The Taming of the Shrew as keeping her from eating and drinking, until she becomes a desirable, compliant, and obedient bride. The subplot features a competition between the suitors of Katherina's younger sister, Bianca, who is seen as the "ideal" woman. The question of whether the play is misogynistic or not has become the subject of considerable controversy, particularly among modern scholars, audiences, and readers. "The Taming of the Shrew" has been adapted numerous times for stage, screen, opera, ballet, and musical theatre; perhaps the most famous adaptations being Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate" and the 1967 film of the play, starring Elizabeth Taylor and
The Taming of the Shrew to the family house, where the now tamed woman lectures her sister on the merits of being an obedient wife. The taming in this version is much more physical than in Shakespeare; the shrew is beaten with birch rods until she bleeds, and is then wrapped in the salted flesh of a plough horse (the Morrelle of the title). "Merry Jest" was not unknown to earlier editors of the play, and had been dismissed as a source by A.R. Frey, W.C. Hazlitt, R. Warwick Bond and Frederick S. Boas. Modern editors also express doubt as to Hosley's argument. In 1966,