The Taming of the Shrew

Petruchio comes to wive it wealthily in Padua.  He finds that the two wealthiest women in town are sisters.  The youngest is the little airheaded bimbo who everybody wants, and the older one who has the guts to actually speak her mind is shunned.  However, the younger one cannot marry until the older one does.  Petruchio marries the older one and they smack each other into submission.  All the men of the town rejoice.  The younger sister, Bianca, is engaged almost immediately after.  And, as always, they live happily ever after.

Shakespeare's misogynist play?  I don't know.  Sure, the title is a little suspicious, but does Kate (the shrew) really mean that last speech?  Or is she just trying to let her husband look good?  I prefer to look at it the more positive way.  The argument about the sun and the moon in the middle of the play is hilarious.  Other than that, it's been a while since I read this, so I don't remember anything much else to say.  There was a funny parody of this on a eighties TV show called Moonlighting which starred Bruce Willis, who played Petruchio if you can believe that, in the eighties ("To wit, a major plot point cometh : I come to wive it wealthily in Padua").

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