Renowned as Shakespeare's most boisterous comedy, The Taming of the Shrew
is the tale of two young men -- the hopeful Lucentio and the worldly
Petruchio -- and the two sisters they meet in Padua. Lucentio falls in
love with Bianca, the apparently ideal younger daughter of the wealthy
Baptista Minola. But before they can marry, Bianca's formidable elder
sister, Katherine, must be wed. Petruchio, interested only in the huge
dowry, arranges to marry Katherine -- against her will -- and enters
into a battle of the sexes that has endured as one of Shakespeare's most
enjoyable works.
