What Role Does Christopher Sly Play In "The Taming Of The Shrew"�?

This play opens with Sly, a drunken tinker, being thrown into the street and falling into a drunken sleep. He is found by a nobleman and his servants, who decide to play a trick on him. They take him home, dress him in rich clothes and, when he wakes, tell him that he is a lord and introduce him to his "wife" (a page in disguise.") Sly is then invited to watch a play put on specially for him; this play is "The Taming of the Shrew." There is also an epilogue to balance this "induction." In this, Sly is restored to reality and believes everything was a dream, but having witnessed the "taming" of a bad-tempered woman in the play, he now has grand ideas about his own ability to deal with the landlady who originally threw him out. However, there is some doubt as to whether the epilogue is Shakespeare's own work, so it is seldom performed.