Does it serve also to bring out the inferiority of Protheus?
How does outlawry serve to defeat the purposes of the Duke and Thurio and bring about the conquest over them of Valentine?
How does Thurio's nature inure to the credit of Valentine's with the
Duke?
Does outlawry here represent the injustices of civic life? To what degree? Or the natural life beneficent and innocent of Arden Forest in "As You Like It?" To what degree is this true?
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Why did Julia swoon? Was the repentance of Protheus genuine?—and natural? What does Valentine mean by his forgiveness of Protheus and his proof of it—"All that was mine, in Silvia, I give thee?" could he give her, personally, against her will, in Chivalry? Or in true love? How could he mean anything then, but proving by this entrusting of her to his friend his belief in his loyalty and purity?
Why is Silvia silent? (See Introduction to the Play in "First Folio Edition," also Selected Criticism and Notes on V, iv, 91, for hints on these latter queries).
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.