Act 4, Scene 3

A room in PETRUCHIO'S house.

[Enter KATHERINA and GRUMIO.]
Grumio
1876 No, no, forsooth; I dare not for my life.
Katherina
1877 The more my wrong, the more his spite appears.
1878 What, did he marry me to famish me?
1879 Beggars that come unto my father's door
1880 Upon entreaty have a present alms;
1881 If not, elsewhere they meet with charity;
1882 But I, who never knew how to entreat,
1883 Nor never needed that I should entreat,
1884 Am starv'd for meat, giddy for lack of sleep;
1885 With oaths kept waking, and with brawling fed.
1886 And that which spites me more than all these wants,
1887 He does it under name of perfect love;
1888 As who should say, if I should sleep or eat
1889 'Twere deadly sickness, or else present death.
1890 I prithee go and get me some repast;
1891 I care not what, so it be wholesome food.
Grumio
1892 What say you to a neat's foot?
Katherina
1893 'Tis passing good; I prithee let me have it.
Grumio
1894 I fear it is too choleric a meat.
1895 How say you to a fat tripe finely broil'd?
Katherina
1896 I like it well; good Grumio, fetch it me.
Grumio
1897 I cannot tell; I fear 'tis choleric.
1898 What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?
Katherina
1899 A dish that I do love to feed upon.
Grumio
1900 Ay, but the mustard is too hot a little.
Katherina
1901 Why then the beef, and let the mustard rest.
Grumio
1902 Nay, then I will not: you shall have the mustard,
1903 Or else you get no beef of Grumio.
Katherina
1904 Then both, or one, or anything thou wilt.
Grumio
1905 Why then the mustard without the beef.
Katherina
1906 Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave,
[Beats him.]
Katherina
1907 That feed'st me with the very name of meat.
1908 Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you
1909 That triumph thus upon my misery!
1910 Go, get thee gone, I say.
[Enter PETRUCHIO with a dish of meat; and HORTENSIO.]
Petruchio
1911 How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, all amort?
Hortensio
1912 Mistress, what cheer?
Katherina
1913 Faith, as cold as can be.
Petruchio
1914 Pluck up thy spirits; look cheerfully upon me.
1915 Here, love; thou seest how diligent I am,
1916 To dress thy meat myself, and bring it thee:
[Sets the dish on a table.]
Petruchio
1917 I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks.
1918 What! not a word? Nay, then thou lov'st it not,
1919 And all my pains is sorted to no proof.
1920 Here, take away this dish.
Katherina
1921 I pray you, let it stand.
Petruchio
1922 The poorest service is repaid with thanks;
1923 And so shall mine, before you touch the meat.
Katherina
1924 I thank you, sir.
Hortensio
1925 Signior Petruchio, fie! you are to blame.
1926 Come, Mistress Kate, I'll bear you company.
[Aside.]
Petruchio
1927 Eat it up all, Hortensio, if thou lovest me.
1928 Much good do it unto thy gentle heart!
1929 Kate, eat apace: and now, my honey love,
1930 Will we return unto thy father's house
1931 And revel it as bravely as the best,
1932 With silken coats and caps, and golden rings,
1933 With ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things;
1934 With scarfs and fans and double change of bravery,
1935 With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery.
1936 What! hast thou din'd? The tailor stays thy leisure,
1937 To deck thy body with his ruffling treasure.
[Enter TAILOR.]
Petruchio
1938 Come, tailor, let us see these ornaments;
1939 Lay forth the gown.—
[Enter HABERDASHER.]
Petruchio
1940 What news with you, sir?
Haberdasher
1941 Here is the cap your worship did bespeak.
Petruchio
1942 Why, this was moulded on a porringer;
1943 A velvet dish: fie, fie! 'tis lewd and filthy:
1944 Why, 'tis a cockle or a walnut-shell,
1945 A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap:
1946 Away with it! come, let me have a bigger.
Katherina
1947 I'll have no bigger; this doth fit the time,
1948 And gentlewomen wear such caps as these.
Petruchio
1949 When you are gentle, you shall have one too,
1950 And not till then.
[Aside]
Hortensio
1951 That will not be in haste.
Katherina
1952 Why, sir, I trust I may have leave to speak;
1953 And speak I will. I am no child, no babe.
1954 Your betters have endur'd me say my mind,
1955 And if you cannot, best you stop your ears.
1956 My tongue will tell the anger of my heart,
1957 Or else my heart, concealing it, will break;
1958 And rather than it shall, I will be free
1959 Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words.
Petruchio
1960 Why, thou say'st true; it is a paltry cap,
1961 A custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie;
1962 I love thee well in that thou lik'st it not.
Katherina
1963 Love me or love me not, I like the cap;
1964 And it I will have, or I will have none.
[Exit HABERDASHER.]
Petruchio
1965 Thy gown? Why, ay: come, tailor, let us see't.
1966 O mercy, God! what masquing stuff is here?
1967 What's this? A sleeve? 'Tis like a demi-cannon.
1968 What, up and down, carv'd like an appletart?
1969 Here's snip and nip and cut and slish and slash,
1970 Like to a censer in a barber's shop.
1971 Why, what i' devil's name, tailor, call'st thou this?
[Aside]
Hortensio
1972 I see she's like to have neither cap nor gown.
Tailor
1973 You bid me make it orderly and well,
1974 According to the fashion and the time.
Petruchio
1975 Marry, and did; but if you be remember'd,
1976 I did not bid you mar it to the time.
1977 Go, hop me over every kennel home,
1978 For you shall hop without my custom, sir.
1979 I'll none of it: hence! make your best of it.
Katherina
1980 I never saw a better fashion'd gown,
1981 More quaint, more pleasing, nor more commendable;
1982 Belike you mean to make a puppet of me.
Petruchio
1983 Why, true; he means to make a puppet of thee.
Tailor
1984 She says your worship means to make a puppet of her.
Petruchio
1985 O monstrous arrogance! Thou liest, thou thread,
1986 Thou thimble,
1987 Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail!
1988 Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket thou!
1989 Brav'd in mine own house with a skein of thread!
1990 Away! thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant,
1991 Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard
1992 As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou liv'st!
1993 I tell thee, I, that thou hast marr'd her gown.
Tailor
1994 Your worship is deceiv'd: the gown is made
1995 Just as my master had direction.
1996 Grumio gave order how it should be done.
Grumio
1997 I gave him no order; I gave him the stuff.
Tailor
1998 But how did you desire it should be made?
Grumio
1999 Marry, sir, with needle and thread.
Tailor
2000 But did you not request to have it cut?
Grumio
2001 Thou hast faced many things.
Grumio
2002 TAILOR. I have.
Grumio
2003 Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave not me: I
2004 will neither be fac'd nor brav'd. I say unto thee, I bid thy
2005 master cut out the gown; but I did not bid him cut it to pieces:
2006 ergo, thou liest.
Tailor
2007 Why, here is the note of the fashion to testify.
Petruchio
2008 Read it.
Grumio
2009 The note lies in 's throat, if he say I said so.
Tailor
2010 'Imprimis, a loose-bodied gown.'
Grumio
2011 Master, if ever I said loose-bodied gown, sew me in the
2012 skirts of it and beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread;
2013 I said, a gown.
Petruchio
2014 Proceed.
Tailor
2015 'With a small compassed cape.'
Grumio
2016 I confess the cape.
Tailor
2017 'With a trunk sleeve.'
Grumio
2018 I confess two sleeves.
Tailor
2019 'The sleeves curiously cut.'
Petruchio
2020 Ay, there's the villainy.
Grumio
2021 Error i' the bill, sir; error i' the bill. I commanded the
2022 sleeves should be cut out, and sew'd up again; and that I'll
2023 prove upon thee, though thy little finger be armed in a thimble.
Tailor
2024 This is true that I say; an I had thee in place where thou
2025 shouldst know it.
Grumio
2026 I am for thee straight; take thou the bill, give me thy
2027 mete-yard, and spare not me.
Hortensio
2028 God-a-mercy, Grumio! Then he shall have no odds.
Petruchio
2029 Well, sir, in brief, the gown is not for me.
Grumio
2030 You are i' the right, sir; 'tis for my mistress.
Petruchio
2031 Go, take it up unto thy master's use.
Grumio
2032 Villain, not for thy life! Take up my mistress' gown for
2033 thy master's use!
Petruchio
2034 Why, sir, what's your conceit in that?
Grumio
2035 O, sir, the conceit is deeper than you think for.
2036 Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use!
2037 O fie, fie, fie!
[Aside]
Petruchio
2038 Hortensio, say thou wilt see the tailor paid.
[To Tailor.]
Petruchio
2039 Go take it hence; be gone, and say no more.
[Aside to Tailor.]
Hortensio
2040 Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown to-morrow;
2041 Take no unkindness of his hasty words.
2042 Away, I say! commend me to thy master.
[Exit TAILOR.]
Petruchio
2043 Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your father's
2044 Even in these honest mean habiliments.
2045 Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor
2046 For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;
2047 And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
2048 So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
2049 What, is the jay more precious than the lark
2050 Because his feathers are more beautiful?
2051 Or is the adder better than the eel
2052 Because his painted skin contents the eye?
2053 O no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse
2054 For this poor furniture and mean array.
2055 If thou account'st it shame, lay it on me;
2056 And therefore frolic; we will hence forthwith,
2057 To feast and sport us at thy father's house.
2058 Go call my men, and let us straight to him;
2059 And bring our horses unto Long-lane end;
2060 There will we mount, and thither walk on foot.
2061 Let's see; I think 'tis now some seven o'clock,
2062 And well we may come there by dinner-time.
Katherina
2063 I dare assure you, sir, 'tis almost two,
2064 And 'twill be supper-time ere you come there.
Petruchio
2065 It shall be seven ere I go to horse.
2066 Look what I speak, or do, or think to do,
2067 You are still crossing it. Sirs, let 't alone:
2068 I will not go to-day; and ere I do,
2069 It shall be what o'clock I say it is.
Hortensio
2070 Why, so this gallant will command the sun.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 1878cultural context
“did he marry me to famish me”
Petruchio's 'taming' strategy involves deliberately starving Katherina and keeping her awake under the pretense of caring for her — rejecting every dish as unfit for her. This speech is her direct articulation of what he is doing, delivered as a soliloquy-like complaint before Grumio enters. Her anger here is fully justified by the facts: she is being deprived of food and sleep as a calculated method of breaking her will.
historical Falconry and the taming of the haggard
TLN 1892archaic vocab
“neat's foot”
A 'neat's foot' is the foot of a cow or ox (a 'neat' is a bovine animal), boiled to make a cheap, gelatinous dish. The exchange that follows — Grumio offering beef, tripe, and mustard only to find each too 'choleric' or otherwise unsuitable — is a prolonged comic routine in which every food Katherina names is refused on a spurious pretext.
TLN 1894historical topical
“fear it is too choleric a meat”
Elizabethan medicine held that the body was governed by four 'humours' — blood, phlegm, yellow bile (choler), and black bile — and that different foods could increase one and inflame a person's temper. 'Choleric' here means heated or anger-inducing; Grumio's joke is that the food itself will make Katherina more hot-tempered and thus should be withheld.
TLN 1907rhetorical device
“feed'st me with the very name of meat”
Katherina's line is a bitter epigram: Grumio does not give her food, only the word 'meat.' She is fed the name of a thing in place of the thing itself — words are all she gets — which sharpens the cruelty of his game.
TLN 1911archaic vocab
“sweeting, all amort”
'Sweeting' is a term of endearment (from the adjective 'sweet'), while 'all amort' means utterly spiritless or dejected — from the French 'a la mort' (to the point of death). Petruchio enters with calculated cheerfulness, addressing the hungry, exhausted Katherina as if she were merely glum.
TLN 1919archaic vocab
“pains is sorted to no proof”
'Sorted to no proof' means 'turned out to no result' or 'come to nothing.' 'Sort' in Elizabethan English commonly means to turn out, result in, or be assigned to a particular end. Petruchio uses the phrase to justify snatching the food away: since she has not thanked him, the effort produced no outcome.
TLN 1933historical topical
“ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things”
Petruchio lists the fashionable women's dress of the 1590s: ruffs are the starched lace collars worn by both sexes; cuffs are matching wrist-bands; farthingales are the hooped underskirts that gave a woman's skirt its distinctive wide, bell shape. 'Bravery' in the next line means fine or showy clothing, not courage. The list is deliberately extravagant — and shortly Petruchio will refuse every item he has just promised.
TLN 1942archaic vocab
“moulded on a porringer”
A porringer is a small, shallow bowl used for eating porridge or broth — a humble domestic utensil. Petruchio dismisses the fashionable small cap as shaped like one, heaping contempt on it: 'a velvet dish,' 'a cockle or a walnut-shell,' 'a knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap.' His insults progress from kitchen-ware to child's plaything, steadily reducing the cap's size and dignity.
TLN 1947cultural context
“this doth fit the time, And gentlewomen wear such caps as these”
Katherina's reply that the cap 'doth fit the time' means it is in current fashion, appropriate to the moment and their social rank. 'The time' in Elizabethan English can mean the age, the fashion, or simply the present. She is asserting her right to the visible markers of her class — a gentlewoman's attire — which Petruchio is systematically denying her as part of his campaign of enforced humiliation.
TLN 1961archaic vocab
“custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie”
'Coffin' in Elizabethan cookery means the pastry casing of a pie or custard — the 'coffin' that holds the filling — not a burial container. Petruchio calls the cap a 'custard-coffin' (a pastry shell without substance) and a 'silken pie' (fine-looking but hollow). Both images mock the cap as a mere empty husk dressed up to look fine.
TLN 1967archaic vocab
“'Tis like a demi-cannon”
A demi-cannon was a large artillery piece — a medium-heavy cannon — whose bore was roughly four to five inches across. Petruchio is mocking the fashionable 'trunk sleeve,' which was puffed and padded to an enormous cylindrical width at the shoulder. His tailor-abuse that follows — comparing the sleeve's slashed decoration to a 'censer in a barber's shop' (the perforated incense-burner kept there) and to the random cuts of 'snip and nip and cut and slish and slash' — continues the attack on the gown's extravagant style.
TLN 1985rhetorical device
“Thou liest, thou thread, Thou thimble, Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail”
Petruchio's abuse of the Tailor is a comic accumulation (the figure called congeries or accumulatio) built entirely from tools and measurements of the tailor's trade: a thread, a thimble, and the descending units of a yard (36 inches, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, and finally a 'nail' — a sixteenth of a yard, less than an inch and a quarter). Each term reduces the Tailor in size, ending with the smallest unit of cloth measurement. The speech is a tour de force of theatrical anger built from the vocabulary of the person being insulted.
TLN 2010archaic vocab
“Imprimis, a loose-bodied gown”
'Imprimis' is Latin for 'first of all' or 'in the first place,' the standard opening of a legal or commercial list (a bill, an inventory, a will). The Tailor reads from a written 'note of the fashion' — a specification document — opening it with the formal legal Latin as if it were a sworn deposition. A 'loose-bodied gown' was an unbelted, unfitted garment — and, as Grumio instantly understands, one worn by women of loose morals, which is why he furiously denies ever ordering one.
TLN 2044archaic vocab
“honest mean habiliments”
'Habiliments' means clothing or attire (from French 'habillement'). 'Honest mean' means plain and decent — neither fancy nor shameful. Petruchio's speech that follows (TLN 2045-2054) argues that virtue lies in the mind, not in dress: 'tis the mind that makes the body rich' and 'honour peereth in the meanest habit.' The argument is self-serving — he is denying Katherina fine clothes — but it draws on the genuine Elizabethan moral commonplace that outward show deceives.
TLN 2065cultural context
“It shall be seven ere I go to horse”
Petruchio insists it is seven o'clock in the morning when Katherina correctly tells him it is nearly two in the afternoon. This is a deliberate test: he will not allow her even the evidence of her own senses. The exchange extends his 'taming' method from food and sleep-deprivation to control over perceived reality itself. Hortensio's wry aside — 'so this gallant will command the sun' — aligns the scene with the sun-and-moon episode that follows in 4.5, where Petruchio forces Katherina to agree that the sun is the moon.