Love a Game Changer

The book “The Taming of the Shrew” reflects how romantic relationships between man and woman were in the past. Petruchio, one of the main character of the play who is arrogant, confident and, a man who sees himself as a superior over the other people and even more over woman who he  claim to love. With the romantic love story of love at first sight such as Lucentio and Bianca who fall in love and both of them abandon the standard relationship ideas of the time period . It’s possible to appreciate these two situations, in the movie, “ Crazy, Stupid, Love” where The Character Jacob has in a way really similar values to Petruchio's. However, this values seem to be forgotten when he meets Hannah a young woman who, he seems to love at first sight. She isn’t delighted by Jacobs’ tactics initially and forced to turn around Jacobs ideas of what a relationship is. As the text and the movie show, man ideas on relationships had been and still are stereotyped as the males are supposed to be the Alpha of the couple and even more they are supposed to be always self- confident . However, when love is involved  it changes the way both member of a relationship behave and the stereotypes that are normally put into play disappear.

"Petruchio:

You knew my father well, and in him me,

Left solely heir, to all his lands and goods,

Which I have bettered rather than decreas'd.

Then tell me, if I get your daughter's love,

What dowry shall I have with her to wife?"

(Act 2, Scene 1, 960)

At this specific moment of the play, Petruchio is fighting and negotiating with to get Katherines handIn this quote and earlier in the text, we can see how he is justifying his possible marriage with Bianca showing his amount in power and richness as if he was supposed to show his “manhood” with this. And trying to show how he is the “Alpha male”, in the relation. How he is supposed to be in that way in order to be a good husband. Just like Jacob is going to try to prove Hannah how he is the Alpha Male of the club.

In this scene Jacob is showing Cal how to pick up girls in a bar and his strategies to convince a woman to be with him. He is asking girls to invite them for a drink. In this way he shows firstly that he has the ability of carrying on a relationship as, like said before, the Alpha male. Really close of the showing of that Petruchio did with Baptista in order to marry Katherina. However something will change in Jacob life as he will learn about true love.

In this scene of the movie, the public is able to see how the eventhough Jacob is use to be a player and to be able to control his emotions, he now is eboked to a romantic love that he can not control and would take this idea, that he had of himself, of being an Alpha male down. Love towards Hannah has changed his mind in a complete way and no matter how he tries to show off is not going to work because love will interfire and this idea of the Alpha male will end up disappearing.

“Lucentio:

Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,

If I achieve not this young modest girl"

(Act 1, Scene 1, 156-157)

During this scene Lucentio realizes that he is in love with Bianca. His stereotypical manhood is blown and even at the end of the play it gets proven that he is not the Alpha of the relationship. He just like Jacob and Lucentio change their attitude in a way proving how this Idea of the Alpha male is just an stereotype and in the relations no one should be the dominating.  However, in the play love is used also as a way of control when Petruchio justifies his actions over Katherina with it.

In both the movie Crazy, Stupid Love and in the book The Taming of the Shrew is easy to appreciate how society during the years has ruled how man should be the leaders in a couple and how they have to proof their manhood during their life. However, as it’s shown in both the play and the movie when love appears all this stereotypes are vanished and in many cases the relationship doesn’t have a leader but a team.