THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
A Play or mask within the Play is not uncommon in Shakespeare. A Play outside the Play especially distinguishes the arrangement of this Comedy.
Perhaps it serves to indicate that the theme of the taming of a wife is crude and primitive folk-farce, particularly suited to the taste of the drunken tinker before whom it is played.
Shakespeare's handling of the tinker's subject, however, like other rude and homely matters taken up by an acute mind is such as to fasten deeper attention and to overgo a tinker's appreciation.