Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 

No, no, forsooth; I dare not, for my life.

-Grumio

The Taming of the Shrew        Act IV, Scene iii, Line 1

 

This is the first line of the scene, so that anyone reading or hearing it will know just as much as anyone else, which is not much. We have to carry on further into the scene to find out exactly Grumio is talking about. The only other thing we know so far, from reading or from sitting in the theater, is that Grumio and Katharina are the only ones in the room as the scene opens.

Okay, well I guess I’ll tell you. Grumio is saying no to Katharina because she’s asked him to get her some food. Grumio knows that Petruchio would not want him to get her food, so he’s not going to do it. Simple as that.

I looked up ‘forsooth’, by the way, just to know officially what it means. I got ‘in truth, certainly, truly, and indeed.’

No, no, indeed.

No, no, certainly.

No, no, truly.

No, no, in truth.

I suppose all of them work to one degree or another, though I think I prefer No, no, indeed. How about you?

Forsooth, that looks pretty good. I don't know what it is, but it looks pretty good. Do you think Katharina would be interested in that?