The Taming of the Shrew: Act 4, Scene 3
Enter KATHARINA and
GRUMIO.
GRUMIO
1
No, no, forsooth; I dare not for my life.
KATHARINA
2. The more ... appears: i.e., the more he does me wrong, the clearer it is that he despises me.
2
The more my wrong, the more his spite appears: 3
What, did he marry me to famish me? 4
Beggars, that come unto my father's door,5. present: immediate.
5
Upon entreaty have a present alms; 6
If not, elsewhere they meet with charity: 7
But I, who never knew how to entreat, 8
Nor never needed that I should entreat,2. meat: i.e., any sort of food.
9
Am starved for meat, giddy for lack of sleep, 10
With oaths kept waking and with brawling fed:11. spites: vexes.
11
And that which spites me more than all these wants, 12
He does it under name of perfect love;13. As who should say: as if to say.
13
As who should say, if I should sleep or eat, 14
'Twere deadly sickness or else present death. 15
I prithee go and get me some repast; 16
I care not what, so it be wholesome food.
GRUMIO
17. neat's foot: foot of a cow or ox. Neat's foot makes a very poor dish, and is used mainly as a flavoring.
17
What say you to a neat's foot?
KATHARINA
18
'Tis passing good: I prithee let me have it.
GRUMIO
19. choleric: productive of bad temper.
19
I fear it is too choleric a meat.20. tripe: Tripe (cow stomach) was a cheap and popular food, but in the UK is now used mostly to feed pets.
20
How say you to a fat tripe finely broil'd?
KATHARINA
21
I like it well: good Grumio, fetch it me.
GRUMIO
22
I cannot tell; I fear 'tis choleric. 23
What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?
KATHARINA
24
A dish that I do love to feed upon.
GRUMIO
25
Ay, but the mustard is too hot a little.
KATHARINA
26
Why then, the beef, and let the mustard rest.
GRUMIO
27
Nay then, I will not: you shall have the mustard, 28
Or else you get no beef of Grumio.
KATHARINA
29
Then both, or one, or any thing thou wilt.
GRUMIO
30
Why then, the mustard without the beef.
KATHARINA
31
Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave,
Beats him.32. very: mere.
32
That feed'st me with the very name of meat: 33
Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you, 34
That triumph thus upon my misery! 35
Go, get thee gone, I say.
Enter PETRUCHIO and HORTENSIO
meat: i.e., a plate of food.
with meat.
PETRUCHIO
36. all amort: dispirited, dejected.
36
How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, all amort?
HORTENSIO
37
Mistress, what cheer?
KATHARINA
37
Faith, as cold as can be.
PETRUCHIO
38
Pluck up thy spirits; look cheerfully upon me. 39
Here love; thou see'st how diligent I am40. dress: prepare.
40
To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee: 41
I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks. 42
What, not a word? Nay, then thou lovest it not;43. sorted to no proof: proved to be to no purpose; i.e., fruitless.
43
And all my pains is sorted to no proof. 44
Here, take away this dish.
KATHARINA
44. stand: remain.
44
I pray you, let it stand.
PETRUCHIO
45
The poorest service is repaid with thanks; 46
And so shall mine, before you touch the meat.
KATHARINA
47
I thank you, sir.
HORTENSIO
48
Signior Petruchio, fie! you are to blame. 49
Come, mistress Kate, I'll bear you company.
PETRUCHIO [Aside.]
50
Eat it up all, Hortensio, if thou lovest me. 51
Much good do it unto thy gentle heart! 52
Kate, eat apace: and now, my honey love, 53
Will we return unto thy father's house54. bravely: splendidly dressed, finely arrayed.
54
And revel it as bravely as the best, 55
With silken coats and caps and golden rings,56. fardingales: farthingales, hooped petticoats.
56
With ruffs and cuffs and fardingales and things;57. brav'ry: finery.
57
With scarfs and fans and double change of brav'ry,58. this knav'ry: i.e., such tricks.
58
With amber bracelets, beads and all this knav'ry. 59
What, hast thou dined? The tailor stays thy leisure,60. ruffling treasure: gaily ruffled, finery trimmed with ruffles.
60
To deck thy body with his ruffling treasure.
Enter Tailor. 61
Come, tailor, let us see these ornaments; 62
Lay forth the gown.
Enter Haberdasher. 62
What news with you, sir?
Haberdasher
63
Here is the cap your worship did bespeak.
PETRUCHIO
64. porringer: porridge bowl.
64
Why, this was moulded on a porringer;65. lewd: vile, worthless.
65
A velvet dish: fie, fie! 'tis lewd and filthy:66. cockle: cockleshell.
66
Why, 'tis a cockle or a walnut-shell,67. knack: knickknack. trick: trifle.
67
A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap: 68
Away with it! come, let me have a bigger.
KATHARINA
69. fit the time: agree with the present fashion.
69
I'll have no bigger: this doth fit the time, 70
And gentlewomen wear such caps as these
"a silken pie"
Image Source: Redheads and Royalty.
PETRUCHIO
71
When you are gentle, you shall have one too, 72
And not till then.
HORTENSIO [Aside.]
72
That will not be in haste.
KATHARINA
73
Why, sir, I trust I may have leave to speak; 74
And speak I will; I am no child, no babe: 75
Your betters have endured me say my mind, 76
And if you cannot, best you stop your ears. 77
My tongue will tell the anger of my heart, 78
Or else my heart concealing it will break, 79
And rather than it shall, I will be free 80
Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words.
PETRUCHIO
81
Why, thou say'st true; it is a paltry cap,82. custard-coffin: crust over a custard (perhaps with pun on costard, slang for "head").
82
A custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie: 83
I love thee well, in that thou likest it not.
"a sleeve? ... carved like an apple-tart?"
Image Source: The Italian Showcase
KATHARINA
84
Love me or love me not, I like the cap; 85
And it I will have, or I will have none.
Exit Haberdasher.
PETRUCHIO
86
Thy gown? why, ay: come, tailor, let us see't.87. masquing stuff: i.e., material fit only for a masque.
87
O mercy, God! what masquing stuff is here?88. demi-cannon: large cannon.
88
What's this? a sleeve? 'tis like a demi-cannon:89. up and down: all over, exactly.
89
What, up and down, carved like an apple-tart? 90
Here's snip and nip and cut and slish and slash,91. censer: perfuming pan with an ornamental perforated lid.
91
Like to a censer in a barber's shop:92. a': in (the).
92
Why, what, a' devil's name, tailor, call'st thou this?
HORTENSIO [Aside.]
93
I see she's like to have neither cap nor gown.
Tailor
94. orderly: properly.
94
You bid me make it orderly and well, 95
According to the fashion and the time.
PETRUCHIO
96. be rememb'red: recollect.
96
Marry, and did; but if you be remember'd, 97
I did not bid you mar it to the time.98. hop me over every kennel home: hop on home over every street gutter.
98
Go, hop me over every kennel home, 99
For you shall hop without my custom, sir:100
I'll none of it: hence! make your best of it.
KATHARINA
101
I never saw a better-fashion'd gown,102. quaint: beautiful, elegant.
102
More quaint, more pleasing, nor more commendable:103
Belike you mean to make a puppet of me.
PETRUCHIO
104
Why, true; he means to make a puppet of thee.
Tailor
105
She says your worship means to make106
a puppet of her.
PETRUCHIO
thou thread: According to the stereotype of the time, tailors were very small men.
107
O monstrous arrogance! Thou liest, thou thread,
thou thimble,
108. nail: measure of length for cloth: 2 1/4 inches.
108
Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail!109. nit: egg of a louse.
109
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket thou!110. Brav'd: defied. with: by.
110
Brav'd in mine own house with a skein of thread?111. quantity: fragment.
111
Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant;112. be-mete: measure, i.e., beat, thrash. yard: yardstick.
112
Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard113. think on prating: i.e., remember this thrashing and think twice before talking so again. whilst: as long as.
113
As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou livest!114
I tell thee, I, that thou hast marr'd her gown.
Tailor
115
Your worship is deceived; the gown is made116
Just as my master had direction:117
Grumio gave order how it should be done.
GRUMIO
118
I gave him no order; I gave him the stuff.
Tailor
119
But how did you desire it should be made?
GRUMIO
120
Marry, sir, with needle and thread.
Tailor
121
But did you not request to have it cut?
GRUMIO
122. fac'd: trimmed. (But Gurmio puns on the meaning bullied).
122
Thou hast fac'd many things.
Tailor
123
I have.
GRUMIO
124. Face: bully. brav'd: dressed splendidly. brave: defy.
124
Face not me: thou hast brav'd many men; brave not125
me; I will neither be faced nor braved. I say unto126
thee, I bid thy master cut out the gown; but I did127
not bid him cut it to pieces: Ergo, thou127. Ergo: therefore.
128
liest.
Tailor
129
Why, here is the note of the fashion to testify130
testify.
PETRUCHIO
131
Read it.
GRUMIO
132
The note lies in's throat, if he say I said133
so.
Tailor [Reads.]
134. loose-bodied gown: loosely fitted gown (a style of dress worn by prostitutes, among others).
134
"Imprimis, a loose-bodied gown"
GRUMIO
135
Master, if ever I said loose-bodied gown, sew me in136
the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a bottom136. bottom: ball (properly, the core on which the thread was wound).
137
of brown thread: I said a gown.
PETRUCHIO
138
Proceed.
Tailor [Reads.]
139. compass'd: with the edges forming a semicircle.
139
"With a small compass'd cape"
GRUMIO
140
I confess the cape.
Tailor [Reads.]
141. trunk sleeve: large, wide sleeve.
141
"With a trunk sleeve"
GRUMIO
142
I confess two sleeves.
Tailor [Reads.]
143. curiously: elaborately.
143
"The sleeves curiously cut."
PETRUCHIO
144
Ay, there's the villany.
GRUMIO
145
Error i' the bill, sir; error i' the bill.146
I commanded the sleeves should be cut out and147
sewed up again; and that I'll prove upon thee,148
though thy little finger be armed in a thimble.
Tailor
149
This is true that I say: an I had thee150. in place where: in the right place.
150
in place where, thou shouldst know it.
GRUMIO
151
I am for thee straight: take thou the152. bill: (1) note ordering the gown. (2) a kind of weapon; a blade fixed onto a long staff. mete-yard: measuring-stick.
152
bill, give me thy mete-yard, and spare not me.
HORTENSIO
153
God-a-mercy, Grumio! then he shall have154
no odds.
PETRUCHIO
155
Well, sir, in brief, the gown is not for me.
GRUMIO
156
You are i' the right, sir: 'tis for my mistress.
PETRUCHIO
157. take it up unto thy master's use: i.e., pack it up and return it to your master to use as he will. But Grumio pretends to misunderstand, and makes a sex joke.
157
Go, take it up unto thy master's use.
GRUMIO
158
Villain, not for thy life: take up my mistress'159
gown for thy master's use!
PETRUCHIO
160. conceit: idea, meaning.
160
Why, sir, what's your conceit in that?
GRUMIO
161
O, sir, the conceit is deeper than you think for:162
Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use!163
O, fie, fie, fie!
PETRUCHIO [Aside.]
164
Hortensio, say thou wilt see the tailor paid.165
Go take it hence; be gone, and say no more.
HORTENSIO
166
Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown tomorrow:167
Take no unkindness of his hasty words:168
Away! I say; commend me to thy master.
Exit Tailor.
PETRUCHIO
169
Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your father's170
Even in these honest mean habiliments:171
Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor;172
For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;173
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,174. peereth: is seen, appears. habit: attire.
174
So honor peereth in the meanest habit.175
What, is the jay more precious than the lark,176
Because his feathers are more beautiful?177
Or is the adder better than the eel,178
Because his painted skin contents the eye?179
O, no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse180. furniture: furnishing, i.e., costume.
180
For this poor furniture and mean array.181
If thou account'st it shame, lay it on me;182
And therefore frolic: we will hence forthwith,183
To feast and sport us at thy father's house.184
Go, call my men, and let us straight to him;185
And bring our horses unto Long-lane end;186
There will we mount, and thither walk on foot187
Let's see; I think 'tis now some seven o'clock,188. dinner-time: i.e., around noon.
188
And well we may come there by dinner-time.
KATHARINA
'tis almost two: Katharina is correct, as we will see the next time we see these two, when Petruchio will make the absurd claim that it is the moon that is shining.
189
I dare assure you, sir, 'tis almost two;190
And 'twill be supper-time ere you come there.
PETRUCHIO
191
It shall be seven ere I go to horse:192. Look what: whatever.
192
Look, what I speak, or do, or think to do,193. crossing: contradicting.
193
You are still crossing it. Sirs, let't alone:194
I will not go today; and ere I do,195
It shall be what o'clock I say it is.
HORTENSIO [Aside.]
196
Why this gallant will command the sun.
Exeunt.