taming of the shrew 6

"Thus have I politically begun my reign
And 'tis my hope to end successfully
My falcon now is sharp and passing empty,
And, till she stoop, she must not be full gorged,
...She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat.
Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not.
As with the meat, some undeservèd fault
I'll find about the making of the bed,
And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster,
This way the coverlet, another way the sheets.
Ay, and amid this hurly I intend
That all is done in reverend care of her.
...And with the clamor keep her still awake.
This is the way to kill a wife with kindness.
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong humor.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak; 'tis charity to shew."
Act 3, Sc. 2, Lines 188-211

This passage is spoken by Petrucio on his return to his house. He speaks to his servants regarding his new, shrewish wife and how he will handle her anger. He plans to keep her hungry and weakened. He also plans that she will not sleep either, as he will find something wrong with the bed and make noise and not allow her to rest, all the while pretending to care for her well-being and to give her no reason to able to rail at him. This is important because this speech is Petrucio's master plan for taming the shrew and wooing his new wife. He will be kind to her without end, but will kill her nature in doing so. At the end he says

taming of the shrew 5

"Hic ibat, as i told you before, Simois, I am Lucentio, hic est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa, Segia tellus, disguised thus to get your love, Hic steterat, and that Lucentio that comes a wooing, Priami, is my man Tranio, regia, bearing my port, celsa senis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon."

The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy, and this passage proved that fact exactly. Lucentio, disguised as a Latin teacher, is wooing Baptista's daughter through translations of Latin text. This specific passage is important because it is when Lucentio confesses that he is not a teacher, and that he has employed this deception to gain Bianca's affection. She replies that she does not yet trust him, but for him to have hope, thereby foreshadowing that something important is going to happen between the two of them.

taming of the shrew 4

"That 'only' came well in. Sir, list to me.
I am my father's heir and only son.
If I may have your daughter to my wife,
I'll leave her houses three or four as good,
Within rich Pisa walls, as any one
Old Signior Gremio has in Padua,
Besides two thousand ducats by the year
Of fruitful land, all which shall be her jointure.
What, have I pinched you, Signior Gremio?"

This quote is spoken by Tranio while he is impersonating Lucentio in a ploy to gain access to Baptistas' daughter Bianca. Tranio speaks of how he has gained a great inheritance and will take care of Bianca so much better than Gremio will. This demonstrates the mood of this part of the play, as the suitors are all vying for both Bianca's affection and Baptista's permission to marry her, and they are all sniping at each other during their individual courtships.