William Shakespeare has written a numerous amount of dramas with the concept of, “a play within a play”, where characters in the play execute the performance of a different play. Such concept is illustrated through an Induction, which is introduced before the actual “Acts” begin. Shakespeare begins, The Taming of the Shrew with a mysterious Induction of the character Christopher Sly, although the story is never concluded nor does it carry on directly to the actual play, it does relate to themes presented throughout the drama. Many questions come upon reading the Induction, such as: How does Sly contribute to the play? Why is Sly even presented? Does the Induction play a significant part to the main story? The answer to this is, of course. Shakespeare would not include this Induction in the beginning of the play for no reason. The Induction incorporates many of the major theme and motifs of the main play related to the power and corruption in the Elizabethan society at the time, such as, social conventions, the idea of …show more content…
And have I a lady? / Or do I dream? Or have I dreamed till now?” (Induction. II. 66-67). By accepting the servants’ claims about him being a Lord, solely after he was told he had a wife, Sly is fascinated by the idea of marriage. Thus later developing the idea that people use marriage for personal benefits. The Taming of the Shrew emphasizes the economic aspects of marriage. Sly then begins to play the role of a husband and demands his wife, just like Petructio treats his wife Kate. “ ’Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone / Madam, undress you and come now to bed.” (Induction. II. 12-13), here Sly attempts to common and control his wife. The husband had the right to tray his wife however hr want during the Elizabethan era, however Shakespeare did this in a humorous way that will amuse his audience