The Taming of the Shrew opens with an Induction. Here we meet Christopher Sly, a tinker by trade and a drunk by avocation. As the action opens, he is being thrown out of an alehouse. Drunken, he falls asleep before a nearby Lord's house. When the Lord returns from hunting, he spies Sly and immediately concocts a plan to convince the beggar that he is a nobleman. The Lord orders Sly to be taken into the house, bathed, and placed in the estate's nicest bed. He also orders his servants to wait on Sly and treat him as if he were the lord of the manor. In the midst of this merry planning, a troupe of actors appears and is enlisted for a performance that evening.
Upon waking, Christopher Sly is understandably confused. He immediately calls for a drink and is attended to by three servants (supposedly his). The Lord himself assumes a subordinate position and takes great delight at Sly's consternation at the situation. Before long, Sly falls into the Lord's trap and believes he is, in fact, master of all he surveys. The Lord and his servants, though, have a laugh at Sly's expense. When Sly requests his wife join him in bed, he is told that the doctors have warned that sexual activity may cause a relapse, and so rather than risk returning to his beggarly self, he agrees to wait, opting instead to watch the play put on by the acting company.
The story of The Taming of the Shrew itself really begins at this point. As Act I opens, we meet Lucentio, a young man who has traveled to Padua from Florence. His servant Tranio accompanies him, and together they secretly witness quite a scene. Before them enters Baptista Minola, his daughters Katherine and Bianca, and two men, Gremio and Hortensio, both wishing to be suitors to Bianca. Minola explains, however, that no one shall court Bianca until her older sister is successfully married. The problem, as the two men point out, is that Kate is so forward and unruly that no one they can think of would possibly want to marry her. Baptista declares he will allow tutors into his house, but no suitors until Kate is wed. After Minola and his entourage leave, Lucentio reveals he has fallen utterly in love with Bianca. Because he knows her father will admit no suitors, he decides to disguise himself as a schoolmaster and secretly court Bianca. Because Lucentio is expected in Padua and his absence would be noted, he instructs his servant Tranio to assume his persona.
