Induction Scene 1
A lord brings home Sly who passed out in an alehouse. As a joke, he instructs everyone to treat him as a lord, and tells a pageboy to pretend to be Sly's wife and insist he has been insane for seven years.

Scene 2
The lord dresses up as a servant, and when Sly wakes everyone convinces him he is the master of the house. Actors put on the play that follows.

Act 1
Scene 1
Lucentio secretly falls in love with Bianca, but her father says that her sister Katherine must be married first. Lucentio plans to disguise himself as a tutor for Bianca to woo her, while her two suitors try and find a man for Katherine.

Scene 2
Hortensio convinces his friend Petruchio to marry Katherine for her money, while he will disguise himself as a schoolmaster. Lucentio arrives with Gremio as the schoolmaster, and his servant Tranio arrives disguised as Lucentio to court Bianca.

Act 2
Scene 1
Baptista accepts the disguised Hortensio (Litio) and Lucentio (Cambio) as tutors, as well as Petruchio's offer to marry Katherine. Petruchio and Katherine have a verbal duel, but when Petruchio announces that they will marry Sunday, Katherine doesn't resist, and Baptista promises Bianca to Tranio (disguised as Lucentio).