Woo Her to Wed Her!

Woo Her to Wed Her!

Comparing Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew to the modern film starring Jennifer Lopez, The Wedding Planner.

When comparing Shakespearean literature and modern film, although there are many differences in the ‘roles’ females and males share in a relationship, there is one thing in particular that may not have changed as much as one would think it would over the past hundreds of years-- the tactics that men use to gain the attention and affection of women. In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, the audience is introduced to many suitors who are determined to earn the love of the beautiful and desired Bianca, and even a suitor who intends to gain the love from the not as beautiful and desired Kate, Bianca’s sister. These men show that they will go far lengths to prove their masculinity and power to their desired wives, believing that this will coincide with gaining female affection.

Similarly, in the movie The Wedding Planner, Eddie - although engaged to somebody else - falls in love with Mary, his wedding planner. Eddie uses similar tactics as the suitors do in attempts to gain the attention and affection of Mary. In both Taming of the Shrew and the modern film The Wedding Planner the male perspective of courtship and dating heavily revolves around 'wooing' and impressing a female to gain her affection, oftentimes attempting to prove worthiness through power and masculinity.

"Happily to wive and thrive, as best I may. Crowns in my purse I have and goods at home..."

(Act I, Scene II, 57-59)

In the quote above, Petruchio is talking to a friend, Hortensio. He is convincing Hortensio that he has what it takes to gain the affection of, and eventually marry, high maintanence Kate. He speaks as if his plan to do so is to impress her with the crowns in his purse and the goods he has to his name. Here, Petruchio clearly represents the idea that in order to impress his love interest, he must first wow her with his wealth and material possessions.

In The Wedding Planner, Eddie behaves similar to Petruchio in this regard when he is left hanging out with another man named Massimo, who is interested in Mary as well, while Mary and Eddie’s fiancé are touring a venue.

In this scene, while wandering the venue, the two men find the exercise room. They first get on the treadmills and Eddie soon notices that Massimo is going faster than him. He quickly turns up his treadmill to the highest setting. Next, they begin doing pull-ups. Eddie asks Massimo multiple times: “How many is that for you?” being sure to continuously one up Massimo’s pull-up count. It is comical because Massimo does not even seem to be competing with Eddie and instead, Eddie has this entire competition going on in his head. Slightly different from Shrew, yet still holding the same principal, it seems that in this scenario Eddie would like to prove that he is more ‘worthy’ than Massimo by showing his strength and masculinity, as if the more that he he appears to have, the more he will impress Mary.

"Madam, before you touch my instrument, I must begin with rudiments of art, To teach you gamut in a briefer sort, More pleasant, pithy, and effectual than hath been taught by any of my trade..."

(Act III, Scene I, 67-72)

In this quote another suitor, Hortensio, is speaking to his love interest, Bianca, while he is dressed up as a music teacher. In the play, Hortensio claims he does this so that he can get closer to her and possibly win her love sooner than one who does not think up such a great idea. As a reader, one may wonder: what is the point in dressing up as someone else to get closer to Bianca?

In the quote we can see that Hortensio would like to impress Bianca and tells her that he is one of the best music teachers, teaching the most “pleasant, pithy, and effectual” lessons than those that have been taught by any of his trade. Hortensio feels that he needs to act like someone smarter and of more power than who he really is to impress Bianca through his wisdom and mastery of his trade. This is why he chooses to dress up as a highly respected and esteemed music teacher.

In The Wedding Planner, Eddie takes a similar approach as Hortensio does when he ‘happens’ to save Mary from vulnerable and potentially harmful situations multiple times throughout the movie. Similar to Hortensio, Eddie believes that appearing as masculine and strong as he can will attract Mary. In a sense, Eddie is also attempting to impress his love interest by showing a mastery of his trade, which, in his case, is being a rugged 21st century man.

Although these pieces were created hundreds of years apart, the male opinions on courtship and dating, as well as the methods they use to attract and gain the attention of the women they are interested in have not changed very much over the course of time. In fact, the only differences arise when the time periods that they each are from come into play. In conclusion, these stories show that in our society, in order for a male to successfully court a female, he must impress her with his power and masculinity. Hence, it is expected that females must be attracted to these traits and will instantly fall in love with a man as long as he is strong, powerful, and manly.

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Taming of the Shrew. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2014. Print.

The Wedding Planner. Dir. Adam Shankman. By Pamela Falk and Michael Ellis. Perf. Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey. 2001. DVD.