A Humble Set of Haikus
Inspired by Shakespeare’s
“The Taming of the Shrew”
Bob A.

Ah, reality
And its good friend illusion
Play big parts in “Shrew”

For one, there’s dress up
In order to fool the pop
And see his daughter

Two fake professors
(And a couple other men)
Want his young daughter

But the problem is
There is an older daughter
Who’s a hardcore shrew

She is curst and shrewd
More so than anyone else
Yes, she is vile

And the pops won’t let
His younger daughter marry
Until she does first

He won’t even let
Suitors see the younger one
Until she’s engaged

The only people
Allowed to see the younger
Are teachers for them

Hence, the dress up games
Which end up getting intense
When more men arrive

One of these men is
Father to one “professor”
He’s very distraught

But it all works out
When yet another person
Tames the shrew sister

There is also the
Issue of deceit for the
Purpose of control

See, the man who tames
The shrew (his name’s Petruchio)
Tells obvious wrongs

He knows if he can
Make her agree that the sun
Is the moon, he wins

So he states these lies
(Of course, in the name of love)
And makes her agree

For example, he
Makes her agree that a man
They see is a girl

He also deprives
Katherine of all sleep and food
For almost two days

Thus he gains control
Over his Katherine the shrew
And everyone’s glad

But when you look deep
You can see many more things
That show illusions

Take the character
Of Katherine, the shrewish one
She’s really not shrewd

Petruchio shows her
That her shrewness is faked, she
Just wants attention

Her disposition
Is a façade, if you will
One big illusion

To get around this
Petruchio must façade it
And act like a shrew

And that’s what he does
He outshrews the shrew herself!
Yes, he is hardcore

“And till she stoop”
He muses to himself, “She
Must not be full gorg’d” [4.1. ]

Even his servants
Note it; “By this reck’ning, he
Is more shrew than she” [4.1. ]

And by doing this
He’s creating the biggest
Illusion of all

(That he is a shrew
For even though he wants cash
He is a great man)

All except for one
And this one is really big
A huge illusion

Basically the whole
Play is a big illusion
Why? Because it’s a…

PLAY WITHIN A PLAY!
Yes, imagine that: crazy!
The whole thing is fake

And why is it fake?
Because the play that’s not in
Another play – wait…

This is extremely
Confusing, wouldn’t you say?
Anyway, the play

The real play that’s not
In another play is based
On an illusion

The illusion of
A prank on a drunk guy who
Is found by soldiers

They make him think that
He is a rich man watching
“Taming of the Shrew”

They even bring a
A young boy to be his “wife”
Pretty twisted, no?

He thinks she’s real, and
Tells her, “Madame, undress you
And come now to bed” [Induction.1. ]

Yes, he falls for it
He thinks that he’s been crazy
And is a rich lord

And that’s how the play
That’s within another play
Comes into the play

Yes, it’s confusing
Especially when you use
The word “play” three times

But that’s how it goes
It’s a play within a play
What more’s there to say?

Yes, folks, this is it
Illusion in illusion
Th’essence of Shakespeare