#38 in Drama & theatre
The Taming of the Shrew
- 130
- Pages
- about 2.5 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Taming of the Shrew” is a quick-witted comedy that becomes harder to pin down the closer it is read. It opens with a frame: a lord fools a drunken tinker into thinking himself noble and stages the play for him. Some readers find parts hard to accept today, and the language difficult without a modern gloss. Readers who return to it may grow less sure how the taming is meant, and value it more.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself. The nobleman then has the play performed for Sly's diversion.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.2 across 276 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 65% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Drama & theatre average of 7.6. That is how 7.3 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 6.7 | 35 | 13% |
| Hardcover | 7.2 | 241 | 87% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Taming of the Shrew?
It has 130 pages — shorter than 66% of the ranked books in Drama & theatre.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Drama & theatre — with scores between 7.4 and 8.2, closest to this book.
