The Taming of the Shrew · Act 4, Scene 1

Petruchio: “Thus have I politicly begun my reign”

What is happening, what every line means, how to perform it, and how to use it in an audition, with the full text.

The Offbook team

Oct 8, 2026

What is happening

This is Act 4, Scene 1 of The Taming of the Shrew. Petruchio came to Padua to marry a rich wife and chose Katharina, the sharp-tongued elder daughter whom no one else would court. He arrived late to the wedding in ragged clothes, behaved wildly in church, and carried her off before the wedding feast.

They have ridden to his country house. On the way, his servant Grumio reports, her horse fell and she landed in the mud. At the house Petruchio storms at the servants, declares the supper burnt, and throws it at them, telling Katharina that overcooked meat breeds anger, so it is better that they both go hungry. He then takes her to the bedroom, where, a servant says, he lectures her on self-control until she does not know which way to look.

Now he comes back alone and tells the audience what he is doing and why. Everything that looked like madness was a plan, and he lays it out step by step, then ends by challenging anyone watching to come up with a better one.

Lines: 24
Words: 204
At 150 wpm: 1.4 min
Form: Verse

The speech, beat by beat

The full text in 6 beats. Under each beat: what it means in plain English, and a note for playing it.

Lines 1–2 · The reign has begun

1Thus have I politicly begun my reign,
And ’tis my hope to end successfully.

In plain English I have begun my rule cunningly, and I hope to finish it successfully.

Acting note He is pleased with himself. 'Reign' tells you how he sees the marriage: as a kingdom he is taking over.

Lines 3–9 · The falcon

3My falcon now is sharp and passing empty;
And till she stoop she must not be full-gorged,
5For then she never looks upon her lure.
Another way I have to man my haggard,
To make her come and know her keeper’s call,
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
That bate and beat and will not be obedient.

In plain English My falcon is hungry now, really empty, and until she comes down to me she must not be fed her fill, or she will never look at the bait again. I have another way to tame my wild hawk and teach her to come when her keeper calls: keep her awake, the way we keep these birds of prey awake when they flap their wings and will not obey.

Acting note The whole plan is borrowed from falconry. Speak it as an expert explaining a method he knows works, not as a man in a rage.

Lines 10–15 · No food, no sleep

10She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat;
Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall not;
As with the meat, some undeserved fault
I’ll find about the making of the bed;
And here I’ll fling the pillow, there the bolster,
15This way the coverlet, another way the sheets:

In plain English She ate no food today, and she will eat none. She did not sleep last night, and she will not sleep tonight. Just as I did with the meat, I will find some fault, which is not there, with the way the bed is made, and throw the pillow here, the bolster there, the cover one way and the sheets another.

Acting note Lines 14 and 15 are a list of throws. You can act them out, or let him enjoy describing the chaos to come.

Lines 16–20 · All for her sake

16Ay, and amid this hurly I intend
That all is done in reverend care of her;
And in conclusion she shall watch all night:
And if she chance to nod I’ll rail and brawl
20And with the clamour keep her still awake.── 60-second cut ends here ──

In plain English And in the middle of all this uproar, I will make out that everything is done out of devoted care for her. In the end she will be awake all night, and if she happens to nod off, I will rant and shout and keep her awake with the noise.

Acting note The joke he is proudest of is the excuse: the cruelty comes dressed as kindness. The 60-second cut on this page ends at line 20.

Lines 21–22 · Killing with kindness

21This is a way to kill a wife with kindness;
And thus I’ll curb her mad and headstrong humour.

In plain English This is the way to kill a wife with kindness, and this is how I will rein in her wild, stubborn temper.

Acting note 'Kill a wife with kindness' is the line the audience remembers. A servant has just said he 'kills her in her own humour', so Petruchio's version sums up what everyone has seen.

Lines 23–24 · A dare to the house

23He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak: ’tis charity to show.

In plain English If anyone knows a better way to tame a shrew, let him speak up now. It would be a kindness to show me.

Acting note He asks the audience a direct question and waits for an answer that never comes. The rhyme (shrew/show) closes the scene with a flourish.

Hard words

Word	Line	Meaning
politicly	1	cunningly, as a calculated plan
sharp	3	hungry (a falconer's word)
passing empty	3	extremely empty, very hungry
stoop	4	swoop down to the falconer; give in
full-gorged	4	fully fed
lure	5	the bait a falconer swings to call a hawk back
man my haggard	6	tame my wild hawk (a haggard is a hawk caught in the wild)
watch her	8	keep her awake
kites	8	birds of prey
bate and beat	9	flap their wings and try to fly off
bolster	14	a long pillow across the head of the bed
hurly	16	uproar, commotion
reverend care	17	devoted, respectful care
humour	22	temper, mood
charity	24	a kindness, a good deed

How to perform it

Talk to the audience. Petruchio is alone and tells the house his plan directly, so the people watching are your listeners. He is letting them in on a secret, and the speech works best when he enjoys sharing it.
Play the expert. The speech is built on one long comparison with training a hawk. Petruchio speaks like someone who knows the craft: hunger, the lure, sleepless nights. The more practical and confident he sounds, the clearer the plan becomes.
Follow the sentences. The speech has six. The first three, in lines 1 to 9, set out the method. The fourth runs from line 10 to line 20 and piles up the details of the hungry day and the sleepless night, so it needs one long, building drive. The last two, two lines each, sum up and close.
Choose a point of view on the plan. Starving someone and keeping them from sleep reads very differently to a modern audience than a comic boast. Decide what your Petruchio believes he is doing, and play that clearly; you do not need to wink at the audience to show you know it is harsh.
Land the last couplet. Line 23 is a real question to the house. Give it a moment to hang there before the final line, so the challenge has time to be heard.

Using it in an audition

This speech is short, self-contained, and spoken straight to the audience, which makes it easy to stage alone. The full speech runs about 1.4 minutes at 150 words a minute, so it fits a 90-second limit. For a one-minute version, the cut on this page ends at line 20, 'keep her still awake', which keeps the whole plan but loses 'kill a wife with kindness' and the closing dare; if you use it, make line 20 sound like the final step. The play does not give Petruchio's age, so the speech suits a wide range of actors who can play quick, confident comic authority. Be aware that some panels will hear it as cruelty rather than comedy, so know what you want them to take from it. As a comic verse piece, it pairs well with a darker classical or contemporary dramatic monologue.

Petruchio, The Taming of the Shrew, Act 4, Scene 1. William Shakespeare. Public domain text.

How long it runs

Pace	Words a minute	Run time
Deliberate	130	1.6 minutes
Conversational	150	1.4 minutes
Brisk	170	1.2 minutes

These are speech times before pauses. To time your own run, paste the text into the monologue timer. The cut marks in the text stop at a full sentence near 60 seconds (line 20).

Practice it: first-letter version

Each word is cut to its first letter. Say the whole line from the letters, then check the text. Make cues from any script with the first-letter memorizer.

T h I p b m r,

A ’t m h t e s.

M f n i s a p e;

A t s s s m n b f-g,

F t s n l u h l.

A w I h t m m h,

T m h c a k h k c,

T i, t w h, a w w t k

T b a b a w n b o.

S e n m t-d, n n s e;

L n s s n, n t-n s s n;

A w t m, s u f

I f a t m o t b;

A h I f t p, t t b,

T w t c, a w t s:

A, a a t h I i

T a i d i r c o h;

A i c s s w a n:

A i s c t n I r a b

A w t c k h s a.

T i a w t k a w w k;

A t I c h m a h h.

H t k b h t t a s,

N l h s: ’t c t s.

More from The Taming of the Shrew

More lists: Shakespeare monologues, Monologues for men, Comedic monologues.

Sources

Questions actors ask

How long is Petruchio’s Thus have I politicly begun my reign speech?

24 lines and 204 words. At 150 words a minute it runs about 1.4 minutes; a slower, more deliberate delivery at 130 takes about 1.6 minutes. Pauses add time, so time a full run out loud.

Is it a good audition monologue?

What is the fastest way to memorize it?

Learn it in sense units, not line by line: say each thought out loud until you can do it without looking, then add the next. The first-letter version below keeps the shape of every line in view while you test yourself.