Summary:
In William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," Christopher Sly is a lower-class character who is convinced by others he is of noble blood. This sets up a play within the larger play in which the concept of autopoiesis, as defined by Katherine Hayles, is explored.
Am I a lord, and have such a lady?
Or do I dream? Or have I dreamed till now?
I do not sleep. I see, I hear, I speak.
I smell sweet savours, and I feel soft things.
Upon my life, I am lord indeed,
And not a tinker, nor Christopher Sly.
From The Taming of the Shrew (Induction 2.66-71)
Themes of memory and dreams echo throughout the works of Shakespeare, just as these concepts still resonate in postmodern literature. In The Taming of the Shrew the lower class drunken character Christopher Sly is picked up off the streets by a nobleman and, for sheer amusement, dressed up to be a lord. Though at first skeptical of his identity, as Sly remembers who his father is, what his profession is, and what his hobbies are, the poor drunk man soon believes the nobleman.....
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