Think Like A Man, Act Like A Shrew

Teion Ensley-Ellerbe

Fire Stream

12/5/13

Think Like Man, Be Compared To A Shrew

Comparing “Taming Of The Shrew” To “Think Like A Man”

In every parents life there comes a time when their child is going to want to date, and even get married. In shakespeare’s “Taming of the Shrew” the father Baptista has a rule with his daughters saying the younger daughter (Bianca) will not be allowed to marry until the elder daughter (Katherine) is wed therefore making it demanding to want find Katherine a husband so that bianca can find her own. In the 2012 film “Think Like a Man” when Michael begins to finally date an older woman named Candace all seems to be going well until she meets his mother Loretta, who skeptical of candace due to the fact that she is a single mother. Using this regard to deem her “not good enough” for her son, like she has done for every other girl that has been with Michael in order to keep her baby boy & not losing him to another woman. Although the play & the movie have clearly different motives they both share the the theme showing that parental involvement play a major in the love choices that their children make sometimes changing them completely. This can also later reflect in the choices their child would make while in the relationship, such as values and self esteem towards suitors and what they are willing to accept.

Since both parents are involved in their childrens dating their motives seem somewhat similar. As Baptista’s motives are to simply what will most profitable for himself & the family fortune in Bianca’s case. However Loretta’s motives stem from her not having a man to spend her time with in her life thus wanting to keep her son around not deeming any woman good enough for her son ultimately because she doesn’t see what she could offer. While both parents attempts to deter the suitors of their children and provide something they do so in different contexts to both better himself standing & in their opinion their child's. Both of these texts show that parental involvement can make or break a relationship standing with the suitors ultimately affecting the relationship drastically for their outcomes entirely.

“Content you, gentlemen; I will compound this strife.

'Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both 1195

That can assure my daughter greatest dower

Shall have my Bianca's love”

(II,1,1178)

In this scene, 3 the three suitors of  Baptista's younger daughter appear before him & have begun to argue over who should whoo bianca in the end. Baptista quickly steps in to the disagreement between the men and offers the solution that only person who is allowed to win the fair bianca must offer him the best deal to him. In turn while doing this without taking Bianca’s feelings into consideration whatsoever which quickly contrasts with what was said earlier in the play stating that his daughter Katherine, had to be in love before she had gotten married even though she had no suitors due to her shrew like behavior’s while bianca has three. This adds in a laughable element that makes the audience think why is different who the one who has men wanting to be with her ?

In “Think Like A Man” Loretta has found a different way to deal with her son’s suitor

In this first meeting between Michael’s mother and Candace there is immediately tension between Loretta and Candace as she quickly “grills” her on where her baby’s father is, whether is in jail. Sensing the Situation, Michael quickly asks for a tour of the house to maybe lighten the mood. As seen in the screenshot, Michael and Loretta pull away from Candace leaving her completely in the dark as they go over memories with Michael complying and going along with her. This, in turn deters from the real situation at hand which is the fact that michael is supposed to be getting candace more comfortable around his mother, instead what this has done is create Competition between the two for michaels attention and number one place in his life. This battle, ultimately being one by the mother which she even states “Sunday Nights have always been for his mother, and they always will be”. This, in comparison to Shrew is a very different scenario to how the parent deals with the suitor but ultimately gets to the same result. Both Parents have begun to alter the relationships that their children are in and have affected them drastically. For Baptisa, he has chosen to only let be bianca only be married off to the best deal for himself and the rest of the family not letting her get the chance to know the other two men and whether she likes them or not. For Loretta, she has begun a competition for michaels attention in his life for the number one woman in his life, drastically altering how much michael and candace’s relationship may be able to progress since it’s now a competition.

“What, will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see

She is your treasure, she must have a husband;

I must dance bare-foot on her wedding-day,

And for your love to her lead apes in hell.

Talk not to me; I will go sit and weep, 875

Till I can find occasion of revenge.”

(Act II, Scene 1, 875)

In this early scene in taming of the shrew after Baptista has found the older sister Katherine messing with the younger sister Bianca for simply having suitors while she has nothing. Katherine complains that Baptista has some bias towards Bianca and that she is favorite daughter due to the fact she has suitors and is seen as a better person, and in essence can’t compare to her. In addition, this makes Kathrine feel as though she can not compete with her younger sister. Since her sister has suitors falling at her feet and her father has only apparently been showing Love towards her she cannot compete with her sister since she is made out to be this overarching shrew that no one could love or even get along with long enough to try to date. This sets up the irony later in the play that she ends up with a man who eventually “Tames” her and ends up being her perfect match. This reinforces the fact that parental involvement in part of the relationship with their child can affect how the child goes into relationships. In this particular case, this makes Kathrine feel unwanted by even her own father, this goes into her self esteem later in the play when dealing with Petruchio since he is the first man to actually show some type of care, even though it’s cheesy, it’s something for Kathrine which she has no choice but to accept.

The Effects of Parental involvement and favoritism are even seen today in today’s life such as in think like a man

(Had To Use 2 Images To Fully Capture The Emotion)

After picking up Michael’s phone, thinking it’s his work Candace discovers that Michael has never fully put as the number one woman in his life in front of his mother & stop being a “mama’s boy” and beckoning at her every call. Candace then confronts michael stating that she refuses to compete with his mother any longer and that if he can’t put her and her son Duke as a priority in his life instead of his mother then he needed to leave. Candace’s reaction to the fact that she has never truly been the number one woman in the life (as seen in the first photograph) only reinforces the the point that parental involvement can negatively impact a relationship there child may engage later. In this specific instance, because michael is so wrapped up in helping his mother & being with her as much as possible her ends up neglecting and lying to candace in order to keep both parties happy. This calls into question not only michael’s values to see if he fully committed to his relationship or his mother, due to her constant involvement in all his other relationships, it’s second nature for michael to immediately put his mother first instead of beginning to grow up.

Although things work out in both “Taming Of The Shrew” & “Think Like A Man” for Katherine & Michael/Candace this comes back to drive home the point that audiences want to see a happy ending. Petruchio ends up not having that many concerns with Baptisa in “Shrew” because, his parental involvement complies with Petruchio so that he can marry Katherine. Michael on the other hand, comes out with a new sense of pride after finally realizes that he is a grown man and that he must put his focuses in other places, instead of his mother no matter how much she try’s to take up his life time. Overall, these movies show that society feels like dating can be a lot of things, from over dramatic and complicated to a very simplistic with minimal things interfering. Society has many definitions for many things, dating has so many separate meaning for many people for parents, it means the losing of their child and their innocence as well realizing that their child is growing up to be what they want or not, they come to terms and accept it, some better than others. Dating in this society is simply a stage of maturing, growing up and finding yourself as well as someone who can suit who you are and your needs, this is seen in Both “Shrew” & “Think Like A Man”.

Bibliography:

1. Shakespeare, William, and Thomas Goddard Bergin. The Taming of the Shrew;. New Haven: Yale UP, 1954. Print.

2. “Think Like A Man”.Dir.Tim Story.Prod.Will Packer.2010.