- that's what the bartender tells him-- but one who's fallen on hard times. 

Sly: Wait, you're that Ralph guy. Oh, Lord. Sir, I've had the most amazing dream you've ever heard of. 

Ralph: I know. We kind of all had that same dream-- though, we should compare notes. But you should get home. I think your wife is going to be upset that you did your dreaming in a bar last night, instead of at home in your bed. 

Sly: Oh, she will, will she? Well, now I know how to tame a shrew. That's what my dream was about. You've woken me up from the best dream I've ever had in my life. So I'll go home to my wife, but I'll tame her, too, if she gets mad at me. 

Ralph: Oh, you will, will you? I wonder how that'll go. Has Sly learned how to tame a shrew? Is that what the play was teaching? Was it a kind of an instruction manual for taming your wife? Or as I believe, was it a whole lot richer and more complicated than that? And maybe Sly here is making it even more obvious to us that interpreting the story is nowhere as simple as that. 

Sly: Are you talking about me? 

Ralph: You should get going, Sly. I'll walk you home. Besides, I want to hear more about this dream that you had. I'd love to hear what you think the story was about. Thanks for joining us, everyone.