Explain Why Characters Lie To Others In Taming Of The Shrew

In the novel “Taming of the Shrew”, by William Shakespeare, there are multiple situations in which characters lie or deceive others. To begin, the first reason why characters lie to others is to simply fool them or pull a prank on them. This event does not happen in the actual play/novel, but in the Induction Act before that. Christopher Sly, the homeless man who fell asleep at a pub, was deceived into thinking that he was royalty and that his stray past was but a dream by a Lord. Sly wakes up confused as he wakes up surrounded by luxury and attendants. Sly confusedly asks, “Am I a lord, and do I have such lady? / Or do I dream? Have I dreamed until now?” (Shakespeare, I.2, 68-69). The attendants assure him that he has been in a coma for

A prime example of this is Petruchio marrying Katherine. Petruchio did not marry Katherine because he loved her and was fond of her, rather he married her because of her wealthy family and his desire to get riches, he also wishes to “tame her” and to show her how to respect. As this motion begins to happen, Petruchio says, “And thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humor. / He that knows better how to tame a shrew” ( Shakespeare, 4.1.209-210 ). Petruchio plans to do things to things that come off as torture and trick her into thinking that it’s for love. This works after a while, as we see in Act 5, Katherine is scolding the Widow and Bianca for not respecting their husbands as they sacrifice everything for them. Even though she was not the mad character that she used to be, she had to go through a lot of pain by Petruchio to be that way, and she didn't even know it because she believed it was all under Petruchios idea of

This example is best portrayed by Tranio, Luciento’s servant. Tranio was desperately trying to look for somebody to play Luciento’s father because he had lied and said that his father was the richest, while in disguise as Luciento to the Baptista. Luciento met a merchant who said that he was from Mantua, in which Tranio lied and said that Mantua and Padua were a war and that he should come with him. Tranio warns the Merchant, “Of Mantua, sir? Marry, God forbid! / And come to Padua, careless of your life?” (Shakespeare, 4.2.83-84). Tranio got into this situation because of lying to help Luciento by telling the Baptista that Luciento’s father was wealthy, and got out of it by also lying to help cover it up. Tranio continues to lie when Vincentio, Luciento’s real father, comes to visit. Tranio, still in Luciento’s clothing, lies to Vincentio’s face and tells him he does not know him. Tranio lies to important people in his life just to help Luciento in getting the love he