Be Kind, or Be Cruel

Be Kind, or Be Cruel

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “Silver Linings Playbook”

“The Taming of the Shrew” tells a story of romance between an unusual man name Petruchio and an ill-mannered woman named Katherine. Petruchio uses Katherine as a part of his plan, to marry and receive riches. In “SIlver Linings Playbook”, Bradley Cooper plays Pat, a former teacher who moves back in with his parents after  astint in a mental instituion.. Jennifer Lawrence plays Tiffany, a girl who just lost her husband. She’s also friends with Nikki, Pat’s wife. Pat uses Tiffany as a part of his plan to get back with his wife Nikki.

As I read “Taming of the Shrew” and watched “Silver Linings Playbook”, I noticed that both Petruchio and Pat used the same tactic to manipulate women, to only receive what they wanted. In the relationships, both males only wish to benefit themselves, and not the female. The males have different reasons and they have different ways of getting to their goal. Petruchio use the tactic of being mean, and Pat uses the tactice of being kind. These texts both show that real love doesn’t exist, and that no matter the time period men only use love as a way to get what they want.

Quote #1

"Petruchio: Good Lord, how bright and godly shines the moon!

Katherine: The moon? The sun! It is moonlight now.

Petruchio: I say it is the moon that shines so bright.

Katherine: I know it is the sun that shines so bright

Hortensio: Say as he says, or we shall never go

Katherine: Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,"

Act 4, Scene 5, Lines 3- 7, 14-15 (Pages 185 & 186)

In this part of the play,  Petruchio and Katherine plan on going to see her father. In these lines, Petruchio and Katherine argue about what time of the day it is. Because Katherine is so mean, Petruchio gives her a taste of her own medicine, in a way to tame her. He does this manipulate her into liking him, in a way of love. Once he could do that, he could marry her, and get her riches.

Image #1

In this scene from “Silver Linings Playbook”, Pat and Tiffany go out to eat dinner. Tiffany sees this as a sign of love. Pat uses the dinner date as a way to get close to Tiffany, so he can get close to Nikki.

Unlike Petruchio, Pat is nice to Tiffany, so she can like him. Once Pat gets her to like him. He can get close to Nikki, because like said before, Tiffany is good friends with Nikki.

Quote #2

"Thus have I begun my reign,

And ‘tis my hope to end successfully.

My falcon is now sharp and passing empty,

And till she stoop, she must not be full-gorged

For then she never looks upon her lure.

Another way I have to man my haggard,

To make her come and know her keeper’s call."

Act 4, Scene 1, Lines 188- 194 (Page 151)

In this part of the play, Petruchio speaks of how he’s going to starve Katherine. In thes elines he explains why he’s going to do this. In line 190 he says “My falcon now is sharp and passing empty”. When he says falcon, he’s talking about Katherine, calling Katherine his falcon. When he says “sharp and passing empty”, he’s saying that she’s very hungry. When he says “And till she stoop”, stoop means fly directly to the keeper or to the prey, saying that Katherine will fly to him. When he says “For then she never looks upon her lure”, lure means the bait held by the keeper, Petruchio being the keeper. Petruchio is going to make sure she doesn’t know what they have isn’t real. When he says “Another way I have to man my haggard, man my haggard means to train a falcon, like said before, Petruchio is calling Katherine his falcon. In the last line when he says “To make her come and know her keeper’s call” he means Katherine come back to him when he wants. Petruchio does this cruel act so he can have control over Katherine. If he has control over Katherine, she won’t act so ill-mannered, and he can marry her. Once he marries her, he can get her riches, what he really wanted.

Iamge #2

This scene is from the beginning of the movie, when Pat and Tiffany first meet. Pat gives Tiffany a compliment on how she looks nice. After she replied saying “Thank you”, he said he wasn’t flirting with her. Pat said he was saying she looked nice as “practice”. This “practice”  was for him to better hisself so he could get back to his wife. This was when Pat realized he could use Tiffany to his advantage.

Again, Pat uses the tactic of being nice, unlike Petruchio. Right here, this is the beginning of how

“Taming of the Shrew” and “Silver Linings Playbook” are prime examples of how men use love on females to get what they want. They show that it may seem real, but it isn’t true love. Being that they were from two different time periods, that shows that things still haven’t changed about men using love on women to benefit themselves.