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“I burn, I pine! I perish, Tranio, / If I achieve not this young modest girl” (1.1.151-152).
Lucentio delivers this line to his servant Tranio shortly after he has seen Bianca for the first time. This line establishes the depth of Lucentio’s romantic feelings for Bianca and characterizes Lucentio as a man who is governed by his heart. His romantic nature is an important aspect of his characterization because it establishes Lucentio as Petruchio’s foil. Petruchio is practical and wants to marry for money, whereas Lucentio is fanciful and wants to marry for love.
“Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves, / And let me be a slave, t’ achieve that maid / Whose sudden sight hath thralled my wounded eye” (1.1.214-216).
Lucentio utters this line after he asks Tranio to pretend to be him so that Lucentio can pretend to be a tutor for Bianca. The phrasing of this line is important because Lucentio emphasizes that he is intentionally humbling himself in order to woo Bianca, thereby setting Lucentio apart from most of the other characters in the text. Many of The Taming of the Shrew’s characters are preoccupied by wealth and status, unlike Lucentio who willingly reduces his own status in the pursuit of love.
“Hic ibat, as I told you before, Simois, I am Lucentio, hic est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa,
Sigeia tellus, disguised thus to get your love, Hic steterat, and that Lucentio that comes a-wooing, Priami, is my man Tranio, regia, bearing my port, celsa senis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon” (3.1.31-36).
Here, Lucentio reveals to Bianca during one of their tutoring sessions that he is not actually a tutor but is, in reality, a young nobleman who wishes to marry her. He makes an effort to explain his plan to Bianca so that he is not deceiving her, even while he deceives everyone else. This interaction is crucial to Lucentio’s characterization because it reveals the depth of the respect that he has for Bianca.
