In this opening scene, a bored nobleman decides to trick the drunken Sly into believing that he is a lord. The nobleman enlists his servants and a troup of players into the scheme and says that his page Bartholomew must dress as a lady and pretend to be Sly’s wife. The page must act like an ideal gentlewoman, who is described as being obedient, graceful, and courteous. He should say the following to Sly:
What...
In this opening scene, a bored nobleman decides to trick the drunken Sly into believing that he is a lord. The nobleman enlists his servants and a troup of players into the scheme and says that his page Bartholomew must dress as a lady and pretend to be Sly’s wife. The page must act like an ideal gentlewoman, who is described as being obedient, graceful, and courteous. He should say the following to Sly:
What is't your honour will command,
Wherein your lady and your humble wife
May show her duty and make known her love?
After that, he should show affection to, embrace, and kiss Sly, crying on command (something the lord calls “a woman's gift”). This description of a wife in no way fits the “shrew” Katharina who appears throughout the rest of the play. She does not possess a “soft low tongue and lowly courtesy” until after her taming. At the conclusion of The Taming of the Shrew, she describes the perfect woman, which matches the lord’s description in the Induction.
It is interesting that this is simply a boy playing a role of an ideal wife. He is not actually a woman, just as the actor playing Katharina would have been a young man or boy. Not only that, Katharina is being played by one of the players from the Induction. This device brings up questions as to how much characters in the play are just playing roles, such as chaste sister, obedient spouse, and mad husband. It also questions whether anyone can actually be the ideal wife, or if she can only play the role.
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