The Taming of the Shrew is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1590 and 1592. The play begins with a framing device, often referred to as the induction, in which a mischievous nobleman tricks a drunken tinker named Christopher Sly into believing he is actually a nobleman himself. The nobleman then has the play performed for Sly's diversion. Baptista Minola, a lord in Padua, insists that if his youngest daughter Bianca is to be married that her older sister Katherine be married first. Bianca, the more desirable of the two sisters, has no shortage of suitors. However, Katherine, the titular "shrew," has a temper so notorious that it is thought that no man would ever wish to marry her. When Petruchio comes to town in search of a wife, Hortensio, one of Bianca's suitors convinces Petruchio to marry Katherine. Only interested in her money, Petruchio marries Katherine and returns with her to his country house in Verona in order to "tame" her, a task that he soon finds out is more than he bargained for. Meanwhile, Gremio, Lucentio, and Hortensio, now free to court Bianca, all vie for her hand in marriage.