Understanding the Prologue, and What is a Frame Tale?

The very end of the Prologue in the Taming of the Shrew sets the tone and prepares the audience for the rest of the play. What happens at the end of the prologue? We translated the final portion of the scene into current Modern Standard English. You can get the worksheet we used under "Handouts."

Questions:
What is a frame tale?
In what way is the Prologue a Frame Tale?

Here are some definitions of the phrase "frame tale," or "frame story."

frame tale, also frame story
n. A narrative structure containing or connecting a series of otherwise unrelated tales.
- The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

frame tale, also frame story
noun
1. a narrative providing the framework for connecting a series of otherwise unrelated stories.
2. a literary device that uses such a narrative structure.
- Dictionary.com Unabridged, Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.