The Taming of the Shrew

Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,<br/>Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,<br/>And for thy maintenance; commits his body<br/>To painful labor, both by sea and land;<br/>To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,<br/>Whilst thou li’st warm at home, secure and safe;<br/>And craves no other tribute at thy hands<br/>But love, fair looks, and true obedience-<br/>Too little payment for so great a debt.<br/>Such duty as the subject owes the prince,<br/>Even such a woman oweth to her husband;<br/>And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,<br/>And no obedient to his honest will,<br/>What is she but a foul contending rebel,<br/>And graceless traitor to her loving lord?<br/>I asham’d that women are so simple<br/>‘To offer war where they should kneel for peace,<br/>Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,<br/>When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.<br/>Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,<br/>Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,<br/>But that our soft conditions, and our hearts,<br/>Should well agree with our external parts?<br/><br/>- Taken from "The Taming of the Shrew" written by William Shakespeare