Does The Family Affect Relationships?

Comparing "The Taming of the Shrew" to "While You Were Sleeping".

In the play  The Taming of the Shrew, Bianca is controlled by her father Baptista because her older sister needs to get married first in order for Bianca to get married. In the 1995 movie “While You Were Sleeping,” the main character Lucy does not have her family anymore until she saves a man that she fell in love with every time she saw him at the train station. His family believes they are engaged because the nurse at the hospital introduced her as his fiancé. She becomes a part of the family until the truth is revealed that she never met Peter.

          The Taming of the Shrew, has a viewpoint where the father decides who his daughter will marry, which will affect their relationship. The movie, “While You Were Sleeping,” shows a different way on how family acts to relationships, than the family from the “Shrew.” These two texts show that family involvement has changed over time because nowadays people pick who they are going to marry, and back then father or his/her parents decided for them instead.

Baptista:

"Gentlemen, importune me no farther, For how I firmly am resolved you know; That is, not bestow my youngest daughter. Before I have a husband for the elder: If either of you both love Katharina, Because I know you well and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure"

(Act 1, Scene 1, 48-54)

         In the “Shrew” Baptista is the father of Bianca and Katharina. Both of the daughters want to get married although there has to be a certain order of who is going to be first. The eldest, Katherina, has to get married before Bianca. The play shows that the family is affecting the potential engagement of Bianca and a suitor because Baptista is controlling who is going to get married first. Katherina does not have any suitors for her bitter attitude, therefore for Bianca to get married, it seems as though it will be a while because nobody wants to marry a witch.

Similar but not exactly like the play, “While You Were Sleeping” also shows that family has an influence on relationships. Lucy, the main character does not want to deny that she is not going to marry Peter because Peter’s family thinks they are engaged, and in love and doesn’t want to upset the family.

  Lucy does not have her family anymore and she decides who she wants to be with. Every morning she works at the train station where she sees a man named Peter. He takes the train to his work and Lucy fell in love with him right away. She never met him, but in her opinion it was the love at first sight. He was just perfect. When he is pushed on the train tracks by other men, he is not at first aware and Lucy saves his life. When he gets to the hospital the nurse heard Lucy talking to herself about her wanting to marry Peter. When Lucy walked into his room they told her he was in the coma. His family came to the hospital and they did not know who Lucy was, but the nurse introduced her as his fiancé. Peter’s family did not know what was going on, but when they heard from the doctor that Lucy saved his life they were happy and approved of the “engagement” immediately.

         His family became like her family while Peter was in the coma, and they treated her like their daughter. Lucy did not know how to say “no” to being engaged to Peter so she just went along with it. This scenario shows that his family affected their “engagement” because they were inviting her for family gatherings and accepted her because she saved his life without knowing her before.

         This scene is similar to the “Shrew” because it shows how even Peter’s family controls their ‘engagement’ because they accepted Lucy for what she did. The family was so kind that Lucy didn’t want to break their hearts. The only difference between the movie and the play is that Lucy does not have a sister that affects if she has to wait for to get married or not.

Baptista:

"Content you, gentlemen. I will compound this strife. ‘Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both that can assure my daughter greatest dower shall have my Bianca’s love. Say, Signior Gremio, what can you assure her?"

(Act 2, Scene 1, 361-365)

         Baptista also wants to make sure his daughter in this situation finds someone who is good. He want the best for his kids and in the play, Baptista wants to make sure their daughter will have a good life and not worry about making sure they have things to survive. The play shows that the man should be able to provide for the family. In order for the father to agree on his daughter getting married he needs to make sure the suitor is the right man for her. 

          The movie is a little bit different because the play was written a lot of years ago. The movie was produced in 1995 and shows more of a modern relationship.