50 First Hates

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”