VI

THE FOLK ORIGIN OF THE TAMING

Trace the antiquity of this schooling of a wife, and the resemblances
and contrasts in the chief variants of the story (for help in this see
Sources in "First Folio Edition").

Is there any progress to be discerned in the degree of bodily force
deemed expedient?

Is any such scheme of the marriage-relation compatible with advanced
civilization, or is it peculiar to crude notions of life in a taming
age?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is the folk-legend indicative of an inherent relation in marriage of
the male and female natures, or is it merely an expression of
established custom and legalized institution upon gaining for each the
aims and line of conduct desired? If so, is the result of the process
to gain a ground of mutual compromise and accommodation and a division
of labor in joint life which will enable the process itself to fall
into disuse.

Is coercion of others consistent with a high grade of individuality?

Did Petruchio play the Tamer in a "Pickwickian sense" and the whole
thing being a bit of acting, did Kate see through it, finally, and