The Great Chase

The Great Chase

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


In the play, “The Taming of the Shrew,” there is a character, Lucentio, who has just arrived in Padua for school. When he first arrives, he happens to see another character, Bianca, who he immediately falls in love with and strives to meet again, even though she has no idea who he is. In the movie, “Ella Enchanted,” Prince Charmont is escaping from a frenzied horde of fangirls when he runs into Ella of Frell, who is not his biggest fan. While Ella is not excited to have run into him, Prince Charmont expresses hope in seeing her again.


Both the play and the movie have characters who fall in love with another after a brief encounter, expressing interest in trying to get closer to the other character. In the “Shrew,” Lucentio is new in town and nobody knows him, which gives him the hope that he will be able to gain Bianca’s attention and then affection. “Ella Enchanted” differs from the play since Prince Charmont is well known throughout the kingdom, however, he hopes to use his popularity to win Ella over in the beginning. These texts reflect that when someone falls in love with another person, regardless of whether or not they knew each other (or if one likes the other), they will try to pursue them in order to get a “happy ending”.


"...But see, while idly I stood looking on, I found the effect of love-in-idleness, and now in plainness do confess to thee that art to me as secret and dear as Anna to the Queen of Carthage was: Tranio, I burn, I pine! I perish, Tranio, if I achieve not this young modest girl.”

(Act 1, Scene I, 152-8)


At the beginning of the play, Lucentio is introduced as a student who has recently moved to Padua to continue his education. Upon his arrival, Lucentio witnesses a scene between Baptista and two suitors of his daughter, Bianca. After becoming enraptured with Bianca almost immediately, his hopes are dashed when Baptista makes it clear that Bianca’s sister must be married before she could be wed. Instead of becoming discouraged, Lucentio comes up with a plan to get closer to Bianca without her father becoming suspicious -- he’s going to act as her teacher. The reader can see that despite having several obstacles (e.g. barely knowing the girl and the father wanting the older sister to be married first), Lucentio is going to do whatever he can in order to get to Bianca. This quote shows Lucentio’s infatuation with Bianca and his want to acquire her.


Similarly in “Ella Enchanted,” Prince Charmont immediately takes an interest in Ella after running into her.


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Screenshot 2018-04-11 at 11.19.09 PM
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Screenshot 2018-04-11 at 11.19.23 PM

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.


“I read that I profess, The Art to Love.” “And may you prove, sir, master of your art.” “While you, sweet dear, prove mistress of my heart.” (They move aside and kiss and talk.)

(Act 4, Scene II, 8-10)


After Lucentio acted as Bianca’s schoolteacher, he tells her his true identity. While skeptical at first, over time she warms up to him despite his deceit. Though they have only known each other for a few days, the affection between them has grown. The dialogue between Bianca and Lucentio demonstrates to the reader how a person can fall in love with another and have the chase come to fruition. Besides verbally confessing their love for each other, there is also a physical display of affection that really seals the deal.


The budding romance between Lucentio and Bianca can also be seen between Prince Charmont and Ella.


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Screenshot 2018-04-11 at 10.26.07 PM

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.


“Gentlemen, importune me no farther, for how I firmly am resolved you know: that is, not to bestow my youngest daughter before I have a husband for the elder.”

(Act 1, Scene I, 48-51)


At the beginning of “The Taming of the Shrew,” Baptista is trying to drive away Bianca’s suitors by explaining that his eldest daughter had to be married first. In this way, Baptista is interfering in both Bianca’s love life as well as her sister’s. He wants to force someone to marry the older sister while also trying to find a better suitor for Bianca. In this way, Baptista is an obstacle in Lucentio’s path on his way to Bianca.


Although not a parent, Ella’s step-sister, Hattie, plays a similar role as Baptista in “Ella Enchanted”.


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Screenshot 2018-04-11 at 11.17.06 PM

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.

Comments (5)

Amado Alfaro-Allah (Student 2019)
Amado Alfaro-Allah

I really enjoyed the content of your essay. The romantic ideas of Ella Enchanted really stuck out to me when you connected it with The Taming of The Shrew. It made me see that love was something reasonable that can be attained by both partners.

Olivia Musselman (Student 2019)
Olivia Musselman

I like how you pointed out the similarities and differences in the Shrew and your movie. The part where you compare Baptista and Ella's step-sister is unique because they have different roles in the families, but still have a similar impact on the characters.

Alexandrea Rivera (Student 2019)
Alexandrea Rivera

I'm really glad you chose this movie because I was even thinking about it! I haven't watched this movie in forever and when I watched it I was pretty little and definitely was not thinking about all the good points you were bringing up.

Alan Li (Student 2019)
Alan Li

I think this essay was good overall. I liked how you related the relationship between Ella and Prince Charmont with Lucentio and Bianca because, in the play, Lucentio and Bianca seem to have the perfect marriage while there seem to be bumps in Ella and Charmont's relationship. To me, it seems to make the relationship between Ella and Charmont more realistic. It felt like it was a comparison between relationships were written back then and how it is different to how relationships are portrayed today while retaining some aspects of romantic works back then.

Shilo Kendall (Student 2019)
Shilo Kendall

I really liked your essay. Seeing how you evolved from the start of this assignment was interesting. The idea of a happening ending is an awesome thing to work with because it is extremely prevalent in modern day movies.