A Tale of Love and Deception

Comparing "Taming of the Shrew" to "Love Love You"

As "The Taming of the Shrew" brings the idea of expectations on relationships that the women or women role in a relationship should be obedient to the male role. Petruchio sets the expectations for Katherine, that since he is the husband/man the wife/lady should be obedient to them. Katherine ends up being obedient to Petruchio’s every call. Unlike Bianca and the widow to their respected husbands, Lucentio and Hortensio. Love Love You is a Thai film about a Gump and Nai’s relationship with new complications coming into their lives. Gump moves into a new apartment with a guy and Nai’s old flame comes back from China. In the movie Gump is seen as the women role in the relationship, while Nai takes up the man role based off of actions. Gump follows Nai like a lost puppy in love most of the time, too shy to do anything or say something when it’s needed to be said. Nai on the other hand does what he wants eventually causing problems within their relationship.

In both Love Love You and Taming of the Shrew, relationship expectations are known. With the Taming of the Shrew, both Katherine and Petruchio the relationship expectations are more pronounced. Gump and Nai’s relationship is more flip-flopped, but still noticeable by the character’s actions. Katherine and Petruchio’s relationship sort of started with dishonesty and deception leading to obedience, meanwhile Gump and Nai’s relationship started with obedience but along came dishonesty and deception. In the Taming of the Shrew, relationship expectations are more pronounced and in modern times it’s not as pronounced but obedience still lingers in the air. Relationship expectations go hand and hand with dishonesty or deception.

"Katherine, I charge thee tell these headstrong women. What duty they do owe their lords and husbands."

(Act V, Scene II, 144-146)

In this scene the husbands were making a bet to see who’s wife is more obedient to them. The widow and Bianca didn’t go to their husbands call, while Katherine did. The wives, widow and Bianca disagreed with needed to be obedient to their call. So Petruchio ends up demanding Katherine to tell Bianca and the widow that the wives duty to their husbands. Dusty meaning how obedient they really are. Petruchio forces Katherine onto his ideal marriage and obedience since he’s the man of the relationship. He makes their relationship expectations known to the other newlywed couples surrounding him. Petruchio wants it all be pronounced.

A scene in Love Love You follows the similar obedience ways as the Shrew. Only this time it’s not a demand and out of guilt.

Within this scene, Nai finds out Gump is moving in with a fairly attractive man and complains that he doesn’t want Gump to live there. Out of guilt and obedience, Gump ends up apologizing to Nai about moving in with Sunz for a while. Gump and Katherine are similar yet different, both of them are obedient to the male role yet they do it in different ways. Katherine started lashing out at first and eventually gives into to Petruchio, causing her to be more obedient towards him. While Gump is shy and doesn’t speak up, naturally being obedient to the male role. The relationship expectations on the two relationships take different tolls on the characters lives.

"Be patient, gentlemen. I choose her for myself. If she and I be pleased, what’s that to you? ‘Tis bargained ‘twixt us twain, being alone, That she shall still be curst in company… Give me thy hand, Kate. I will unto Venice to buy apparel ‘gainst the wedding day. --- Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests. I will be sure my Katherine shall be fine."

(Act II, Scene I, 321-336)

Petruchio’s whole spiel was pretty much a lie to Baptista and everyone else. He was only willing to marry Kate for the money and the dowry he gets for marrying her. This all started the deception and dishonesty between Katherine and Petruchio.  Katherine at first was reluctant to listen to Petruchio’s wish to marry her, as most men revolted her due to bad temperment. During the spiel Petruchio was spitting, he said, “She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss, she vied so fast. Protesting oath on oath, that in a twink she won me to her love.” Earlier on in Shrew Petruchio’s character was basically established that he liked money and only did things for himself. He was dishonest in his feelings towards Katherine, eventually leading him to place the relationship expectations.

Nai’s old flame came back from China, causing Nai to rekindle with him. On the other hand, Gump has no idea about their past relationship together.  

Bon went to visit Nai while Gump was over. Nai introduced them to each other, while lying to Gump in the process saying Bon was just his high school classmate, when in reality Bon was Nai’s old flame. Since Gump was deceived he went along with Nai’s lie. Believe Bon was only a classmate, but later on realizing how close the two were. Nai was worried to tell Gump the truth about Bon, so he lied. In the end breaking the trust of their relationship slowly. Petruchio on the other hand lied to Katherine in the first place, deceiving her into being an obedient wife. Both Nai and Petruchio lied to their significant other for their ow2n good, ending in two different results in their relationship.

Thus, in the end the obedient Gump stopped talking to Nai for a while after spotting an unforgivable scene while Bon and Nai were completely drunk. Being deceived once more thinking Nai was shot at a party, just to get Gump to confess his true feelings. Gump’s obedience lead to dishonesty and deception within their relationship, while Petruchio and Katherine’s honesty and deception lead to obedience eventually. Thus creating the three things, dishonesty, deception and obedience in relationship expectations to go hand in hand. Modern day romantic comedies sometimes lay on the same principle, just in a different formation.

     The Taming of the Shrew has a desire to show you different relationship styles. One of the Main characters in this play was named Petruchio. He was the man who knew how to use clever words to get women. There is also Kathrine who was married to Petruchio, she was not always interested in him. Later on Petruchio tame Katherine into the women he wanted her to be. What Happens In Vegas has a comedy based laugh and keeps you wanting to wonder if relationships are like theirs.  There are two main characters, Joy and Jack they both were in Vegas. They got drunk and woke up married. Joy character is happier but she can be feisty if she wanted. Then Jack is a man who is all about the women and sport who lives an average man life. Both pieces demonstrate the conflict between the ideal way to develop a relationship against how relationships often realistically develop, and how the expectations of an ideal relationship are out of reach.

PETRUCHIO

To her, Kate!

HORTENSIO

To her, widow!

( In Act 5 scene 2)

       This was a scene where Petruchio and Hortensio made a deal to see who would could use this woman. Society would look at this and believe that relationship today come about because of bets that friends make with each other. This could also show you how relationship could be taken as a game and not actually a real life problem. Boys could look at this a being a player and girls could look at this as getting played. This shows you that the development of relationship are based upon other people that are not in a relationship.

        In this scene from What happens in vegas it portrays to society that love is just something that comes with luck. The couple is showing that marriage can come easy and it doesn’t take long to do. This couple was just sitting in a bar, than waking up the next morning marriages. This shows to society that love is drug that can make you do crazy thing and regret it later. Love is a symbol to how the people in the society should look at it, which then later on makes the audience struggle with how a relationship is supposed to be developed

Why, sir, I trust I may have leave to speak,

And speak I will. I am no child, no babe.

Your betters have endured me say my mind,

And if you cannot, best you stop your ears.

My tongue will tell the anger of my heart,

Or else my heart concealing it will break,

And rather than it shall, I will be free

Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words

( In Act 4 scene 3)

    In the Taming of the Shrew this was a scene that showed of petruchio actions toward Katherine after they got marriage. He started to control her by telling her what she could wear and what she couldn’t wear. This is showing to society that when a man does not like what you wear or what you are doing they have a say so in how they could change it. This could lead to why women began to feel insecure about themselves. This could also be a reason on why men have the mindset if one can do it then why can’t I.

      In this scene Jack is talking about Joy is trying to be so perfect but in reality he never was perfect for him. Society men would look at this as if men are supposed to talk women as jokes. Men is the society could began to believe that this is how you are to treat a girl when it comes to her feelings and how she cares. This is teaching that girls are not [perfect and guys they will never be so this movie does a bad job at portray how a guy should look at a female. It’s as if a girl is not perfect for you then he's not perfect at all.

       In conclusion to this relationships are looked upon differently in many ways. Movies and books could give a general impression on how a person should feel about it but it never actually tells you how to feel. Society are always watch the the actors and authors to see how they would describe the best development for how a relationship should be. This is why both pieces demonstrate the conflict between the ideal way to develop a relationship against how relationships often realistically develop, and how the expectations of an ideal relationship are out of reach.

Sources:

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1CADEAC_enUS670US671&biw=1366&bih=629&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=FRLhWsaJEIPw_AaepL2IBg&q=what+happens+in+vegas+subtitles+club+scene&oq=what+happens+in+vegas+subtitles+club+scene&gs_l=psy-ab.3...16809.22272.0.22582.15.12.3.0.0.0.131.869.10j2.12.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.1.128...0i24k1.0.ZJE4sHAlNEc#imgdii=L4mEXiC0U_HZkM:&imgrc=oCMf9MyWlwnlSM:

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+happens+in+vegas+club+scene&rlz=1CADEAC_enUS670US671&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiRspjpy9baAhVGON8KHXAlB2EQ_AUoAnoECAAQBA&biw=1366&bih=629#imgrc=BWG_n3AEOe3yFM:

Control in a relationship

Comparing ‘Taming Of The Shrew’ to the film Begin Again.’

The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare is a  family drama. The story opens with Baptisia a merchant who is the father of two girls. Katherine who is the eldest strong-willed and awkward. His younger daughter, Bianca is more beautiful and kind.   Baptisia wants his older daughter Katherine to get married before his youngest daughter will be permitted to do so.

Tranio and Lucentio come to town from Verona. Lucentio is a well-off man and Tranio is his servant. Lucentio falls in love with Kate; he falls in love with right away. Lucento dresses like a tutor so that he can be in the household were Kate lives. Tranio takes on the profile of Lucentio. Another man named Tranio and Lucentio come to town from Verona. Lucentio is a well-off man and Tranio is his servant. Lucentio falls in love with Kate; he falls in love with right away. Lucento dresses like a tutor so that he can be in the household were Kate lives. Tranio takes on the profile of Lucentio. Another man named Petruchio comes from out of town to Hortensio's house which is his friend who is also interested in Bianca. Horensio has a plan, and he convinces Petruchio to marry Kate.   Baptista has a lot of money, so when he gets married to Kate the marriage will come with a large dowry. This will clear the path for Bianca to marry. In the movie Begin Again Gretta is dating a songwriter named Dave Kohl, they move to New York when Dave gets a major record deal. With Dave's new issues he has new temptations for other girls. When a couple is married the husband has more control over the wife and the spouse is forced to do things that they don't want to do.

 "Quote from Play" (Act 1, Scene 2, 75 and 76 )

“ I come to wive it wealthy in Padua; if wealthy then happy.”

The quote is from the Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio was the one speaking here. The quote shows how Petruchio feels about marriage. Petrucio knew that had money and had the plan to get some of the money in the form of a dowry by marrying his daughter Kate.  Petruchio wants to marry for money, not love. This shows he is in love with the money, not his wife.

This is Dave and Gretta Talking about their relationship and Gretta leaves Dave showing he does not control her.

Dave did not have control over the relationship between him and Gretta. In the time and setting of the play women are married to men, the husband has power and the spouse is forced to do things that they might not like, but they do it because there married.

"Quote from Play"

(Act 5, Scene 7, 175)

"Thy king, Thy Governor."

This quote is again a part of Katherine's speech at the end of the book. Katherine was saying that the husband is the king and they can control the wife. Back then the husband had more control of the wife; the husband would work and provide for the family while the wife stays home. This brings the theme control; this shows that the husband has the power of the relationship because the wife is saying my husband is the king.

Gretta and dave fighting  this shows that Dave does not have control over the relationship.

In the movie, Dave Kohl goes to L.A for his music career, and then comes back to New York. He plays Gretta a new song that he made, the song talked about another girl who was touring with him. He cheated on Gretta, and this made Gretta mad and she left him. This is the opposite of the play because the wife believes that the husband is the king and he can do whatever he wants. Dave did not control Gretta.

Quote from Play"

(Act 5, Scene 2 ,176)

" Even such duty as the subject owns the prince"

This quote is again a part of Katherine's speech at the end of the book. Katherine was saying that the husband is the king and they can control the wife. Back then the husband had more control of the wife; the husband would work and provide for the family while the wife stays home. This brings the theme control; this shows that the husband has the power of the relationship because the wife is saying my husband is the king.

Gretta is forced to perform here showing that she has to do things she does not like

This can be compared to the Movie Begin again because Greta is forced to perform her music and ends up finding that she has great talent. Being forced to do something that worked out for her. I believe that Katherine was forced to say the speech and ended up loving her husband.

When women are married to men, the husband has control and the spouse is forced to do things that they might not like, but they do it because they're married. The play the Taming of the Shrew is older than the movie Begin again. Since the film is more contemporary the view has changed. Back then, the husband had total control over their spouse, but now the spouse will stand up for there self. Divorce was not common back then but now if the relationship does not work the spouse can leave their husband. When women are married, they are forced to things they don’t like; this is true because Katherine did not want to perform that speech and Gretta did not want to perform, but they both did it because they are married.

Desiring the Perfect Marriage

The Taming of the Shrew and Gone Girl

In The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare uses Petruchio to show how a husband could "train" his undesirable wife to be something he would seem fit through his actions with Katherine. By “training” her, Petruchio is able to put Katherine into submission by suppressing her free will and her former unpleasant self. David Fincher's Gone Girl takes a similar approach to marital manipulation through Amy. In the story, she would constantly manipulate Nick's emotions to the extremes as a consequence of him cheating on her with Andie by framing him of a crime he initially has no idea of.

In both The Taming of the Shrew and Gone Girl, marriage would revolve around control and infatuation rather than the actual love between two people. In The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio would rather change Katherine rather than love her for who she is and in Gone Girl, Nick would get emotionally manipulated by Amy while having to come to terms that she is not the person he initially thought she was. Although deception is still prevalent in marriages, the thought of romantic love is maintained through the perception one has for another, which is infatuation. However, unlike The Taming of the Shrew, besides the swap in gender when it comes to who is in control of the relationship, even though Amy is the one in the marriage who is orchestrating Nick's life against his will, she desires a Nick who is not necessarily his real self. From that, this shows that when it comes to marriage today compared to back then, women can be deceptive as men in relationships and in love while being able to choose the men they want to have.

"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance commits his body

To painful labor both by sea and land,

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,

And craves no other tribute at thy hands

But love, fair looks and true obedience—

Too little payment for so great a debt.

Such duty as the subject owes the prince,

Even such a woman oweth to her husband."

- Katherine (Act V Scene 2 lines 155-165).

This is noted by Katherine at the end of the play when her husband bets that she would be the most obedient wife compared to Bianca and the widow. After experiencing the torment Petruchio would put her through such as not letting her sleep at night or not allow her to obtain a dress she ends up liking, Katherine has no other choice but to submit to her husband. This is evident to the reader when she states, “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee.” By referring to him with terms such as “lord”, “keeper”, and “head”, she submits to Petruchio’s dominance over her will in their marriage by the end of the story. With the choice to have no one else to love her or have a man who would destroy her former self, there is no doubt that Katherine will choose the latter when it comes to being with the only man she could ever have, not because her actual self would be loved by that man.    

Like Katherine, in this situation, Nick has no choice but to submit to Amy’s pressure. This scene is where Nick announces on national television that he and Amy will be having a child. When he states, “We’re honest with each other,” it tells the audience that their marriage mainly consists of lies since they have been deceiving each other and have been dishonest to each other the entire movie, but Nick has no choice but to lie. Throughout the movie of Gone Girl, Amy deceives Nick into getting caught for committing a crime he initially has no intentions of perpetrating. As for Nick, with the accusations of how horrible of a person he is for cheating on his wife and how he might be the culprit for the alleged death of Amy, Nick cannot do anything else or express himself. Due to that pressure, he has to pretend to the masses that he and Amy are a happy couple. Amy, unlike Katherine, does not have to worry about her husband leaving him since she is the one in control of the marriage.  

"Look, if you love me, stay."- Katherine

(Act III Scene 2 line 176)

"Grumio, my horse."- Petruchio

(Act III Scene 2 line 177)

The quotes that are stated by Katherine and Petruchio occur during their wedding. In this scene, Katherine wants to stay at the wedding while Petruchio wants to leave. When Petruchio refuses to stay despite Katherine claiming that he is in love with her if he chooses to stay, it shows that Petruchio does not love Katherine for who she actually is. He does not care about what Katherine wants and would commit to actions that would harm her for her “own” sake. As a result of taking Katherine along with him even though she wants to stay, Petruchio proves how he would manipulate her into committing to matters she would not initially oblige to.

In this scene, Amy tells the audience her thoughts of the murder and her plans to ruin Nick. This is reminiscent to Petruchio manipulating Katherine to coercing to things she does not want since in Gone Girl, Nick does not want to be framed for murder and Amy knows this to be the case but she still orchestrates it to get Nick arrested. However, unlike The Taming of the Shrew, Amy deceives Nick to get revenge on him for cheating on her, not necessarily to make him a better person like what ends up happening in Katherine’s case. When Amy states, “He actually expected me to love him unconditionally,” the audience could see how Amy has Nick fooled to believing that and how she would not actually love him unconditionally despite being married to him. This can explain why she is willing to have revenge on him and why she is willing to hurt him: she does not love his actual self.

“You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,

And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst,

But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,

Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate—

For dainties are all Kates—and therefore, Kate,

Take this of me, Kate of my consolation:

Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,

Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded—

Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs—

Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.”

- Petruchio (Act II Scene 1 lines 179-189)

During Katherine’s first encounter with Petruchio, Petruchio claims that people refer to her as Kate, not Katherine despite her denial. In addition to denying her words as true when she states that people call her by the name of Katherine instead of Kate, Petruchio compliments to her in outlandish ways like calling her “bonny Kate”, “the prettiest Kate in Christendom”, and the “dainties are all Kates”. Despite it being the first time where he actually talks to her, it is clear that Petruchio idealizes Katherine rather than trying to understand her true self because if he is actually in love with Katherine, he would have trusted her when she states that people call her Katherine rather than pushing it aside as a lie. To add up to his idealization of her, without any thoughts or incentives to understand her, it shows how Katherine as a person is no valuable to Petruchio compared to his desire to marry her. Although it could be argued that Katherine is actually value to him since he is willing to marry a person who has a bad and undesirable reputation in the story, if he is truly in love with Katherine, he should try to get to know the person he is marrying instead of fantasizing about her while not trusting what she says.   

Similar to Petruchio, Amy ends up falling in love with Nick’s persona on television, not Nick himself. After coming back from hiding, Amy only realizes that Nick is not the person from his persona on television and that he wants her back so he would not be seen as a murderer in the masses, not that he actually has any affection towards her. This leads to her being somewhat different from Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew because although she has been manipulating Nick to the point where Nick has to be desirable to her to get her back to him similar to how Petruchio tries to manipulate Katherine to winning her affection, she has known what Nick can actually be like as a person due to her long marriage with him. In addition to knowing that Nick is not as desirable as she has wanted to believe prior to her life with him, she knows that Nick has been hiding his affair with Andie from her and has tried to lie about it on TV. Despite knowing Nick as an actual person, his past, and how dishonest he can be, she ends up getting fooled anyway when she comes back to Nick solely because of her idealization of him on TV.

In a lot of ways, characteristics in marriages back then are still around today like manipulation, conceit, and idealization. With many changes to societal norms such as women being given more opportunities now than ever before, this can be surprising to those who have expected society to be a lot different than before. Although there is no doubt that times have changed long after Shakespeare’s times, now that women have more marital rights, women like Amy can potentially be Petruchio when it comes to maintaining traditional characteristics of what marriage has always been. This changes how people see courtship today since with Amy actually being the one taking control of her marriage with Nick instead of the victim of that abuse, people can no longer assume that Amy is the damsel in distress while Nick is the villain without ignoring the implications that can have to victims of domestic abuse like Nick. Overall, to leave on a final note, when Nick tells Amy, “Yes, I loved you and then all we did was resent each other, try to control each other. We caused each other pain,” Amy replies, “That's marriage.”

Works Cited

“The Taming of the Shrew.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes,

nfs.sparknotes.com/shrew/page_246.html.

Milchan, Arnon, et al. Gone Girl. Twentieth Century Fox, 2014.

“The Taming of the Shrew.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes,

nfs.sparknotes.com/shrew/page_138.html.

“The Taming of the Shrew.” SparkNotes, SparkNotes,

nfs.sparknotes.com/shrew/page_90.html.

Bianca: Gamut I am the ground of all accord:

[A re] to plead Hortensios passion;

[B mi] Bianca, take him for thy lord,

[C fa ut,] that loves with all affection;

(Act 3, Scene 2, Line 77 - 80)

Bianca: Unbind my hands, I'll pull them off myself,...Or what you will command me will I do, So well I know my duty to my elders.

Katherine: Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell. Whom thou lov'st best. See thou dissemble not.

Bianca: If you affect him, sister, here I swear. I'll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.

(Act 2, Scene 11, Line 4 - 15)

In the "The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare, the characters Petruchio and Katherine were a couple who faced lots of complications before they fell in love. In the movie "Notting Hill”, William and Anna were a couple who fell in love too, despite all of their complications, even though Anna was an actress and William was just a bookstore clerk. Anna sacrificed her paraded life to be with him. In both the play and the movie, there were two separate lives, but William and Anna were in love when they first meet. Compared to Petruchio and Katherine, who weren't in love when they met. Petruchio forced Katherine to get married. In the end, Katherine falls in love with Petruchio and made sacrifices, just as Anna did, but Petruchio’s disregard for her feelings meaning their love is not genuine. These texts reflect that if one person truly loves another person, then he or she will overcome challenges and make sacrifices to make the other happy.

In the movie “Notting Hill” audiences are introduced to two characters William Thacker and Anna Scott. The couple has it rocky start from the beginning. But one thing that brought the couple closer was their first date. Anna and William plans for their first date was sure to be romantic but seconds before the plan was cemented William remembers he had plans for his sister birthday. Anna asks her assistant to move around her actoral duty to be able to attend a dinner at the home of William’s best friend and ex-lover. Anna had to sacrifices the normal comfort and quantity of a date she is used to. Anna is used to dating big time film and television actors who take her on expensive dates around people who are also famous. She didn’t have to deal with people’s alarm in the past but because now she was dining with locals she must handle the extra attention they pay to her despite her discomfort. William is very comfortable at the party dealing with his best friends and the games that they play. If Anna wasn’t ready to sacrificed her normal comfortability in a date she would have never loved William for himself in all forms. She would have never have gotten to know “floppy” (High school nickname of William). She would have only ever know William.

“No shame but mine. I must, forsooth, be forced To give my hand, opposed against my heart”

(Act iii, Scene i, 8-9)

In this scene, Katherine says she doesn’t want to marry Petruchio. Since she is not in love with him. Petruchio has to force Katherine to love him, as well as marry him. Initially, Katharine is not content with the fact that she must marry. She had to be persuaded to marry a man she didn’t love, this shows societies view on male ideas on courtship and/or dating. At the beginning of the play, Katherine said it will be a shame for her to be with someone who she does not love but by the end of the play, she gives up on this concept. Initially Katherine believes that her hand in marriage should only belong to someone to whom she can also give her heart. Katherine struggles to get over the fact that she is not truly in love with Petruchio, while Petruchio is ready to marry Katherine knowing he wasn’t in love with her. He is ready to marry her for the challenges that it will bring forth. Her idea of courtship is that it should be mutual consent. However, by the end of the play, she accepts that in her situation, Petruchio’s desire to be with her gives her no opinion in the matter. His idea of courtship is that it should on the men desire for a women.Since Katherine’s ideas on courtship and marriage have not been satisfied, she and Petruchio cannot be in love.

In the play “The Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare and in the movie “Notting Hill”, each of the characters make critical sacrifices and take on challenges in the name of true love. However, whether or not the love is authentic depends on the character’s actions and intentions. William and Anna are genuine with each other and sacrifice for each other.  In their relationship all they want is to make each other happy. Petruchio does not sacrifice for Katherine, only Katherine does giving up her independence. Her intention is to make him happy by being loyal to him, Petruchio’s intentions are not to take care of Katherine and her happiness, but to tame her. Petruchio marries Katherine despite her protest to gain her dowry. Therefore, only couples who truly love each other seek to make the other happy without self-interest.

Work cited

Shakespeare, William, and D. J. Donovan. The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare. W. B. Clive, University Tutorial Press, 1929.

Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew shows how love can be perceived in many ways and how it may conflict with a character's state of mind. The root of love stems many questions within itself, and can be very hard to boil down to one sole ideal. Because of this, people who may believe themselves to be in love can find themselves questioning this fact and second guessing their feelings. This idea is seen throughout Dennis Dugan's Just Go With It. 

Comparing “She’s All That” and “The Taming of the Shrew”

In William Shakespeare’s play "The Taming of the Shrew", relationships are only seen as a status symbol and possessions. Suitor Petruchio only wants to be with Katherine to prove his manliness and assert dominance. He cares more about having her as a possession and gaining status in Padua more than he cares about her as an actual person. He wants the money and glory that comes with marrying Katherine, he has no interest in actually loving her.

In the cult classic “She’s All That”, Zack Siler’s girlfriend Taylor Vaughn breaks up with him after coming back from Daytona Beach from Spring Break. Taylor is dating a reality television star, Brock Hudson and tells Zack that she can’t be with him anymore. Zack, fearful of losing his status as popular and wanting to prove that he’s still “top dog”, agrees to a seemingly impossible bet to turn any girl popular due to the association. He accepts a challenge from his shady friend Dean to get the “scary and inaccessible” outcast Laney Boggs to fall for him and become the school’s prom queen.

These texts reflect the timeless theme that both men and women use their relationships as a way to maintain or improve social status. Whether if it’s for proving their machismo to their peers or trying to earn notoriety and wealth, people will use their significant others as a stepping stone to get what they really want; a higher position in society.

PETRUCHIO: "And therefore, if thou know

One rich enough to be Petruchio’s wife,

As wealth is a burden of my wooing dance,

Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,

As old as Sibyl and as curst and shrewd

As Socrates' Xanthippe, or a worse,

She moves me not, or not removes at least

Affection’s edge in me, were she as rough

As are the swelling Adriatic seas.

I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;

If wealthily, then happily in Padua."

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 51-62 )

This quote is said shortly after Petruchio arrives in Padua from his town Verona. He tells his friend Hortensio that he has come to Padua in search of a wife who is wealthy. He is then pointed in the direction of Katherine. He is warned about her unattractive attitude but decides to brush it off. He doesn’t care that she’s a shrew, he’s just in it for money. This passage of text reveals Petruchio’s true intentions. He doesn’t need to marry someone he actually loves or someone who is gorgeous. He wants to marry someone who is rich because he wants to enjoy the same luxury since worrying about money is a burden for him. He wants to marry someone for the status that comes with it.

In the film, “She’s All That” mean girl Taylor Vaughn also uses relationships as a way to gain notoriety and to improve her status.

In this scene of the film, Taylor is explaining to Zach why she has to break up with him. She explains that when she went to Daytona Beach over spring break she ended up meeting reality television star Brock Hudson and claimed that they were “meant to be”. Although Brock isn’t that handsome or intelligent, the audience realizes that Taylor wants to be with him because he has a higher position in society, being a celebrity. However, Taylor is still concerned with maintaining her hierarchy in school so she tells Zach that they should still go to prom together because it’s only right that the two most popular people will be crowned king and queen. Similar to Petruchio, Taylor wants to live a luxurious lifestyle and achieves that by entering relationships with those who have a higher rank. She doesn’t care about Brock’s looks or intellect. Her main concern is his social status.

PETRUCHIO: “And therefore [for] assurance, let’s each one send unto his wife, and he whose wife is most obedient to come at first when he doth send for her shall win the wager which we will propose."

(Act 5, Scene 2, Lines 67-69)

During Bianca’s wedding, Baptista, Lucentio, and Hortensio are all teasing Petruchio about having a shrew for a wife. In order to prove them wrong, Petruchio comes up with a wager that whoever’s wife comes when she is called, will win twenty crowns. Hortensio and Lucentio accept this bet because they know Kate’s personality and that she is very headstrong. They believe that there is no way that she will come once she is called. Petruchio does this a way to not only assert his dominance over Katherine but to prove his machismo to his friends. He wants them to know that when it comes to manliness, he holds a higher status over them because of his ability to manipulate women and to be able to tame Katherine. He wants to prove his hierarchy over his male companions.

Popular jock Zach Siler agrees to a bet as a way to prove his machismo to his friends as well.

This scene of the film occurs after Taylor has publicly broken up with Zach. The audience can see that Zach is trying to keep his masculinity intact, by saying “There are over 2,000 girls in this school and I can bump uglies with every one of them.” Dean (Zach’s friend) decides to use this opportunity to present a bet. Zach has 6 weeks to get any girl of Dean’s choosing to fall in love with him and turn her into the prom queen. Zach agrees as a way to prove his manliness to Dean. Similar to how Petruchio’s actions were able to “tame” Katherine, Zach has the ability to manipulate women so that they will conform to his standards and he can improve what he truly cares about; his status and his hierarchy over others. Zach wants to do this because he wants to maintain his popularity after being publicly disgraced by Taylor.

Petruchio:

“Why came I hither but to that intent?

Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?

Have I not in my time heard lions roar?

Have I not heard the sea, puffed up with winds,

Rage like an angry boar chafèd with sweat?

Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,

And heaven’s artillery thunder in the skies?”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 170-176)

In this scene of “Shrew,” Petruchio has just told Gremio that he knows of Katherine and that he knows of her scolding and harsh demeanor, yet that won’t stop him from pursuing her. The reader can see that he isn’t phased by her because he has been in difficult situations before, so handling a woman like Katherine is the least of his worries. This allows the readers to see that proving his manliness is all that matters to Petruchio. He wants the status that comes along with “taming” a woman like Katherine. When he proves his manliness, it makes him feel higher than others.

In the film, Dean Sampson decides to insert himself into the bet as a way to gain notoriety as well and to prove his manliness over Zach. He thinks he can do this by trying to sleep with Laney before he does.

In this scene of the film, the audience witnesses a dispute between Zach and Dean after their team loses a soccer game. Dean says that Zach hasn’t been on his game because he hasn’t “gotten any action lately”. It is then revealed to the audience that Dean is tired of watching Zach walking around school like a god, receiving all of the fame and glory for managing to form a relationship with the newly popular Laney. He wants to change the conditions of the bet and decides to put himself in the running as a way to sabotage Zach. He also does it because he is tired of being in Zach’s shadow and wants to prove that he is just as good as Zach and worthy of being more popular. Dean believes that once he enters a relationship with Laney and manages to sleep with her, it will help improve his social status and knock Zach off his high horse. Just like Petruchio, Dean wants to be known as the guy who “tamed the Shrew” (hooked up with Laney first) as a way to prove his machismo and to gain a higher position over Zach.

Humans have always felt the need to compete with each other, which is why they have to prove that they are higher not only in historical periods but in modern society as well.  In “The Taming of the Shrew”, Petruchio only wanted a relationship with Katherine for money and as a way to prove his machismo and his “shrew taming” abilities. He did it to earn notoriety and hierarchy over his male counterparts. In the film “She’s All That”, the characters Zach, Taylor, and Dean all seem to play the role of Petruchio and use people as a way to improve their social status or to prove their rank over those around them.The text and film both show us that relationships are built on what you can provide for the other person. People won’t enter a relationship unless it is beneficial to them.

Works Cited:

She’s All That. Dir. Robert Iscove. Miramax, 1999. SolarMovie. Web. 13 April 2018.

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. William Shakespeare, 1770.

A Comparison of “The Taming of A Shrew” to “The Parent Trap, 1998”

All throughout “The Taming of the Shrew,” The scholar Lucentio uses a falsified identity in order to woo the beloved Bianca without her father’s interference. Several others characters of the play also change their name and status to either support Lucentio’s ruse or woo Bianca themselves. Although Lucentio lied to the others about his identity at first, he immediately told Bianca upon their first meeting, which resulted in successful courtship. Similarly, in the 1998 film “The Parent Trap,” reunited twin sisters Hallie and Annie, who have been unaware of each others' existence due to their divorced parents separating them since infancy, also switch identities secretly, but in order to meet the other parent for the first time. They also plan to use the switch in order to get their parents to meet face-to-face and fall in love, so they can be a family again. However, there is another more malignant false identity in this movie. When the twins’ father reveals that he wants to marry the gold digger and child-despiser Meredith, the girls must also work together to reveal her true identity to her fiancé. This play and movie reflect that although it was easy for audiences to accept that lying to win one's hand in Shakespeare's time was okay, by the time “The Parent Trap” came out in theaters, it became less effective in winning someone's heart.

"Love wrought these miracles. Bianca’s love

Made me exchange my state with Tranio,

While he did bear my countenance in the town,

And happily I have arrivèd at the last

Unto the wishèd haven of my bliss.

What Tranio did, myself enforced him to.

Then pardon him, sweet father, for my sake."

(Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 127 - 133)

At this time in the play, Lucentio is apologizing to his father and Bianca’s father for marrying Bianca without his consent, in addition to explaining why Tranio had lied that Vincentio was a fake in order to preserve Lucentio and the Merchant’s fake cover stories. He stated that all his actions; dressing up as a schoolmaster, charging Tranio to pretend to be him, wooing Bianca without her family knowing, setting up a fake Vincentio to ensure that the Minola family would receive a dowry, and more was all in the name of love. This argument somehow meant his logic was irrefutably justified. The extreme reasoning for almost having his father sent to jail and ditching the education his father was paying for was naturally acceptable 430 years ago. Although Lucentio lied a lot in order to win Bianca’s hand, this play was written so the reader would perceive his reasoning as not only simple, but correct.

On the other hand, “The Parent Trap” makes a big deal out of making it obvious to the audience that pretending to be someone you’re not doesn’t usually work out for you. The movie looks down on the character Meredith Blake, as she is only marrying Nick Parker for his money and is not actually in love with him. This intention is confirmed in a scene where Meredith tells her father to behave because, “He’s everything you ever wanted for your little girl, plus millions more.” This sentence insinuated that Meredith is only interested in Nick for the millions he has.

Towards the end of the movie, Hallie and Annie have resorted to playing a series of pranks on Meredith in order to basically make her life miserable. The last trick that they played on Meredith was to drag her blow up mattress into the lake to float there all night. When she woke up the next morning, she was in the middle of the lake, confused and angry. When she managed to drag herself out of the water, she explained that once Nick and her were married, the twins would be sent off to Switzerland. She furiously demanded that Nick choose between the twins or her. This demand alerted Nick to her true nature, and he chose his daughters. Meredith threw her engagement ring at him and left town. This movie tells the audience that lying about your true nature to your partner isn’t the best choice in a relationship and that it will often go wrong for you as it did for Meredith.

“Fear not, Baptista, we will content you. Go

to! But I will be revenged for this villainy.”

(Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 138 and 139)

These two lines in Act 5 are spoken by Vincentio to Baptista, Bianca’s father when he finds out about Tranio and Lucentio’s plan to woo Bianca in disguise. He felt anger at Tranio because not moments before, in order to maintain cover on Lucentio himself, he called Vincentio fake and demanded that he be taken to jail. Thankfully, Lucentio came back in time to stop them, and the ruse was uncovered. This part of the play is one of the times when lying is not acceptable in the eyes of the play: when you are lying to those who employ you. In this play, any time one is lied to or does something wrong in the eyes of their superior, there is often major consequences on the servant. Vincentio did not take kindly to how Tranio lied to him and tried to sent him to jail, but there were often other times when the master Petruchio, husband of Katherine, sister of Bianca, rained down fury on his servants those employed to him, or those he sees as inferior when they lied to him. These actions suggest that although it is okay to lie to loved ones, it is absolutely unacceptable to betray your master or employer in the eyes of the play and most likely in the 1600s as well.

In “The Parent Trap,” there are literally no instances of when servants of the main characters are mistreated or punished during the entire movie. In fact, both servants in the movie, Chessy and Martin, are seen as close family friends that simply also work for the family, which is not the case at all in “The Taming of the Shrew.”

Elizabeth James had brought Hallie to the hotel where Nick, Meredith, and Annie were at in order to switch her back with Annie. Hallie had lied to Liz, saying that Nick knew they were coming to the hotel, when in fact he still didn’t know that the daughter he had was not Hallie. Liz and Nick catch sight of each other in the lobby as the elevators close before Nick. Liz realized that Nick had no idea she was coming, and reprimands the girls for lying to her. However, when she find out that Nick is marrying Meredith, and that everyone knew but her, she simply lets it go that the people that work for her lied to her about it. The movie seems to minimize the consequences of lying to those you are demanded to respect and honor as the Shakespeare play illustrates. Simply put, the play is validates lying to loved ones, but not to those superior to you. On the other hand, the movie is not validating lying to loved ones, but that when someone who works for you lies to you, as long as they have a great excuse or reason for it, there is no need for a large punishment.

“I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;

If wealthily, then happily in Padua.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 76 and 77)

This quote is when Petruchio, Katherine’s future husband, agrees to Gremio’s plans to have him marry Katherine only because she is wealthy, and not because he loves her or that she has a good temperament. Later in the story, we see that Petruchio uses many methods to tame Kate’s wild nature, all of which are forgiven and seen in a positive light by the end of the story, even though it is never clear whether or not they actually really love each other by the end of it all, or even if this matters. This reflects for the characters and the setting that in this time, money was actually an acceptable reason to marry someone, and they did not actually have to love you. In addition, since this play was looking at this behavior so positively, it can be inferred that the audience of this time was more agreeable to this behavior then as well. Such was the 1600s.

Contrasting Petruchio’s relationship with Katherine in “The Taming of the Shrew,” to Nick and Meredith in “The Parent Trap,” both relationships were quite similar. Both Petruchio and Meredith seemed well off, but were still only marrying each of their fiance's for money. In addition, both Nick and Katherine were wealthy as well. However, the play and the movie views Petruchio and Meredith in completely different ways. In the play, he is seen as the good guy, the beast tamer, who makes his wife obedient properly. In the movie, Meredith marrying Nick is a secret she keeps from him, and is looked down upon by the twins and Nick himself towards the end of the movie.

When Annie first arrives in Napa, she finds out about Meredith Blake, a publicist Nick hired to sell his wine. However, Chessy, Nick’s housekeeper, chef, and family friend speculates that Meredith is, “doing a better job at selling herself than the grapes,” because she is suspicious of why someone as young and beautiful as Meredith is hanging around an older, less in his prime man like Nick. She then stated, “then I realized there were about a million reasons that girl is giggling. All of them are at the Napa Valley Community Bank.” The movie is saying that the only reason someone of Meredith’s social level will go out with someone like Nick is because of their money or financial potential. Throughout the entire movie, this is seen as wrong. Therefore, Meredith is portrayed as the antagonist of the movie. This change reflects that modern entertainment is less open to gold diggers as the good guys, unlike 400 years ago. They paint them as shallow, manipulative, and evil. In this story, she does not marry Nick because as soon as he finds out her true nature, he dumps her. Modern entertainment trends toward lying to your partner of loved one as a very bad thing.

As we moved through each the play and the movie, we saw very similar relationships developing between each of the couples mentioned in both texts. However, the way that each author portrays their relationship is very different. Shakespeare was more open to marrying for love and not really caring if they lie to you, but looked down on insubordination. Disney, however, fiercely fought against marrying for money and a lying spouse, but were particularly lenient towards those who worked for them. Once again, these were very similar relationships, but viewed in opposing lights. The way Shakespeare wrote Petruchio suggested that it was more acceptable then to marry for money only, and that the rift between servant and master was much deeper then than now. The way Disney wrote Meredith suggested that marrying for love instead of money was better and more morally okay. Servant and master lines barely existed, and were looked down upon through the way that Meredith treated Chessy throughout the movie. To sum it all up, 400 years ago, lying to win someone’s heart had more chance of success then than in the modern era.

Tai-Monae Bailey

Air Stream

04/13/2018

Honesty and deception in relationships

Cruel Intentions- directed by Roger Kumble is a movie about romance, honesty, and deception at its finest. Briefly summarizing the movie, it's about two step-siblings who enjoy  plotting and scheming on other people's lives just for the fun of it. Sebastian and his step-sister Kathryn devise a plan to hurt Kansas city Resident Annette Hargrove whose morals differentiate from Sebastian and Kathryns. Annette wants to stay a virgin until marriage and Sebastian and Kathryn bet that he will or will not be able to break the morals of Annette slowly but surely to win the ultimate prize of having intercourse with his very own stepsister. Comparing Cruel Intentions to Taming of the Shrew which is about two siblings- Bianca and Katherina who both need to be married but Bianca feels the need to marry first. Throughout the book, Katherina is verbally abused but her two suitors but only solemnly loves her servant.  Both the play and movie, show that siblings negatively affect each others relationships & views on real love because they aren't able to experience it themselves, which is why they act out and perform ploys  & stratagems.

Act 2, Scene 1

Bianca ¨Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself, to make  a bondmaid and a slave of me. That I disdain. But for these other goods-- Unbind my hands, I´ll pull them off myself. Yea, all my raiment to my petticoat, Or what you will command me will I do, So well I know my duty to my elders.¨

Katherine ¨Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell, Whom thou lov´st best. See thou dissemble not.¨

Bianca ¨ Believe me, sister, of all the men alive I never yet beheld that special face Which I could fancy more than any other. ¨

Katherine ¨ Minion, thou liest. Is ´t not Hortensio?¨

Bianca ¨If you affect him, sister, here I swear I'll plead for you myself, but you shall have him¨

Katherine ¨ O, then belike you fancy riches more. You will have Gremio to keep you fair.¨

Bianca ¨ Is it for him you do envy me so? Nay, than, you jest, and now I well perceive You have but jested with me all this while. I prithee,sister Kate, untie my hands¨

*Katherine strikers Bianca*

In this scene Katherine ties up Bianca. She threatens her, hits her and attempts to make her do things because she´s ultimately jealous of her. Kathrine is jealous because men don't find her appealing but are head over heels for Bianca who is ultimately happy with life and grateful with the people who are affectionate of her.  I can compare this to the scene in Cruel Intentions because Kathryn saw how happy Sebastian was and how unbothered he was with the fact that he had major feelings for Annette so she took it upon herself to do something that would ruin that out of jealousy. Readers can see that Katherine wants Bianca´s life from personality, suitors and her fathers love.

Monolonge-

Kathryn :  ¨Ronald ?¨

Ronald : ¨Whats up ? Is everything okay ?¨

Kathryn : ¨No its Sebastian, He's out of his mind.¨

Ronald : ¨What do you mean ?

Kathryn : ¨He hit me and then took off…  There's more, it involves Cecile¨

*Two Scenes, first two pictures is Kathryn & Ronald talking & second picture is Sebastian forcefully coming clean to Annette*

Monolonge-

Sebastian : ¨I have something to tell you¨

Annette :  ¨What is it ?¨

Sebastian : ¨This isnt working out for me anymore… It's me not you . Im completely fu*ked up.¨

Annette: ¨What are you saying ?¨

Sebastian :  ¨ I thought I was in love with you but it's just a lie.. I wanted it to work but I feel nothing¨

Annette: ¨ Why are you doing this ?¨

Sebastian : ¨ I just wanted to see what you were like in bed¨ -lies-

In this scene from Cruel Intentions, Kathryn came to a realization that Sebastian was falling in love with Annette and completely obliterating the bet they had in place. She called Ronald- another innocent person muddled into their bet, lying and making up stories about Sebastian and Ronald´s significant other, knowing how Ronald would react.Kathryn lives for ruining peoples lives and dallying with their happiness. So she made a few calls and sabotaged Sebastian´s relationship with Annette by making it known about their little speculation that was made in the beginning of the movie. I can compare this to the scene in Taming of the Shrew because both Katherine and Kathryn can´t stand to see each other siblings happy. They both have the same characteristics which include jealousy, supremacy and  insecurity. Viewers can see that Kathryn does not like the nonchalance attitude that Sebastian possessed,when she realizes that the bet is meaningless to him; she wants him to care and react and show interest in her since before Sebastian knew Annette genuinely he would devote his time and attention all to Kathryn. All that change when he fell for Annette slowly than all at once. Lastly When Kathrine ties up her sister and is pressuring her to give her all her suitors and do this and do that it also relates to Cruel Intentions because In that moment Sebastian had no other choice but to come clean about the bet and be honest about the relationship he has with his stepsister, which changed over time when he started caring for Annette. Both Kathryn and Katherine blackmail their siblings in different ways.

Act 5 : Scene 2

Kathryn : Fie, fie! Unknit that threat’ning unkind brow,

And dart not scornful glances from those eyes

To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.

It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,155

Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,

And in no sense is meet or amiable.

A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,

Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,

And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty 160

Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.

Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance commits his body

To painful labor both by sea and land, 165

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,

And craves no other tribute at thy hands

But love, fair looks, and true obedience—

Too little payment for so great a debt. 170

Such duty as the subject owes the prince,

Even such a woman oweth to her husband;

And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,

And not obedient to his honest will,

What is she but a foul contending rebel 175

And graceless traitor to her loving lord?

I am ashamed that women are so simple

To offer war where they should kneel for peace,

Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway

When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.180

Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth,

Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,

But that our soft conditions and our hearts

Should well agree with our external parts?

Come, come, you froward and unable worms!185

My mind hath been as big as one of yours,

My heart as great, my reason haply more,

To bandy word for word and frown for frown;

But now I see our lances are but straws,

Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare, 190

That seeming to be most which we indeed least are.

Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,

And place your hands below your husband’s foot;

In token of which duty, if he please,

My hand is ready, may it do him ease

In this scene from Taming of the Shrew, Katherine finally lets go of all her emotions and anger that she's been holding on to and just speaks what is truly on her mind. She stops fighting everyone else and basically tells them what they want to hear. Readers can see that  Katherine is actually very genuine and loving under that alleged crazy shell everyone sees and knows of. They can see that someone like the author labeled her as in the beginning is capable of love. And that she was jealous of her sister (Bianca) because she just wanted love and to feel and have the same experiences as she did. I can compare this scene to the scene in Cruel Intentions because at the end of the book and movie both Katherine and Kathryn finally let go and let things be. They accept their predicament and stop running from it.

No monolonge

In this scene, after Sebastian passes away he and all the other victims of Kathryns games help expose her true self by giving copies of Sebastian's journal to the entire school and faculty. Which include every interaction and conversation he had with every person he came in contact with. Kathryn is finally exposed but this scene isn't about just that but finally she reached her breaking point and her cry for help has been heard. Throughout the book Kathryn has been doing cocaine not because she wanted to but because she needed to she relied on it so she wouldn't feel how she really felt. Viewers can see that, Kathryn will finally become sober and face her real world problems instead of hiding behind chemical messenger dopamine. Lastly she will take the advice of her parents and finally let go of all that anger and just be her true self and accepting it. I can compare this scene to the Taming of the Shrew scene because Kathrine finally accepts herself and she lets every thought and feeling out, basically she's letting her faults just be and making them known, coming to reality with how she really feels.

In conclusion, the antagonist may have seem to win in both the novel and movie since Kathryn is finally free of Sebastian and able to help herself from her addiction and Katherine who finally knows what love is and will do anything to have it even if it means bettering herself and accepting herself and her faults. Nevertheless the protagonist in this story- Sebastian and Bianca both won in reality. Sebastian may have passed away but he still felt that intensifying love that he deeply desired and broke out of his phase of having intercourse with a manifold of women; he learned to not treat women as if they were a game. He could finally say that he was happy and for once didn't allow his step sister to control how he felt about a person. For Bianca she was finally free to live and love and be herself without having the anxiety and stress of her once jealous sister who now is happy and at ease with life and leaving her alone. To conclude, each character won, but also each character took a loss in order to gain their happiness, struggling with themselves mentally and taking it out on the people who care for them , when in reality it was just cruel intentions that turned out good.

WORK CITED

Cruel Intentions -  March 5, 1999,Roger Kumble.

Taming of the Shrew- March 8, 1967, William Shakespear.

50 First Hates

Kimberly Gucciardi-Kriegh

Comparing "Taming of the Shrew" and "50 First Dates"

William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew deals with many themes involving romance, relationships, and the roles of men or women. The play is about two very different sisters getting married to two very different men. Petruchio sets out to marry Katherine even though she is considered to be a shrew with a hot temper that no man wanted to marry. He then tries to “tame” her and make her more ladylike. Meanwhile, her beautiful younger sister Bianca had many suitors, but finally chose to marry Lucentio because they were genuinely happy together.

In the 2014 movie 50 First Dates, Henry falls in love with Lucy, who has short-term memory loss from a car accident that happened over a year ago. Henry has to get Lucy to fall in love with him everyday because she forgets the next day. The two go through many family, health, and trust problems. Both have many connections involving the roles of men and women. Through it all, Henry, Petruchio, and Lucentio always stay dedicated to their partner. In both 50 First Dates and Taming of the Shrew, the characters are in  relationships that carefully balance control and dedication. This reflects to audiences that control is a sign of dedication.

“Your husband is your lord, your life, your keeper, your head, your sovereign, one who cares for you... And in exchange, he seeks no more from you but love, kind looks, and true obedience—too little payment for so great a debt. A woman owes her husband the same loyalty a subject owes his king."

(Page 219, Act 5 Scene 2, line 161)

In both the film and the play, the women doing something unnatural to their personalities to please a man.In this scene from Shrew, Katherine is giving her final monologue. At this point, Petruchio has tamed Katherine. She is no longer disobedient of her husband, starts fights, or acts out of turn. Petruchio had to “tame” Katherine by not letting her eat or sleep, this taught her that bed and food was not important and the only thing she had to care about was her love for him.  Katherine and Bianca’s husbands, Petruchio and Lucentio, are sitting with their father, Baptista, and their friend, Hortensio, who is recently married. They all make a bet to see whose wife is most obedient and would come when they call. Katherine won and this is her reaction to the other girls not going when their husbands called. Katherine started out as a head-strong defiant woman and Lucy had complete control over her life and got to make conscious decisions everyday.

Henry tells Lucy, “I love you very much, probably more than anybody could ever love another person." she responds "Wow. And how do I feel about you?" He answers “You’ve been dying to make out with me for quite some time now.”

In that scene, Lucy asks Henry if he loves her. His answer is a big turning point in their relationship and is something the viewers have not been told before.

In both the play and the movie, Katherine and Lucy are both under complete control of men. Some could say the biggest difference between Katherine and Lucy is that Katherine is letting this happen and she is choosing to listen to her husband. But, in reality, she was abused and deprived to be trained to act like this. Due to Lucy’s short-term memory loss, she has no choice in any parts of the relationship. It is true that each day she is happy being with Henry, but their relationship is so unhealthy. Henry could cheat, abuse her, do her wrong, and she would forget the next day, She also has no recollection of how she feels the relationship is developing and grow. This quote shows that just from saying he loved her, he got her to kiss him, even though she has no memory of him. Luckily, Henry really does love Lucy, but nevertheless, he still has all the control over the relationship.

"We have not yet been seen in any house, nor can we be distinguished by our faces for man or master. Then it follows thus: thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead, keep house and port and servants as I should. 'Tis hatched, and shall be so. Tranio, at once Uncase thee. Take my colored hat and cloak."

(Act 1 Scene 1, page 45, line 204.)

The quote above comes from Taming of the Shrew. Bianca’s father, Lucentio, has stated that no one will see Bianca unless they are school teachers visiting their home to give her school lessons. Lucentio and Hortensio are suitors to Bianca, they have devised a plan to dress up as teachers and go into Bianca’s house to try to win her over and seduce her. The two men were not concerned with the fact that their true identities would eventually be revealed, even long after they came up with the idea. They were ready to charm Bianca no matter what. Both Henry, Lucentio, and Hortensio were lying to a woman in hopes that they can captivate a beautiful woman by controlling her every move.

Before Henry met Lucy, her family and friends worked extremely hard to make her think that it was the day after the car crash. It worked very well and even though she was being lied to everyday. One day, Lucy realized she was being lied to and that was very hard for her. One thing she discovers is the newspaper dates are all the current date, not a year ago.  She discovers all the tricks they used and begins to scream and cry on the dock.

In both Taming of Shrew and 50 First Dates, Bianca and Lucy’s loved ones performed elaborate schemes in hopes of very different things. Lucentio and Hortensio completely erased their identities. The two men proved their dedication to the woman they loved, but they also had lots of control over Bianca by intruding in her home and time to learn. In the end, their lie worked and made Bianca very happy. Unlike in the film where Lucy was unaware that she was being lied to everyday but it made her happy, so they all continued. Until, their lies were exposed and she felt heartbroken and betrayed. These relationships, reflect that being very dedicated to controlling the ones they love is important, but it has to deal with control. These lies and all the control over the women was the start of their relationship and was the key to making their relationship last.

"For in Baptista’s keep my treasure is. He hath the jewel of my life in hold, His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca, and her withholds from me and other more, suitors to her and rivals in my love, supposing it a thing impossible, for those defects I have before rehearsed."

(Act 1 Scene 2 page 57, lines 120-125)

This scene from Taming of the Shrew is right after Lucentio and Hortensio devise the plan to be school masters. Hortensio announces how much he loves Bianca, a girl he doesn’t even really know. He is addressing Baptista, her father, who will not let her get married until Katherine does. Hortensio and Henry both felt they had to stay dedicated to a woman they don’t even know. These characters reflect the idea that male suitors will stop at nothing to get a woman.

At the beginning of the movie, Henry was considered a ladies’ man because he went on lots of dates and never called the women back. In this scene, right after Henry met Lucy, he went on a date with another woman, Noreen. They were drinking and she invited him to go home with her, Henry thought of Lucy and declined her offer.  

Noreen says, “I’d like to do something extra fun tonight… so, what are you thinking?” “What am I thinking?” He then thinks of Lucy and turns her down.

These characters represent the idea of love having to start from dedication and control. The biggest difference between the two decisions is that Hortensio did not get the woman he was dedicated to, but Lucentio did the same thing and he did. They also had to do a lot more to prove their dedication. Henry was making a clear choice to go against his typical character and leave a beautiful woman.

The characters from the play, The Taming of the Shrew and from the movie, 50 First Dates, represent the two values that are important in a long term relationship; control and dedication. The ideas shown in these stories represent the crucial parts of a real life relationship, even if the movie was made long after the play.

Works Cited-

50 First Dates. Director, Segal Peter, 2004

Shakespeare, William “Taming of the Shrew”

The Great Chase

A comparison between “Taming of the Shrew” and “Ella Enchanted”

Prince Charmont had been visiting Frell when a mob of his fangirls began to chase after him. While escaping, Prince Charmont runs into Ella as she is walking home, and tries to hide behind her. Ella, who is avidly against royalty and their treatment of the kingdom’s species, is not thrilled by this turn of events and brushes him off. Prince Charmont isn’t used to this treatment from the ladies and develops an interest in Ella. Despite Ella’s attempts at driving him away, Charmont insists on seeing her home. Unlike in the “Shrew,” Charmont and Ella interact before Charmont starts to like her and wants to pursue her. He hopes that by being courteous, she will warm up to him and eventually return his feelings. Prince Charmont’s infatuation with Ella when they first meet is much more subtle than Lucentio with Bianca -- he simply hopes that they’ll meet again instead of trying to trick her by impersonating her teacher.

Ella and Prince Charmont are resting in an giant’s pub after several days of adventure. The two are sitting by the fire together and talking about their lives prior to meeting each other, along with other current events. After an especially touching moment where Ella tells Charmont that he will be a good king, he decides that he wants to kiss her. Similar to the scene from the play, this moment between Ella and Charmont shows the beginning of their relationship and how Ella was able to overcome the prince’s shortcomings (much like how Bianca overlooked Lucentio’s lies). This scene and the scene from the “Shrew” both reflect that a strong bond can be formed in only a few days as long as the effort is there.

Ella and Prince Charmont have just met and are arguing with each other when Hattie bumps into them. Hattie is shown to be an expressive fangirl of Charmont, and gets jealous upon seeing Ella close to the prince. Even though her reasoning for interfering and end goal differs from Baptista, she is also trying to prevent a relationship happening between Charmont and anybody but herself. Hattie realizes that there are already romantic feelings growing between her step-sister and the prince, and she wants to avert those feelings -- thus, becoming an obstacle in Charmont’s path to Ella.  

In both the play, “The Taming of the Shrew”, and the movie, “Ella Enchanted”, the main couples -- Lucentio and Bianca, and Charmont and Ella -- successfully marry each other in the end. In these cases, the pursuit of a person resulted in the “happy ending” for the characters involved. Even though this isn’t the most realistic scenario, there is a grain of truth in that when something or someone is desired, then it is worth striving towards.

Works Cited

Haver, Tommy O, director. Ella Enchanted . Netflix, Miramax, 2004

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Washington Square Press, 1992.

Married to Money

Comparing The Taming of the Shrew to My Fake Fiancé

The Taming of the Shrew shows that marriage as an economic institution has been around for a while, or in other words, both parties do it for the money involved. In this play, Baptista, a father of two daughters, Bianca and Katherine, has to deal with multiple suitors trying to gain the attention of his two very different daughters. Bianca is the youngest so she must wait until Katherine gets married. Multiple suitors want Bianca, who is seen as the more level-headed sister, while Katherine only has one man who thinks he can change her ways. Shakespeare wants the reader to see that emotions don’t really play a primary role in marriage. Money plays the main role in which man gets to marry one of Baptista’s daughters. The more money they have, the greater chance they have with getting married to one of them.

In the 2009 movie My Fake Fiancé, Jennifer and Vince meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and decide to get married for the monetary benefits. Both of them were in need of money and didn’t have any real feelings toward each other. Like The Taming of the Shrew, money has a primary role in the movie. These texts reveal that, while men are not as expected to offer money to the future wife’s family, marriage is still viewed as an economic institution rather than solely being based on love.

“I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;

If wealthily, then happily in Padua.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 76-77)

In this scene, Hortensio is sort of pitching an offer to Petruchio about marrying Katherine so that he can be able to marry her younger sister Bianca. Petruchio is being very straight forward in his response about his opinions on marriage and money. Now that he is in Padua, he wants to find a wife that has money so that he can continue to live happily. This part of the text shows the importance this character believes money has in a marriage. Rather than saying he will be happy meeting the woman he will eventually marry, he says that he will be happy when he marries a woman with money. This sets aside all other aspects of the woman like her looks, her personality, or if she even loves him. Jennifer and Vince find themselves in a similar discussion about money when they first meet each other.

In “My Fake Fiancé,” when Vince and Jennifer first talk about how many gifts the bride and groom are getting, Vince says “I guess in theory It’s like a savings account. We’re supposed to get that money back one day when we get married.” Both Vince and Jennifer view the wedding as something that is just bringing in money for the bride and groom. Rather than talking about the couple being in love, they focus on what the couple is going to be receiving because they are getting married, such as money or gifts, and how they will benefit from that. It makes them think of their own future wedding in a similar fashion when comparing it to money they will receive back. Like Petruchio, they value the monetary aspect of getting married.

“I promised we would be contributors

And bear his charging of wooing whatsoe'er.”

“And so we will, provided that he win her.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 218-220)

At this point in the play, there are multiple suitors trying to go after Bianca. As stated before, Katherine must get married first. Hortensio and Gremio are still trying to talk Petruchio into marrying Katherine in order for them to be in competition to win over Bianca. They even go as far as saying they will cover Petruchio's expenses. The discussion of who will “win” either sister is highly based on how much the man can provide for her as well as offer her father. This applies more to Bianca since she is the only one with more than one suitor. This is more of a business deal rather than a competition of who can win over her heart. The discussion of who will “win” Bianca plays in societal idea of what it means to be husband and wife. That the husband should be able to provide for the wife and the wife should please the husband. That wives should aim to be “trophy wives” or simply let the man do all the work and bring in all the money. The situation between Jennifer and Vince is completely based on the money they will bring in from wedding gifts.

In this scene, Jennifer and Vince are discussing the fact that Jennifer just lost furniture during her move and Vince owes someone over 10 grand due to gambling. In order to fix this, they decide to stage a fake wedding. Vince says, “It’s perfect. I’m in. We stage a fake wedding. We invite everyone that we know. You register for all the stuff you want to replace, I get to keep all the cash.” Both Jennifer and Vince are agreeing to use the wedding as a way to support themselves financially. Like the suitors, money determines their future actions. If not enough money is offered from the suitor, they can not get married to Bianca. If it weren’t for the money involved, Jennifer and Vince wouldn’t be discussing a marriage. In this case, the societal roles of the husband having to provide for their wife does not apply because they don’t plan on forming an actual relationship after they get what they wanted from the fake wedding.

“Be patient, gentlemen. I choose her for myself.

If she and I be pleased, what's that to you?

'Tis bargained 'twixt us twain, being alone,

That she shall still be curst in company.”

(Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 321-324)

When the other men see how Katherine is talking to Petruchio, they begin to question whether or not they have a successful relationship. Petruchio thinks that the “bargain” made over the couple, specifically between him and Baptista, should be kept to themselves and not important to the other men. It doesn’t matter how rude Katherine is to him as long as he still has an amount of money agreed upon with her father. Petruchio’s opinion shows that the qualities of the woman don’t really matter to him as long as her or her family has money. He doesn’t see the negative behavior of him or his wife as a reasoning for the marriage not to work since they are both pleased with having money. Jennifer and Vince fall into a similar situation when they reveal that neither of them are happy with the other person’s attitude.

In this scene, Jennifer was finally able to get in contact with Vince in order to talk over a deal that will make money for the both of them. Although this deal involves a marriage, her and Vince aren’t very fond of each other. This doesn’t stop them from going through with the plan. Like Petruchio, they know what they are getting themselves into and the behavior each will have to deal with but they still get married for the money. To both of them, whether or not they actually like each other is important. Petruchio knows about Katherine’s bad attitude from what Bianca’s suitors told him and Vince and Jennifer already butt heads at the wedding when they first met.

The similarities between the movie and the play show that over the years, the audience can still relate to that topic. This idea of marriage being an economic institution leads to people getting into relationships for the monetary benefits. Families during the time of Shakespeare’s writing would want to get married for the wealth while the modern day version of it was Jennifer and Vince using the wedding gifts to benefit themselves. Even though the play and the movie were created centuries apart, the ideas of marriage as an economic institution are still relevant to people today.

Works Cited

My Fake Fiancé. Dir. Gil Junger. ABC Family, 2009. DVD.  

Comparing “Taming of the shrew” to “17 Again”

Taming of the shrew is a play that Starts as Lucentio arrives in Padua. Lucentio hears that the merchant Baptista has two daughters. One daughter is prettier and respectful but she cannot be married until Katherina the second daughter and the oldest gets married. Blanca is the youngest daughter that Lucentio wants to marry.

In the film 17 Again Mike O’Donnell is a high school basketball star, but he has a girlfriend that he really cares about. Scarlet has some shocking news to tell Mike before the biggest game of his life. Twenty years later Mike’s has married Scarlet. Their relationship has been rocky and failed that Scarlet filed for divorce. He has a chance fix his past by transforming back into a teenager in high school.

17 Again and Taming of the shrew have a different but similar idea of what is a relationship.  Lucentio and Bianca have a vitalized relationship because Lucentio and Bianca love spending time together and also have a common vision of what they want in the relationship. While Petruchio controls Katerina in the relationship because he believes the only way a relationship works, is if one partner takes control. Mike and Scarlett’s relationship is similar to Lucentio and Bianca but Mike wants Petruchio’s type of relationship. Scarlett wanted a relationship like Bianca’s relationship, which means she wants Mike to spend more time with her and the children, and also wants common need.  The play and the movie show that men are still interested in basing the relationship off of control. However, the play and the movie are also different because Petruchio has control of his relationship, but Mike because his relationship to fail. This reflects the audience’s belief that vitalized relationship seems to be a healthy relationship but true relationship depends on the Personality of the couple.

“I will be Master of what is mine own. She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, my household stuff, my field, my barn, My house, my ox, my ass, my anything. And here she stands, touch her whoever dare.”

(Act 3, Scene 2, line numbers 235-239)

In this quote, Petruchio describes himself as domineering husband and take control of the relationship. He makes it seem that Kate is his property. Once married, women had no legal right to their own.

In 17 again the connection of Mike Petruchio has been shown

In the early scene from “17 Again” Mike and Scarlet are having a dialogue about how their relationship has been ruined. Scarlet is changed her yard but Mike told her “Yeah, Well, the divorce isn’t final for another two weeks, so you have no right.” Isn’t Scarlett given “Really? So I’ve spent the last 18 years of my life listening to you whine about the things you could’ve done without me, and I have no right?” This prove any answer of why their marriage has failed.

“Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong To strive for that which resteth in my choice. I am no breeching scholar in the schools. I’ll not be tied to hour nor ‘pointed times, But learn my lessons as I please myself.”

(Act 3, Scene 1, line numbers 16-20)

Bianca describes her relationship by saying that she does not control by anyone. Bianca knows that Lucentio is actually suitor trying to prove his love to her. She believes that a relationship should be controlled by one partner.

A vitalized relationship is caring about a person

Naomi is trying to Persuade Scarlett to start dating again. Scarlett wants to her men to tell her that she is beautiful and have a common connection also respect. This proves that Scarlett wants a vitalized relationship.

“Well, I say no. And therefore, for assurance Let’s each one send unto his wife, And he whose wife is most obedient To come at first when doth send for her Shall win the wager which we propose.”

(Act 5, Scene 2, line numbers 67-71)

Petruchio has made a wager with Lucentio and Hortensio about who the wife is more obedient. The plan was to call each wife into the room. Whoever wife that come in the room will win the wager. Hortensio calls his wife in a nice way but she said no because she has something do. Lucentio calls Blanca and she said no because she was with the other wives. Petruchio calls Kate and she walks in the room ask him for anything he wants.

Each relationship need a happy ending

Mike is giving one of the heartfelt speech about his relationship before Scarlet divorce him. “Scarlet, before you go through this, I want to remind you of September 7th, 1988. It was the first time that I saw you. You were reading Less Than Zero, and you were wearing a Guns 'n' Roses t-shirt. I'd never seen anything so perfect. I remember thinking that I had to have you, or I'd die... then you whispered that you loved me at the homecoming dance, and I felt so peaceful... and safe... because I knew that no matter what happened, from that day on, nothing can ever be that bad... because I had you. And then I, uh... I grew up and I lost my way. And I blamed you for my failures. And I know that you think you have to do this today... but I don't want you to. But I guess... if I love you, I should let you move on.”  The speech has proven that he should try to listen to Scarlet.

In the 17 Again Scarlett want a husband who compliments and shows love to her. Also, she was happy with both partners. A vitalized relationship isn’t for every couple. In taming of the shrew Kate relationship was different because in the book Kate has a change to adapt to her relationship by being control by Petruchio. The ending of the film Mike and Scarlett give another chance at their relationship.

Work Cite:

Shakespeare, William, et al. The Taming of the Shrew. Pocket Books, 1963.

Steers, Burr, director. 17 Again. 17 Again, New Line Cinema, 14 Apr. 2009.

Miguel Rivera

Ms. Pahomov

English 3

16 April 2018

Control is the Key to Any Relationship

Clueless and The Taming of the Shrew

Love and its legitimacy has caused many debates over the years. Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew(1590s) shows how control has more to do with relationships than actual feelings. He shows this through the relationship between Petruchio and Katherine, which involves Petruchio consistently demanding that Katherine change her personality and agree to fictitious ideas just for the sake of saying he could do it. Katherine has to stay with him due to the pressure of the institution of marriage. Amy Heckerling's Clueless (1995) displays a similar relationship between characters Dionne and Murray, as Murray constantly disrespects and invalidates Dionne.

Although Shakespeare's work and Heckerling's film take place three centuries apart, the theme of control is prevalent in both portrayals of romantic love in relationships. In both relationships, the male is seen controlling their partner and showing disrespect. Murray does it by purposefully doing or saying things he knows Dionne dislikes, such as calling her 'woman', to get a reaction from her. Petruchio uses physical and mental abuse to force Katherine into a docile state. Not only does this show how men abuse their power in relationships, but also how women are pressured to stay in these relationships despite being mistreated, as Dionne and Katherine are. Both these texts show how societal pressures cause women to stay in toxic relationships, which in turn instills more power in men causing them to be more controlling.

“Katherine: Now must the world point at poor Katherine; And say ‘Lo, there is mad Petruchio’s wife, If it would please him come and marry her.’”

(Act III Scene II, 17-20)

In this scene, Katherine is waiting for Petruchio on their wedding day. Katherine is telling her father, Baptista, about how she would be unhappy in their marriage if it happens. Petruchio not showing up on time to the wedding was one of the first things that he did to control Katherine and disrespect her. He knows that the wedding day is important to Katherine like many women during this time. Petruchio has power over her if he makes Katherine wait for him. He knows that Katherine would wait for him because she is pressured by her father and society to get married. Also, Katherine is fearful of the public option and how others would see their marriage. She doesn’t want people to think that she was left at the altar or marrying a mad man. In Clueless, Dionne also feels a social pressure to stay with her boyfriend who is not respectful.

In this scene of Clueless, Dionne is talking to Cher about how Murray was constantly paging her over the weekend then Murray walks up to Dionne. He confronts Dionne about not answering his pager and calls her “woman.” The word “woman” is something that Murray knows Dionne dislikes, but he constantly says it throughout the movie. It is a way for Murray to control Dionne and make her feel like she doesn’t has a voice. The use of the word “woman” tells Dionne that she doesn’t have control over his words. Also, the word causes Dionne to have a negative reaction and get upset. Murray enjoys this reaction and attention that he gets from Dionne. Murray knows that he can disrespect Dionne in this way because he is popular and having a popular boyfriend is a status symbol for Dionne like many other girls in their high school. Dionne is willing to handle his disrespectful comments to keep her popular boyfriend. This is similar to the relationship of Petruchio and Katherine because Katherine is also fearful of public opinion and being alone.  

“Petruchio: Now by my mother’s son, and that’s myself, It shall ne moon, or star, or what I list, Or e’er I journey to your father’s house. [To Servants] Go on and fetch our horses back again,-”  

(Act 4, Scene 4, 7-15)

In this scene, Petruchio and Katherine are on their way to Baptista's house. Petruchio says that the moon is the sun, but Katherine knows that he is wrong. When Katherine corrects Petruchio and says that the moon is the moon, he threatens to take Katherine back home and not allow her to visit her father. Katherine agrees with Petruchio’s claim that the moon is the sun because he has power over her and could control her. If she disagrees with him then she wouldn’t be able to leave their house or see other people. The idea that Petruchio wants Katherine to believe anything that he says, even things that are nonsense, is to belittle Katherine. Katherine is not able to push against his control because it would end with Katherine being abused in some form. In other words, the institution of marriage and public option are forcing Katherine to stay with Petruchio. Petruchio is using these social pressures to control Katherine.

In this scene of Clueless, Dionne confronts Murray about cheating on her. Murray tries to convince Dionne that the hair that she found in her car belongs to her. However, Dionne knows that she doesn’t wear that type of hair. Murray tries to distort the truth just like Petruchio. Dionne, unlike Katherine, has more power in her relationship. This causes Murray to shift the focus on the hair found in the car to inferring that Dionne is moody or emotional because “it is that time of the month.” Instead of making Dionne believe in a lie like Petruchio did with Katherine. This reaction belittles Dionne and causes her to lose focus on the cheating. It rails the whole conversation and Murray doesn’t have to tell the truth. The rails of the conversation leave viewers feeling that cheating is a topic that is not that important. This scene reinforces the norms that “boys would be boys” and an angry woman must be on her period. These social norms create pressure for women to accept the disrespectful behavior of men.

“Katherine: I never saw a better-fashioned gown, More quant, more pleasing, nor more commendable.”

(Act 4, Scene 3, 106- 109)

In this scene of The Taming of the Shrew, a tailor makes a gown for Katherine, but Petruchio doesn’t like the dress. He says that the dress is ugly and not in style, but Katherine loves the dress and wants to wear it. In the end, Petruchio doesn’t allow Katherine to wear the dress, but he pays the tailor for making it. Petruchio wants to control everything about Katherine down to her clothes. He wants Katherine to be codependent on him causing Katherine to change her personality. She changes from being strong and independent to being obedient and passive to Petruchio.

In this scene of Clueless, Murray and Dionne are at a house party. Dionne is running around for most of the party trying to find Murray. When she finds Murray, he is cutting all of his hair. He doesn’t let Dionne know about it. Murray is controlling Dionne by changing his image. He takes one of the most important things that Dionne cares about the public image by cutting his hair and embarrassing her. A bald head is something that Dionne doesn’t find cool or popular. Murray is cutting his hair two weeks before picture day. Murray shows Dionne that he has all the control in the relationship by cutting his hair and that he doesn’t care about the opinion of Dionne. This is similar to the scene with the dress and Katherine because it shows the male in the relationship taking away something that the female in the relationship wants. Petruchio takes away a dress from Katherine and Murray takes away a good image from Dionne.

In Clueless, the relationship of Dionne and Murray is toxic because of the controlling actions by Murray. Control is also the main reason for the toxic relationship of Petruchio and Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. The idea that works three centuries apart can have very similar relationships shows that audience throughout the ages can relate to controlling relationships.

Work Cited

“The Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb).” The Internet Movie Script Database, www.imsdb.com/scripts/Clueless.html

Rudin, Scott, Amy Heckerling, Alicia Silverstone, and Paul Rudd. Clueless. Hollywood, Calif: Paramount Pictures, 1995.

Shakespeare, William B. The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York, NY: Washington Square, 1992. Print.