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Tranio is Lucentio’s clever, comical, and loyal servant who, at the start of the play, accompanies his master from Pisa to Padua. He is integral to the play’s comedic subplot. Shortly after they arrive in Padua, Tranio assumes Lucentio’s identity so that Lucentio can woo Bianca in secret by pretending to be a tutor.
Tranio’s defining character trait is his wit and his ability to think on his feet. He is clearly the mastermind behind his and Lucentio’s ruse and he consistently manages to keep a level head while Lucentio gives in to fancy. For instance, in 1.1, Tranio bluntly tells his master that he was so taken with Bianca’s beauty that he failed to pay attention to the issue at hand—Bianca’s father has forbidden her to marry until her older sister Katherine is wed. He also tells Lucentio that “if [he] love[s] the maid” he must “bend thoughts and wits to achieve her.” Here, Tranio essentially tells Lucentio to focus and form a plan instead of merely pining after Bianca. Tranio also displays his superior intellect during the scenes with Baptista and the other suitors. Over the course of the play, he manages to win over the other men vying for Bianca’s hand, convince Baptista that he (disguised as Lucentio) is the best match for Bianca, and eliminate the competition by manipulating Hortensio into dropping his pursuit of Bianca. Tranio represents a common archetype in Shakespeare’s plays: the servant or lower-class character who is actually much cleverer than those of a higher social standing. Characters such as Tranio enable Shakespeare to poke fun at the rigid class structure that dominated Elizabethan society.
Tranio is further significant because he contributes to the play’s thematic emphasis on social order. He is a servant who spends the majority of the play masquerading as a wealthy young aristocrat. Lucentio and Tranio’s plot is comedic and entertaining, but it must be set right before the happy ending can be achieved and the play can end. By the end of 5.1, the disguise that gave great power to Tranio finally falls away, proving that no outfit can conceal a man’s true nature. Through the dissolution of Tranio’s charade, the text argues that happiness and stability depend upon everyone playing his or her prescribed role.
