What happens in Act III (Scenes 1–2) of The Taming of the Shrew?
Act III begins with a humorous tug-of-war over Bianca's education: Lucentio, disguised as the Latin tutor Cambio, and Hortensio, posing as the music teacher Licio, argue about which lesson is more important. Lucentio ultimately wins the debate and uses his Latin lesson to express his love through a clever translation of Ovid, which Bianca playfully decodes and cautiously returns. Meanwhile, Hortensio, observing from the sidelines, grows suspicious. Scene 2 transitions to the main storyline: Petruchio makes a scandalous entrance to his own wedding, arriving late, dressed in outrageous rags, and riding a dilapidated horse. Baptista is horrified; Katherine, strikingly, feels humiliated and furious instead of relieved. Petruchio refuses to change his attire, conducts a brief and almost contemptuous ceremony (reported rather than enacted), and then declares he must leave right after the wedding feast—dragging Katherine away amidst her protests and the objections of others. Tranio, acting as Lucentio, reassures the guests and organizes the feast in the absence of the real Lucentio. The act concludes with Katherine publicly protesting her removal and Petruchio asserting his claim over her in blunt property terms, daring anyone to oppose him.
Analysis
Shakespeare uses Act III to present two contrasting courtship plots. The Bianca subplot is all about artifice and literary games—love conveyed through the polite facade of classical translation—while the Katherine plot strips away every social grace from courtship, revealing its coercive nature. The contrast serves as the argument: romance and possession are essentially the same transaction, just dressed differently.
Petruchio's wedding outfit is one of Shakespeare's most impactful visual jokes. The ridiculous costume highlights the play's central question about appearances versus reality—he will later use the same reasoning ("To me she's married, not unto my clothes") to defend Katherine against societal scrutiny, yet here this logic serves to humiliate her. The speech is both self-aware and cruel, showcasing the play's tonal instability.
Katherine's public declaration—"I will be angry"—is a rare moment where her voice reflects genuine grievance rather than reflexive anger, and Shakespeare allows it to stand without comic undermining. The crowd's silence in response is significant. Petruchio's framing of her as "my goods, my chattels" directly invokes Elizabethan coverture law, suddenly making the legal subtext of the comedy clear.
The wedding is reported to us (we hear about it, but we don't see it), a deliberate choice that keeps the audience as distant as Bianca's suitors—everyone receives secondhand information, everyone is being controlled. The act suggests that controlling the narrative equates to controlling the people.
Key quotes from Act III (Scenes 1–2)
“To me she's married, not unto my clothes.”
Petruchio deflects Baptista's embarrassment over his wedding attire, turning a social transgression into a philosophical provocation.
“She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, / My household stuff, my field, my barn, / My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing.”
Petruchio publicly claims Katherine as legal property when the guests attempt to prevent him from leaving with her after the ceremony.
“Lucentio: 'Hic ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus; / Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.' … Bianca: 'Construe them.'”
Lucentio uses an Ovidian Latin passage as cover to whisper his true identity and intentions to Bianca during their tutoring session.
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