The Shakespearean Stage

In Act I Scene ii, Shakespeare takes advantage of the lack of props and scene changing with Petruchio and Grumio's misunderstanding over the gate. Petruchio asks Grumio to knock him here, referring to the gate, but if a Shakespearean version of this play had few props and no gate, the humor would be magnified because of Grumio's confusion. Petruchio assumes that Grumio would know which gate he was referencing, and Grumio plays the fool, while also making a pointed commentary about the relationship between masters and servants in the Victorian Era.

Another great example of how Shakespeare uses language to signal actions or changes in the play is with his meter. Servants and commoners talk in normal prose, while the iambic pentameter is only used by upper class characters and royals. in Act 1 Scene ii it is most obvious when Tranio is dressed up as Lucentio. Prior to this he had been using a very loose meter, but when he pretends to be Lucentio he jumps into strict iambic pentameter.

Finally, when Shakespeare end an act and sometimes when he ends a scene, he always uses a couplet, sometimes a heroic couplet to signify the end of the act.