Married to Money

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.