Petruchio announces he and his new fiancée, Katherina, will be married by Sunday morn, ending Act 2 Scene 1. Meanwhile, Lucentio, disguised as a Latin tutor, successfully woos Bianca before Hortensio, disguised as a music tutor, is given a chance to woo her for himself. Bianca leaves to help her father prepare for her sister's' wedding; directly after this, Bianca eagerly returns to Lucentio, disguised as a Latin tutor. The two manage to be alone together in the garden.
Bianca and the real Lucentio endlessly flirt with each other, center stage, instead of studying Latin. Tranio, still disguised, suddenly interrupts them with a firm expression. "Tranio!," said Lucentio with surprise, "What be your reason to barge so abruptly."
"Lucentio," said Tranio, "the swain returns again with plans of ruin."
"If thou speakest truth, we shall shoo him with firm embrace. Now begone."
Tranio exits. Lucentio and Bianca look at one another passionately until they begin to hear footsteps echoing from the nearest corridor. The love-birds start making-out madly. As the echoes come closer, to the couple's surprise, a stranger appears stage right.
"This must be a dream, a nightmare" the stranger said with dismay.
"Nerissa?" said Lucentio with shock.
"You were to travel the world yet you leave me for a whoremonger."
"Who are you to invade to invade my home and insult me so?"
"I am the wife of this filth you see here" the wife responded.
Everyone is in shock. Lucentio failed to mention he has a wife. Nerissa continues to rage at her eventual ex-husband while Lucentio attempts to calm her down. Seeing all this dramatic foolery, Bianca covers her face with her hands in utter confusion and exits stage left. "Bianca, no," said Lucentio with angst as he quickly followed her with his wife tracking him. Tranio enters the garden stage right wearing a conniving expression on his face.
"I have rid of thy master, cunning and foolish. For
So long I have been the meager man of his wing
But no, no more. No more will thy face meet his
Feet that rests on the ground. Quickly, he hath
No knowledge of thy schemes, I will take Bianca with
A swift hand as my wife. Oh fairest Bianca, whose eyes
Pierce the heavens with flawless beauty and grace."
Tranio exits the garden, proceeding with his clandestine plan to expel his instructor, Lucentio.
When Bianca exits her father's house, the bickering former couple follows. No pedestrians are walking the streets; the three characters are the only ones present. Nerissa continues to yell crudities at her husband as she throws large and small objects at him. Wooden stools, chairs, clay pots, Lucentio dodges all her lousy throws and attempts to calm her with a scold's bridle. Proving to be nearly as shrewish as Katherine, Nerissa forces the bridle away from her and swinging its sharp ends towards Lucentio. Stunned beyond belief, Bianca is astonished by Lucentio's choice of strategy to calm his wife; she realizes Lucentio has a completely different side in his heart and discreetly, but quickly, evades the scene stage left.
"Bianca? Bianca?," said Lucentio with confusion.
"Be still ruffian," shrieks Nerissa with vengeance.
As Lucentio's saucy-mouthed wife grips his neck, he manages to pull Nerissa away from him, tossing her halfway across the stage, causing her to fall on her head, knocking her out. Lucentio, having lost Bianca and seeing his former wife lying on the ground, feels the grip of insanity for a short moment. Lucentio holds Nerissa in his arms, dreadfully says a couplet, and exits the stage.