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. She behaves unpleasantly to him but he pretends not to notice. In the end he marries her and ' tames' her by treating her roughly until she becomes as easy to control as wives were expected to be at that time.