Visual Essay- Aysha A. Siddiquee

Parenting to Deception

Taming of the Shrew and Revenge of the Bridesmaids

        When thinking of Taming of the Shrew and Shakespeare we generally associate them with being very ancient and irrelevant but the truth is Shakespeare still lives within our stories and movies even. It only has a modern twist on it based off of the change in generation. Through having more access to not only materials but plots. Even after over a hundred decades you can still find very common themes from Shakespeaker’s Taming of the Shrew in David Kendall’s and Bob Young’s Revenge of the Bridesmaids.

        In Taming of the Shrew the father of the very ill- tempered Katherine and Bianca, Baptista is focusing on getting both of his daughters married off to the wealthiest. Revenge of the Bridesmaids is not far off this same ideology, the mother of the “bride” sets her up with a wealthy man a part of the plot due to bankruptcy. Leading to a fake pregnancy that affects names of the play and your movie selection, plus an introduction to the characters you're talking about and their basic situation.

     Whether we like to admit or not interference of parents with relationships and or marriage are very clear themes in both the past centuries and our day and age. In all eras, families expect their children to maintain the same levels of wealth when they get married. However, in modern times, audiences do not side with maintaining or having to marry someone because of their wealth… Instead, they expect that… they will marry someone out of having love for them where wealth should not play a role.

“Content you gentlemen. I will compound this strife. 'Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both that can assure my daughter greatest dower. Shall have my Bianca's love.”

(Act 2, Scene 1, 361- 363)

In Taming of the Shrew in this scene Baptista is expressing his expectations for the suitors for his daughter. So he is stating whoever can offer the most dowry also known as money will be the one to have his daughter. So this clearly presents the interference of parents in courtship, so having to marry someone for wealth instead of love.  

Agree to a loveless marriage to maintain family wealth

In other words it is clear to see in this scene that Caitlyn the “bride” is clearly stating to her mother that she is only agreeing to the marriage for her mother and the money since her mother has run through all their money and is going bankrupt. Caitlyn also states very clearly she doesn't mind a loveless marriage as long as e eyervything in the wedding goes her way. In comparison to Taming of the Shrew like Baptista, Caitlyn’s mother is the one in charge of her courtship and she too is only creating this courtship for the money. In this case it is only a minor difference of Caitlyn marrying to maintain the family’s money while Baptista already had enough money he was just going to focus on growing his wealth with the dowry he would receive.

“ Hortensio: I promised we would be contributors

And bear his charge of wooing whatsoe’er

Gremio:And so we will, provided that he win her ”

(Act 1, Scene 2, 218-220)

In Taming of the Shrew Hortensio tells Petruchio that if he marries Katherine and can court her then they meaning the other suitors as well would pay Petruchio for that and so basically this clearly portrays that this is a plot designed to get Katherine out of the way so that they finally could approach Bianca and one of them could marry Bianca, Katherine's younger sister. So in order for Bianca to be courted, Katherine would have to be married off first. So this is where Petruchio comes in to marry Katherine. So the plot revolves around Katherine being courted so the suitors can have access to Bianca. As we can also see this in Revenge of the Bridesmaids that the plot that was designed in Revenge of the Bridesmaids revolved around Caitlyn being able to get to Tony, the “groom” who has the money that Caitlyn’s mother is aspiring for since they themselves have used up all their money. So Caitlyn’s mother creates a plan that includes Caitlyn saying that she’s pregnant so that Tony feels obligated to marry her. In both Taming of the Shrew and Revenge of the Bridesmaids both Petruchio and Caitlyn are used for the needs of the others. Petruchio is used to clear the path for other suitors so they have access to Bianca and Caitlyn is used to get access to tony’s money for her mother. They both are promised awards as well Petruchio is promised money and Caitlyn is promised her perfect wedding. We can clearly see that in both plots that they meaning Katherine and Caitlyn are both being used as a part of a plot that has an interference of the parents and as well as wealth

Everything is not always what we see

In this scene above in Revenge of the Bridesmaids it is very clearly portrayed how Caitlyn was a part of a Plot created by her mother. Where she faked being pregnant by using the urine of one of her bridesmaid’s sister who was pregnant. So the pregnancy would obligate Tony to marry her. Her mother was in charge of this plot so that they would be able to get access to Tony’s money. So as we can also see this consistent pattern in The Taming of the Shrew based off of how the parents want to court their children based off how much wealth the groom has to their name and has to offer.

“Hortensio: And yet I promise thee she shall be rich, And very rich. But thou'rt too much my friend, And I'll not wish thee to see her

Petruchio: And therefore if you know one rich enough to be Petruchio's wife ( as wealth  is burden of my wooing dance )... I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, 69, 75-77)

In The Taming of the Shrew in the scene above it is a conversation between Hortensio and Petruchio where Hortensio is telling Petruchio of Katherine and how she is wealthy so as a part of their plot they are drawing Petrucio in by highlighting Katherine’s wealth to which Petruchio is very captivated and he responds if you know someone rich enough to be my wife then I will give them happily. So basically the wealth is what plays a bigger role in this case instead of love this is also the very same thing we see in Revenge of the Bridesmaids where Caitlin says she would have not married Tony if it was not for his money and love has nothing to do with it and she never did love him, it was all for the money. So this is a very clear connection between the two pieces where it was all about the wealth and love played no role.

Caught in their own lie

In the clip above it shows Catherine being caught in her own lies that her mother created and she states very clearly that she never loved Tony and it was all for the money and if he didn’t have money then this would have never been a thing. As portrayed above it clearly shows Caitlyn stating that love has nothing to do the with arrangement the arrangement was made for money. So she clearly states that love plays no role the money is why she did it. So in comparison to Taming of the Shrew Petruchio never questions or stops to think of love. It was about the money for him as well.

              In the end of it all it is very no matter what the time period parents will always play a role in your courting or relationship especially for reasons of wealth and maintaining it. This is a very clear representation in literature not only from centuries ago but in present day media as well. Both of these texts reflect how interference leads to either a prize or failure depending on who is looking at it, for Katherine she is thrown into a relationship based off of her father's decision and hunger for wealth which causes her to change who she is and for Caitlyn because of her mother's greed for wealth Caitlyn is now shamed by the entire town they both face consequences whether it be mentally or socially. The portrayal in both texts show that the interference of parents in courtship or relationships is what makes the child suffer in the end.