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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 4Scene 1
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“a little pot and soon hot” and “blowing the fire”
Proverb
Act 4,
Scene 1
Lines 1-9

An explanation of Grumio’s two proverbial references in the first lines of Act 4, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

[Petruchio’s home outside Verona. The weather is cold. Petruchio’s rascally servant Grumio has just arrived, having been sent ahead to ensure that everything is in order for the arrival of Petruchio and his new wife Katherina. It will help to appreciate the humor in this scene if you imagine that the actor playing Grumio is rather small, which was the case at Shakespeare’s Globe Theater.]

Grumio

Fie, fie on all tired jades, on all mad masters, and all     
foul ways! Was ever man so beaten? Was ever man so    
rayed? Was ever man so weary? I am sent before to make     
a fire, and they are coming after to warm them. Now, were     
not I a little pot and soon hot, my very lips might freeze
to my teeth, my tongue to the roof of my mouth, my heart
in my belly, ere I should come by a fire to thaw me. But    
I with blowing the fire shall warm myself, for, considering
the weather, a taller man than I will take cold. Holla, ho, Curtis!

Two common proverbs are suggested:

  1. “A small pot boils quickly.”
  2. “Let them that be cold blow at the coal.”