Shakespeare
The Taming Of The Shrew
Act 3, Scene 1
‘Gamut I am the ground of all accord’
‘Gamut’ is the base note of a musical chord.
‘Ground’ is the beginning, setting the scene.
‘Accord’ is an agreement as well as having a double meaning with a musical chord.
This quote is Hortensio’s opening of a plea to Bianca to enter a romantic agreement.
‘Array’
Means ‘an impressive display or range of a particular thing’.
Hortensio uses this pun to almost compliment himself on his clever expression of love
towards Bianca.
‘B mi’
Hortensio could be using this in reference to ‘be mine’.
‘Be mine, Bianca’.
The use of the note D having two different names of sol and re, is used by Hortensio in
suggestion to him having two different names, as he is still disguised, and this is his
way of revealing his identity.
I believe that Hortensio uses imagery of illness and dying in his speech as it is a direct
suggestion towards marriage vows, as in the marriage vows death and illness do not
stop love.
In the earlier scenes Bianca is seen to be innocent and mild, she is seen to be barely
talking as well as being accepting of education. ‘Sir, to your pleasure humbly I
subscribe’, this quote in act one scene one is an example of not only Bianca being the
‘perfect’ woman of this era but it shows her mildness and innocence as she even
addresses the men as higher than her. Compared to act three scene one Bianca is
more assertive towards the men, as well as coming across flirty towards Lucentio, this
shows her mildness and innocence aren’t as pure as she makes them out to be in act
one scene one.
At the beginning of act three scene one, it is obvious that Bianca has started to
perform a preference as when both Lucentio and Hortensio are battling for her
exclusive attention, she insists on hearing Lucentio’s latin lesson first. The use of
prose when responding to Lucentio shows Bianca’s preference as when she responds
to Hortensio she not only dismisses his advance but speaks in verse to him.
Bianca shows that she has more control of proceedings solely because she has the
interest of many men, as she is being viewed as the ‘perfect’ woman, she has control
over every proceeding.
Scene 2
Petruchio’s behaviour is breaking the superficiality of social convention as he arrives
late, in inappropriate attire, acts out violently and rejects staying for the banquet.
These actions are not only an open rejection of social conventions but they are also to
start the beginning of Petruchio taming Katherina. This version of taming is humiliation
of Katherina in order to get her to accept Petruchio as he is, which is backed up by ‘to
me she’s married, not unto my clothes’.
The Taming Of The Shrew
Act 3, Scene 1
‘Gamut I am the ground of all accord’
‘Gamut’ is the base note of a musical chord.
‘Ground’ is the beginning, setting the scene.
‘Accord’ is an agreement as well as having a double meaning with a musical chord.
This quote is Hortensio’s opening of a plea to Bianca to enter a romantic agreement.
‘Array’
Means ‘an impressive display or range of a particular thing’.
Hortensio uses this pun to almost compliment himself on his clever expression of love
towards Bianca.
‘B mi’
Hortensio could be using this in reference to ‘be mine’.
‘Be mine, Bianca’.
The use of the note D having two different names of sol and re, is used by Hortensio in
suggestion to him having two different names, as he is still disguised, and this is his
way of revealing his identity.
I believe that Hortensio uses imagery of illness and dying in his speech as it is a direct
suggestion towards marriage vows, as in the marriage vows death and illness do not
stop love.
In the earlier scenes Bianca is seen to be innocent and mild, she is seen to be barely
talking as well as being accepting of education. ‘Sir, to your pleasure humbly I
subscribe’, this quote in act one scene one is an example of not only Bianca being the
‘perfect’ woman of this era but it shows her mildness and innocence as she even
addresses the men as higher than her. Compared to act three scene one Bianca is
more assertive towards the men, as well as coming across flirty towards Lucentio, this
shows her mildness and innocence aren’t as pure as she makes them out to be in act
one scene one.
At the beginning of act three scene one, it is obvious that Bianca has started to
perform a preference as when both Lucentio and Hortensio are battling for her
exclusive attention, she insists on hearing Lucentio’s latin lesson first. The use of
prose when responding to Lucentio shows Bianca’s preference as when she responds
to Hortensio she not only dismisses his advance but speaks in verse to him.
Bianca shows that she has more control of proceedings solely because she has the
interest of many men, as she is being viewed as the ‘perfect’ woman, she has control
over every proceeding.
Scene 2
Petruchio’s behaviour is breaking the superficiality of social convention as he arrives
late, in inappropriate attire, acts out violently and rejects staying for the banquet.
These actions are not only an open rejection of social conventions but they are also to
start the beginning of Petruchio taming Katherina. This version of taming is humiliation
of Katherina in order to get her to accept Petruchio as he is, which is backed up by ‘to
me she’s married, not unto my clothes’.
