Act 4, Scene 2

Padua. Before BAPTISTA'S house.

[Enter TRANIO and HORTENSIO.]
Tranio
1751 Is 't possible, friend Licio, that Mistress Bianca
1752 Doth fancy any other but Lucentio?
1753 I tell you, sir, she bears me fair in hand.
Hortensio
1754 Sir, to satisfy you in what I have said,
1755 Stand by and mark the manner of his teaching.
[They stand aside.]
[Enter BIANCA and LUCENTIO.]
Lucentio
1756 Now, mistress, profit you in what you read?
Bianca
1757 What, master, read you, First resolve me that.
Lucentio
1758 I read that I profess, the Art to Love.
Bianca
1759 And may you prove, sir, master of your art!
Lucentio
1760 While you, sweet dear, prove mistress of my heart.
[They retire.]
Hortensio
1761 Quick proceeders, marry! Now tell me, I pray,
1762 You that durst swear that your Mistress Bianca
1763 Lov'd none in the world so well as Lucentio.
Tranio
1764 O despiteful love! unconstant womankind!
1765 I tell thee, Licio, this is wonderful.
Hortensio
1766 Mistake no more; I am not Licio.
1767 Nor a musician as I seem to be;
1768 But one that scorn to live in this disguise
1769 For such a one as leaves a gentleman
1770 And makes a god of such a cullion:
1771 Know, sir, that I am call'd Hortensio.
Tranio
1772 Signior Hortensio, I have often heard
1773 Of your entire affection to Bianca;
1774 And since mine eyes are witness of her lightness,
1775 I will with you, if you be so contented,
1776 Forswear Bianca and her love for ever.
Hortensio
1777 See, how they kiss and court! Signior Lucentio,
1778 Here is my hand, and here I firmly vow
1779 Never to woo her more, but do forswear her,
1780 As one unworthy all the former favours
1781 That I have fondly flatter'd her withal.
Tranio
1782 And here I take the like unfeigned oath,
1783 Never to marry with her though she would entreat;
1784 Fie on her! See how beastly she doth court him!
Hortensio
1785 Would all the world but he had quite forsworn!
1786 For me, that I may surely keep mine oath,
1787 I will be married to a wealtlly widow
1788 Ere three days pass, which hath as long lov'd me
1789 As I have lov'd this proud disdainful haggard.
1790 And so farewell, Signior Lucentio.
1791 Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks,
1792 Shall win my love; and so I take my leave,
1793 In resolution as I swore before.
[Exit HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and BIANCA advance.]
Tranio
1794 Mistress Bianca, bless you with such grace
1795 As 'longeth to a lover's blessed case!
1796 Nay, I have ta'en you napping, gentle love,
1797 And have forsworn you with Hortensio.
Bianca
1798 Tranio, you jest; but have you both forsworn me?
Tranio
1799 Mistress, we have.
Lucentio
1800 Then we are rid of Licio.
Tranio
1801 I' faith, he'll have a lusty widow now,
1802 That shall be woo'd and wedded in a day.
Bianca
1803 God give him joy!
Tranio
1804 Ay, and he'll tame her.
Bianca
1805 He says so, Tranio.
Tranio
1806 Faith, he is gone unto the taming-school.
Bianca
1807 The taming-school! What, is there such a place?
Tranio
1808 Ay, mistress; and Petruchio is the master,
1809 That teacheth tricks eleven and twenty long,
1810 To tame a shrew and charm her chattering tongue.
[Enter BIONDELLO, running.]
Biondello
1811 O master, master! I have watch'd so long
1812 That I am dog-weary; but at last I spied
1813 An ancient angel coming down the hill
1814 Will serve the turn.
Tranio
1815 What is he, Biondello?
Biondello
1816 Master, a mercatante or a pedant,
1817 I know not what; but formal in apparel,
1818 In gait and countenance surely like a father.
Lucentio
1819 And what of him, Tranio?
Tranio
1820 If he be credulous and trust my tale,
1821 I'll make him glad to seem Vincentio,
1822 And give assurance to Baptista Minola,
1823 As if he were the right Vincentio.
1824 Take in your love, and then let me alone.
[Exeunt LUCENTIO and BIANCA.]
[Enter a PEDANT.]
Pedant
1825 God save you, sir!
Tranio
1826 And you, sir! you are welcome.
1827 Travel you far on, or are you at the farthest?
Pedant
1828 Sir, at the farthest for a week or two;
1829 But then up farther, and as far as Rome;
1830 And so to Tripoli, if God lend me life.
Tranio
1831 What countryman, I pray?
Pedant
1832 Of Mantua.
Tranio
1833 Of Mantua, sir? Marry, God forbid,
1834 And come to Padua, careless of your life!
Pedant
1835 My life, sir! How, I pray? for that goes hard.
Tranio
1836 'Tis death for any one in Mantua
1837 To come to Padua. Know you not the cause?
1838 Your ships are stay'd at Venice; and the duke,—
1839 For private quarrel 'twixt your duke and him,—
1840 Hath publish'd and proclaim'd it openly.
1841 'Tis marvel, but that you are but newly come
1842 You might have heard it else proclaim'd about.
Pedant
1843 Alas, sir! it is worse for me than so;
1844 For I have bills for money by exchange
1845 From Florence, and must here deliver them.
Tranio
1846 Well, sir, to do you courtesy,
1847 This will I do, and this I will advise you:
1848 First, tell me, have you ever been at Pisa?
Pedant
1849 Ay, sir, in Pisa have I often been,
1850 Pisa renowned for grave citizens.
Tranio
1851 Among them know you one Vincentio?
Pedant
1852 I know him not, but I have heard of him,
1853 A merchant of incomparable wealth.
Tranio
1854 He is my father, sir; and, sooth to say,
1855 In countenance somewhat doth resemble you.
[Aside.]
Biondello
1856 As much as an apple doth an oyster, and all one.
Tranio
1857 To save your life in this extremity,
1858 This favour will I do you for his sake;
1859 And think it not the worst of all your fortunes
1860 That you are like to Sir Vincentio.
1861 His name and credit shall you undertake,
1862 And in my house you shall be friendly lodg'd;
1863 Look that you take upon you as you should!
1864 You understand me, sir; so shall you stay
1865 Till you have done your business in the city.
1866 If this be courtesy, sir, accept of it.
Pedant
1867 O, sir, I do; and will repute you ever
1868 The patron of my life and liberty.
Tranio
1869 Then go with me to make the matter good.
1870 This, by the way, I let you understand:
1871 My father is here look'd for every day
1872 To pass assurance of a dower in marriage
1873 'Twixt me and one Baptista's daughter here:
1874 In all these circumstances I'll instruct you.
1875 Go with me to clothe you as becomes you.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1753archaic vocab
“she bears me fair in hand”
'Bears me fair in hand' means 'deceives me with fair dealing,' i.e., leads me on with encouraging behavior while meaning nothing by it. Tranio (disguised as Lucentio) has apparently encouraged Hortensio to think Bianca favors him, only for the reality to be the opposite.
TLN 1758classical allusion
“I read that I profess, the Art to Love”
'The Art to Love' is Lucentio's thinly veiled reference to Ovid's Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love), the ancient Roman handbook of seduction. He has been using his role as a tutor to conduct his wooing under Baptista's nose, and the lesson he claims to be teaching is not Latin grammar but love-poetry.
TLN 1761wordplay
“Quick proceeders, marry”
Hortensio's sardonic 'Quick proceeders, marry!' puns on two senses of 'proceed': to advance rapidly in courtship, and to 'proceed' to a university degree ('proceed bachelor,' 'proceed master'). The whole scene has been staged as a lesson, so calling Lucentio and Bianca quick 'proceeders' mocks their speed in graduating from fake Latin class to open flirtation.
TLN 1769archaic vocab
“leaves a gentleman And makes a god of such a cullion”
A 'cullion' is a base, worthless wretch — literally a testicle (from French couillon), used as a term of contempt for a man of low character or no social standing. Hortensio is furious that Bianca has abandoned a genuine gentleman (himself) to dote on what he considers a contemptible low fellow (Lucentio disguised as a hired tutor named Cambio).
TLN 1789cultural context
“this proud disdainful haggard”
A 'haggard' in falconry was a wild-caught adult hawk — one that had flown free before it was taken and was therefore much harder to tame than a bird raised in captivity. Hortensio applies the falconry term to Bianca: proud, untameable, refusing to come to his lure. The word links this subplot moment to Petruchio's extended falconry soliloquy in 4.1, where he uses the same vocabulary for his campaign against Katherina.
historical Falconry and the taming of the haggard
TLN 1809wordplay
“teacheth tricks eleven and twenty long, To tame a shrew and charm her chattering tongue”
'Eleven and twenty long' draws on the card game 'one-and-thirty' (the goal being to reach exactly thirty-one). The phrase functions as an idiom for a large, indefinite number — 'twenty-odd' tricks, i.e. tricks in plenty — rather than a precise count. Tranio means Petruchio's taming tricks are abundant, more than enough to charm a shrew's tongue.
TLN 1816archaic vocab
“a mercatante or a pedant”
Biondello hesitates between two Italian words: 'mercatante' (a merchant, from Italian mercatante) and 'pedant' (a schoolmaster, from Italian pedante). The comedy is in the uncertainty — the man looks educated enough to be either a traveling scholar or a traveling merchant, and Biondello cannot tell. The play is set in Italian-speaking Padua and sprinkles Italian words throughout as local color.
TLN 1836cultural context
“'Tis death for any one in Mantua To come to Padua”
Tranio invents a completely fictional diplomatic quarrel — that Padua and Mantua are at odds and a Mantuan found in Padua faces execution — to frighten the Pedant into cooperating. This is pure comic bluff, standard fare in Italian commedia-derived comedies, where city-state rivalries between Italian towns (Venice, Padua, Mantua, Verona) were accepted as plausible background. The audience is invited to enjoy the absurdity of the lie alongside its victim's gullibility.
TLN 1844cultural context
“I have bills for money by exchange From Florence”
A 'bill of exchange' was a written order for one merchant to pay a sum of money to another in a different city — the standard instrument of international trade and credit in Renaissance Europe, which allowed merchants to move money across borders without carrying coin. The Pedant has financial instruments drawn in Florence that he must 'deliver' (present for payment) to a merchant in Padua.
TLN 1856wordplay
“As much as an apple doth an oyster, and all one”
Biondello delivers this sardonic aside — meaning the Pedant resembles Vincentio about as much as an apple resembles an oyster (not at all) — deflating Tranio's bold claim that the stranger's face 'somewhat doth resemble' his fictional father. The comic contrast of two utterly unlike things was a standard Elizabethan proverbial form.
TLN 1872cultural context
“To pass assurance of a dower in marriage”
To 'pass assurance' meant to execute a formal legal guarantee — here, to sign and seal a document guaranteeing a marriage settlement. A 'dower' was the property a father was legally bound to settle on his daughter as part of her marriage contract. Baptista Minola has demanded that Lucentio's father personally appear in Padua and guarantee the dowry before the wedding can proceed; this is the legal transaction the fake Vincentio (the Pedant) is being recruited to perform.