sity, they balance
better in interest and are more continually brought to bear upon each
other from time to time. What are their points of contact in each Act?
The sisters with relation to their father and their suitors in Act I:
How does this initiate the action?

With relation to each other and the Music Master in Act II: How does
this separate the action into two lines of Courtship.

After Katherine's marriage in Act III the interest divides between the
Taming of Katherine and the Courtship of Bianca.

In Act IV two or three points of contact are arranged by means of the
journey and what two characters?

In Act V how is contact both objective and moral obtained?

Alternative interest in the Bianca Courtship after Kate's marriage and
taming is attained by the elaborate scheme to make Lucentio the most
successful suitor and the droll surprises and difficulties met with in
the process.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is the lack of unity in the Play sufficiently remedied by enriching
the Bianca counterplot and arranging for alternate interest first in
the plot and then in the counterplot, or is the original difficulty
irremediable?

In which story is plot or else character the supreme interest?

Is the Bianca story or the Katherine story the more entertaining? Why?

III

BIANCA AND HER SUITORS

Lucentio's errand in Padua, his breeding and relations to his servant
qualify him as quite the conventional hero of a romantic love-story.
How does he compare with the young noblemen of "Love's Labour's Lost?"
What part of the study of Philosophy does he specially desire to take
up and how does his temper toward learning fall in with theirs?

What light does Bianca on her appearance throw upon herself? Through
the testimony of her sister and her father and the two suitors what
else is to be gathered?

Her effect upon Lucentio: The parallelism with "A Midsommer Nights
Dreame" (I, i, 156, and see p. 134 in the First Folio Edition of "The
Shrew") not appearing in "A Shrew," considered as indicative of the
favorite method of Shakespearian lovers in falling in love at first
sight.

Katherine's effect upon Tranio, lost upon Lucentio, in his daze over
Bianca, leads to what plan of action? How does the part Hortensio and
Gremio play in this reinforce the plot, and combine them all to
instigate Petruchio to woo Katherine? How does the contest for the
best sale of Bianca when Katherine is out of the way lead to a new
plot?