Lucentio in Manhattan


Lucentio in Manhattan

The Taming of the Shrew; Maid in Manhattan

Pilar Carroll

Air Stream


     In english class we read the play The Taming of the Shrew, one of the main characters is Bianca, a beautiful girl that all the men are fond of. By contrast  the play also includes bianca’s sister, Katherine, a mean sour women who men tend to stay away from. Then there are the men of the play, Baptista, the father, Patricio, Katherine's husband, and Bianca's three suitors, Luciano, Grumio, and Hortensio. In the Maid in Manhattan, the main characters name is Marissa, she is a maid at The Beresford Hotel. She has a son named Ty. There is a man at the Hotel named Christopher Marshall, he is running for senator, and helping him is Jerry. Lasty, there is a women also staying at the hotel named Caroline, she is extremely rich.  


     In both this play and the movie, money is a factor. Though almost everyone in The Taming of the Shrew has the same social class, Marissa in Maid in Manhattan, was of a lower class than the rest of the characters in that movie. This could be seen as making the movies have no connection, but that fact that Marissa lied about her social class, is just like Lucentio lying about his identity and profession. These scenarios are very similar. Through out both the movie and the play, The characters act deceitfully when put in strange situations of love.


LUCENTIO

Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father’s he!

But art thou not advised, he took some care

To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her?

TRANIO

Ay, marry, am I, sir; and now ’tis plotted!

LUCENTIO

I have it, Tranio!

TRANIO

   You will be schoolmaster

And undertake the teaching of the maid:

That’s your device.

(Act 1, Scene 1, 158-169)


     In this scene of The Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio, a young, handsome man who was sent to Pisa to go to university, sees a young women, named Bianca, accompanied by her undesirable sister, Katherine, and her father, Baptista. Bianca has two suitors following her Grumio, and Hortensio.There is a short spute between Katherine and the suitors, but eventually it is finished and they all go inside. After they leave, Lucentio discussed with his servant, Tranio about love he fell in love with her, at first sight. He knows that he could not court her they way his is now simply because her father with not approve. So he decided that he will disguise himself, to deceive Baptista, and Bianca, eventually to woo her. He dresses up as something Bianca is very familiar with, and fond of, a school teacher.


     This scene of Maid in Manhattan. Marissa is cleaning up the Park suite for a wealth guest. Another maid, Stephanie is helping Marissa clean the suite. While they are cleaning, Stephanie goes into the guests closet, and pulls out a Dolce & Gabbana outfit, begging Marissa to try them on. As she is putting on the clothes. Marissa's nine year old son, Ty, meets Christopher Marshall, a politician, his dog, and his right hand man, Jerry, on the elevator. Ty asks Christopher if he could walk his go with him. He goes upstairs to the park suite to ask Marissa, accompanied by Christopher. As Ty knocks on the door, Stephanie opens it. Stephanie see’s Christopher with Ty, and introduces Marissa as Ms.Carolyn, the name of the women renting the suite. Marissa and Christopher lock eyes, and have an intense moment. Her over ruled by his looks, plays along as being Carolyn.

     In both these scenes, Lucentio, and Marissa found the ones they loved, from love at first sight. They both decided to be in disguise to woo the ones they loved, and admired.


“LUCENTIO

Here’s Lucentio, right son to the right Vincentio,

That have by marriage made thy daughter mine

While counterfeit supposes bleared thine eyne.”

(Act 5, Scene 1, 97-99)


     In this scene of The Taming of the Shrew, the real Lucentio reveals himself to Bianca’s family. Before he reveals himself, everyone thinks that he is a latin teacher. After he shares that he is Lucentio, he explains how he is going to marry Bianca. He has shown that they loved each other, and have disregarded the fact that he lied about who he was in order for her to fall for him.



       This is the last scene in Maid in Manhattan. Previously, Christopher found out that Marissa was the maid. She was fired from her job. Christopher and Marissa parted ways, but were clearly devastated by their split. One day, Christopher was in town making a speech, and Ty, Marissa's son, knew he was going to be at her hotel. During Christophers speech, he asked for any questions, Ty asked about giving people second chances. Ty the convinced Christopher to go and find Marissa, and confess his love to her. When marissa saw Christopher she expressed how sorry she was, and how she was scared regarding her social class. But he exclaimed that he didn’t care. They confessed their love to each other, and lived “happily ever after”.

     Even though the scenarios were not completely the same in The Taming of the Shrew, and in Maid in Manhattan; both stories have extremely similar introductions into deceitfulness, and outcomes of deceitfulness. Both Lucentio and Marissa saw opportunities to get to the ones they love, and they took their chances. Thankfully, Bianca, and Christopher loved them so much that they did not care about the lies, because love is all that matters.  


Work Cited:
  • Shakespeare, William. The Taming Of The Shrew. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.
  • Maid in Manhattan. Perf. Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes. Columbia Pictures, 2003. Netflix.

The Proposal Of The Shrew



The Proposal of The Shrew


I chose to focus on a romantic comedy, this movie stars Sandra Bullock as Margaret Tate, and Ryan Reynolds as Andrew Paxton. Margaret Tate is a canadian woman who finds out that she is facing deportation because of her expired visa. Since she is very committed to her job she convinces her assistant Andrew Paxton to pretend as her fiance until she can fix visa issues. The Taming of the Shrew shows the journey of how two polar opposites began a relationship and eventually through the up’s and down’s fell in love, this comedy revolves around Petruchio’s journey to marry the older sister but ill-tempered Katherine in order for the younger sister Bianca to marry. Both The Proposal and The Taming of the Shrew have similar issues that characters in The Proposal and The Taming of the Shrew, Margaret Tate and Andrew Paxton  


The Proposal and The Taming of the Shrew both contains two strong female characters that are filled with hardship and are considered to be heartless, but both women fall romantically in love once both males in each story show them how to love.


"Quote from Play"


Pertruchio: “ A herald Kate? O, put me in thy books.”


Katherine: “ What is you crest? A coxcomb?


Pertruchio: “A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen.”


Katherine: “No cock of mine. You crow too like a craven.”


Pertruchio: “Nay, come, Kate, come. You must not look so sour.”


Katherine: “It is my fashion when I see a crab.”


In this conversation Petruchio and Katherine fight back and forth, in their heated exchange of words many sexual references were used as clever comebacks. This relates to my thesis statement because it gives an example of how negative Katherine can be as a result to how Petruchio tries to tame her.



Act 2, Scene 1, 210


(Act x, Scene x, line numbers)





Andrew and Margaret are put under pressure as they are demanded to tell the story of who they got engaged. But it takes a turn for the worse as Margaret and Andrew secretly insult each other as they tell the tale of their engagement.

Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 6.49.37 PM.png


In this scene of “The Proposal” Andrew and Margaret go to Sitka, Alaska where Andrew’s family lives so Margaret could meet them. Margaret wasn’t adjusting to well to Andrew’s hometown and was already on a rocky start with his family. Later in the scene Andrew and his dad have a heated discussion about his relationship with his boss, at that moment asked for the attention of everyone in the room and announced that he and Margaret will be getting married. When asked if they would have children in the near future Margaret and Andrew go back and forth insulting each other about what they lack and their weaknesses.



Katherine: “ Husband, let’s follow to see the end of this ado.”


Petruchio: “ First Kiss me, Kate, and we will.


Katherine: “ What, in the midst of the street?”


Petruchio: “ What, art thou ashamed of me?”

Katherine: “ No, sir God Forbid, but ashamed to kiss.”


Petruchio: “ Why then, let’s home again. Come, sirrah, let’s away.”


Katherine: “ Nay, I will give thee a kiss. Now pray thee, love, stay.”


Petruchio: “ Is not this well? Come, my sweet Kate. Better once than never, for never too late.”


Act 5, Scene 5, Page 205




Analysis: 

In this scene of "The Taming of The Shrew" Katherine falls in love with Petruchio despite their recent fights in the early scenes. Before they do anything Petruchio wants Katherine to kiss him in the middle of the street, almost as if it proves her love to him. She doesn't know how she feels about kissing him in the street at first, but then kisses him as they are about to leave. The quotes relate to my thesis statement because it shows how their transition from hating each other to loving each other at the end. 







Margaret holds back on expressing her true feelings for Andrew, Andrew demands that she commit to what she feels and that he is in love with her and wants to get married. She eventually gives in and kisses him.

Screen Shot 2015-04-27 at 9.52.30 PM.png















In this scene of “ The Proposal” Margaret packs up all her things from her office as she prepares to be deported back to Canada where she was born. Andrew follows her back to New York from Alaska to finally make her realize that she doesn’t need to be cold hearted and that she is wanted. As the scene continues Margaret continues to push Andrew away and makes excuses as to why she prefers to be alone, but Andrew stands his ground and eventually leans in to kiss her in front of all of her employees. This scene relates to my thesis statement because it shows how Andrew forces Margaret to face reality and realize that she doesn’t always have to be tough throughs others, he even stands his ground when she tries to push him away and point out all of his flaws and why they shouldn’t be together. This scene relates to the "The Taming of The Shrew" because in the beginning of the movie Andrew hated her because she was heartless and a cruel boss, but at the end they fall in love and declare their love just as Petruchio and Katherine did in the book.


Every man and woman is expected to always be in a relationship, and if that relationship were to end the hunt for a new partner becomes a notion that clouds what really matters. But when the untamed lose their instinct to hunt for a new partner, their hunger can become very bitter. The Taming of the Shrew” and “The Proposal” show how two strong, cold hearted female characters fall for the men they would have never thought they would be with. Society uses this status quo to advertise that you have to act like a damsel in distress to be in a relationship. Both the movie and the book give a clear example of how the damsel in distress act isn’t always the solution.


Work Cited:

1). "The Proposal: Why Are You Panting?" YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.

2). SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.



Le fabuleux destin de Lucentio

Le fabuleux destin de Lucentio

Comparing Amélie and Taming of the Shrew

There has always been a debate whether love at first sight is real or not. Some see it as logically impossible and completely ridiculous, while others say they’ve even felt it themselves. However, there’s no objective way to know if it’s real or not. Because of that, fiction has always been a base for talking about love at first sight, and both Amélie and Taming of the Shrew show that.

Amélie Poulain, a woman living in France, has lived alone her whole life, and is looking for love. She falls in love with a man named Nino who spends his free time collecting discarded photo booth photos. Amélie later finds his briefcase, which he has left behind, and goes on a journey to find him and return the briefcase. It’s very different,  but there are parallels with Taming of the Shrew. Amélie is a lot like Lucentio. She falls in love at first sight, much like Lucentio falls in love with Bianca, and they both spend the majority of their respective works trying to find who they love and win their heart. In addition, in the end, they both end up together with who they love. However, in Taming of the Shrew, this is shown as a bad thing- Lucentio is unable to summon Bianca during a bet, while Petruchio, who manipulates Kate, is able to. Therefore, while Amélie enthusiastically supports love at first sight, Taming of the Shrew refutes it as worthless and meaningless.

“Happily I have arrivèd at the last, unto the wishèd haven of my bliss.”

(Act V, Scene vii, 108-109)

“Sir, my mistress sends you word, that she is busy, and she cannot come.”

(Act V, Scene ii, 86-87)


At the end of Taming of the Shrew, the characters Petruchio, Hortensio, and Lucentio place a bet on whose wife is more obedient. They each call their wives and wait to see who will come. Lucentio, whose love was “at first sight”, cannot make his wife, Bianca, come, as she is busy. Petruchio, who “trained” his wife with cruelty, gets his wife, Kate, to come. It makes a point- Petruchio’s marriage, which is based on training Kate to be a good wife, is worthwhile, while Lucentio’s, which is more organic, is not.

This is the opposite of what Amélie shows.

amelie_04.jpg

In Amélie, the main character, Amélie, falls in love at first sight with Nino. She’s shy, and he’s shy, so they don’t really talk much. However, she finds his lost photo album, and she eventually works up the courage to look for him and find him. This is similar to Lucentio, who also falls for someone and goes on a journey to find them.

“If you let this opportunity slip away, then, as time goes by, it's your heart that will become as dry and fragile as my bones.”

Amelie_and_Nino.jpg

Amélie is shy, but her friend, the old painter M. Dufayel, tells her to find Nino. Dufayel is portrayed as the “wise old man”, which is meant to make the viewer believe and trust him. This, combined with the end of the film, where Amélie finds Nino, returns his briefcase, finds out he also loves her, and they live “happily ever after”, contribute to the air of “love at first sight is worthwhile” around the film. This is in contrast to Taming of the Shrew.

In the end of Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio and Bianca are married and in love, but the play makes a point by having Bianca disobey Lucentio when he summons her during the bet. This is, to our best knowledge, meant to show that love at first sight can lead to a bad marriage. While they are not shown to be unhappy together, it shows that love at first sight does not magically tame wives, and is therefore worthless. Which is right? That’s your decision to make.


Works Cited

Amélie. Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Perf. Audrey Tautou. UGC-Fox Distribution, 2001. Digital.

Shakespeare, William. Folger Shakespeare Library: The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.


Shakespeare In Stepford


Shakespeare in Stepford

Comparing The Taming of the Shrew to The Stepford Wives


The Taming of the Shrew is, as most Shakespearean works have proven themselves to be, a play with many themes that are still applicable to modern stories. In Shrew, the prideful and slightly insane Petruchio insists upon marrying the eldest daughter of Baptista, Katherine. She is known by everyone as the incorrigible woman that nobody wants to marry. She is in stark contrast with her younger sister Bianca, who is pure and sweet and desirable. Petruchio, though taunted by his fellow suitors, is undaunted and aggressively starts his ploy to “tame” Katherine and make her his wife. In the 2004 movie, The Stepford Wives, we are introduced to Joanna Eberhart and her loving husband Walter. She is the epitome of the career woman as the CEO of a television network in Manhattan. But after being fired she suffers a nervous breakdown, and the family decides to move to the wealthy and pleasant town Stepford, Connecticut. Though the situations are very different in that no one is actively trying to court anyone else (all the couples in The Stepford Wives are married), there is still the objective of taming one’s partner. The same traits sought after in the women of Shrew are the ones sought after in Stepford Wives. The texts illustrate that though women have more opportunity than they once did, there is still an archetype that society wants them to fill, and to be outside of it means very negative criticisms. The act of taming has taken a different form but it is still as ingrained into relationships as it was in the days of Shrew.  


"I shall be seven ere I go to horse.

Look what I speak, or do, or think to do,

You are still crossing it. Sirs, let’t alone.

I will not go today, and, ere I do,

It shall be what clock I say it is. "

(Act 4, Scene 4, 198-202)


At this point in Shrew Petruchio has succeeded in making Katherine his wife. However, he has not yet been able to tame her to his satisfaction. In order to do so he tries a new tactic. He states things that are clearly false and if Katherine does not agree then he punishes her by not allowing the journey to see her father continue. He is doing this because Katherine is not yet compliant as women are supposed to be. Even though he is doing something viciously manipulative, she is the one who is criticized by the other people in the play. In Stepford Wives, the men take a more radical approach to taming their women.




The men in the movie have created a machine that the husbands can coerce their wives into. The machine then, “We take a gloomy dissatisfied...Finally, we enhance her to fit the ideal Stepford Wife specifications.” The Female Improvement System allows for the men to dictate exactly what they want their wives to be like. It is again a harsh approach to completely change their partner, and yet they are not the ones being criticized. It is instead the faults of the women for not being (their twisted idea of) perfect. In the movie the women that end up as Stepford Wives are former CEO’s, judges, and other high ranking officials. But instead of praising them about their jobs or intelligence, the husbands call it “domineering,” or as Walter calls Joanna, a “Manhattan, castrating career b****.” It is just like in Shrew when Katherine is repulsive to everyone else because she’s outspoken and doesn’t want to be forced into things she doesn’t like. Though the women in Shrew and Stepford Wives are different in their social status, they still are not appreciated and others go to great lengths to change them.


"Why, sir, I trust I may have leave to speak,

And speak I will. I am no child, no babe.

Your betters have endured me say my mind,

And if you cannot, best you stop your ears.

My tongue will tell the anger of my heart,

Or else my heart, concealing it, will break,

And, rather than it shall, I will be free

Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words. "

(Act 4, Scene 3, 78-85)


This is one of the many arguments that Katherine and Petruchio have as husband and wife. While she is dressing she chooses to wear a cap that he doesn’t like. He then demands that she take it off without hesitation. This, of course does not go over well with Katherine. She is telling him that she will not be treated as a child and will speak her mind whenever she thinks it necessary. In that time period is was not considered a virtue to assert yourself as an independent thinker. This is Katherine’s core personality and everyone, her father, her sister, and her husband included want to completely change her. In Stepford Wives, the woman who most resembles Katherine, especially in the beginning is, Bette Midler’s character Bobbi Markowitz.




Bobbi is a writer and she is completely outspoken. In the movie she makes all the Stepford women uncomfortable and makes her husband frequently embarrassed. However, it’s what makes her unique and interesting and human. When Bobbi is turned into a Stepford wife all of that is gone. She becomes another perfect cardboard cutout just like the other women.  She is unnaturally jovial, docile, sexualized, and most of all quiet, unless spoken to. Shrew and Stepford Wives are centuries apart but they have one the same theme: women who need to be “fixed.”


"Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,

And for thy maintenance commits his body

To painful labor both by sea and land,

To watch night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,

And craves no other tribute at thy hand

But love, fair looks, and true obedience--"

(Act 5, Scene 2, 162-169)


This is the very end of the play, where Katherine has been tamed for all intents and purposes. She goes into this long speech about the importance of being the right type of woman and honoring your husband because he is your sole protector and asks nothing more than to be the right type of woman. The interesting part of the speech is that it is coming from Katherine. Though she has been the driving force for female independence throughout the play, she has changed. It is also the first time of the play that we hear a woman advocating for all of the traits that previously only the men have voiced. In Stepford Wives, Claire Danes has a complete breakdown at the end and admits that she is the one who created Stepford and the program for the robotic wives.




At the end of the movie it is revealed that Mike, who was thought to be the leader of Stepford and the one to make all the women robots, is actually a robot himself. (His head is knocked off by a candlestick) Claire, his wife goes into a long speech about how all she wanted was to create a perfect world. She was a premier brain surgeon and used her intelligence to make Stepford and the Female Improvement System. But she needed someone the men could rally behind and the women could admire, so she made Mike. Stepford was a haven to her, a place where men could be men (aggressive and dominating) and women could return to former perfection, before there were stressful jobs, and the pressures of being more than a homemaker. In both societies, as much as it is very run by men, it is also the women who contribute to the taming of women. These scenes just prove that society hasn’t changed. There are still expectations of women and in relationships that are paralyzing.


These texts prove that although women have gained independence in other facets of society, relationship expectations are more or less the same as they’ve always been. This, of course, is not limited to women. In the movie Walter is expected to control Joanna, while she is expected to be easily controlled. There are expectations both ways. In Shrew, Petruchio is never challenged by anyone (except Katherine) because he is fulfilling his role as alpha male. Only Katherine is rebuked for not doing what is expected of her. Taming is so accepted in society, that it will continue to live on unless a massive relationship overhaul happens.


Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Taming of the Shrew. N.p.: Folger Shakespeare Library, n.d. Print.

 "The Stepford Wives." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0327162/>.

Shrews in disguise




Shrews in Disguise

Comparing the play "The Taming of the Shrew" with the movie "Hitch"


There are many thin lines that can easily be crosses in the pursuit of love. In the movie “Hitch” a guy named Albert hires someone to help gain the attention of his beloved, Allegra. This of course was done in secrecy and many would view this as not politically correct. On the other hand in the play “The Taming of the Shrew” a man named Lucentio falls in love with the most sought after girl in the city, Bianca. To win her favor he disguises himself as an instructor for her. By doing this he will be closer to her and gain her favor. In both cases deception is prevalent. Ultimately both spouses found out about their husbands deceit, yet in the end both couples stayed together. Both these stories show that for love the ends justifies the means.




"Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,

If I achieve not this young modest girl.

(Act 1, Scene 1,5)


This quote early on in the play sets up the mindset the Lucentio will do something out of the ordinary for Bianca. For example him impersonating an instructor. Lucentio made this statement when he first set his eyes upon Bianca. Him and his servant Tranio were walking into town. It is soon after that the plan for Lucentio to be in disguise was formed. To a normal person this would be ludicrous, but for Lucentio who is so smitten with love that he would rather die than be without Bianca it is only a means to an end.


Similarly albert is having the same idea when he decides to hire Alex “Hitch” Hitchens to help get him and Allegra together.





In this scene you see Albert collaborating with his hired date man, Hitch. Unlike in The Shrew, Albert will not be in disguise. Rather, Hitch will fabricate a scenario which seems real to Allegra. In the scenario she will meet Albert and the chance of her falling for him will increase due to Hitch’s coaching. In this instance the deceit is lesser yet very unconventional to the established view of dating. This is can be seen as similar to asking a friend for help with a girl. On the other hand it takes this normal human action and pushes it to an extreme. Albert has no care for the means of how he gets with Allegra just as long as he he is with her.




"Love wrought these miracles. Bianca's love

Made me exchange my state with Tranio"


(Act 5, Scene 1, 128)



This statement was uttered after Lucentio’s disguise was discovered. also it is revealed that Lucentio's servant Tranio changed his identity to that his masters. This is explaining why he had done all this deceit. He claims love drove him to this extreme measure. Ultimately he got the girl because when she found out she did not care, and as long as the bride was happy no one else did.


In the movie Albert was exposed as getting help to woo Allegra.







During this part of the movie Hitch is trying to steer Allegra back into liking Albert. He claims that he just give guys the confidence to talk to the girls that they want. Also, that the true self of the guy is what gets the girl. Unlike in the play the deceitfulness is different because in the play Bianca falls in love with a a different characters but in the movie Allegra falls in the with a confident version of Albert. The end up reuniting and being happy. This shows that those the means was faulty the couple could still be together.

All in all in both the play and the movie both show males going to an extreme to woo the loves of their lives. In both the mens deceits are exposed but ultimately the women stay with them. Both play and movie portray a theme of the ends justifying the mean because at the end of the day when all was said and done both couples were happy.


Works Cited

Hitch. Columbia Pictures :, 2005. Film.
Shakespeare, William, and Barbara A. Mowat. The Taming of the Shrew. Washington Square Press New Folger ed. New York: Washington Square, 2002. Print.

Movie Visual Essay - A Love We Didn’t Think We’d Get

A Love We Didn’t Think We’d Get

The William and Kate Story; Taming of the Shrew


     Taming of the Shrew and The William and Kate Story may seem like two very different stories but when analyzed deeper the audience can see that their characters have many things in common. In Taming of the Shrew Baptista is the father of two girls who are both of marrying age, the problem is that one of them, the older, has to get married first and she isn’t exactly turning all the guy’s heads. She is a tougher girl that doesn’t want to be defined by a man. The William and Kate Story is a lifetime movie about Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton. It follows them from the first time they met until they got married. Both stories follow children in royal families and them on their way to getting married. In both stories there are conflicts with how the children are to be married. Being royal children is hard because all they have is family but now a day it is easier than it ever has been.


“Gentlemen, importune me no father, For how I firmly am resolved you know: That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter Before I have a husband for the elder.” - Baptista (Act 1. Sc1. Line 45 - 51)


  At this moment in the play, Baptista, the father of Katherine and Bianca, is talking to his daughter suitors. He is telling them that no matter how many suitors come for his younger and kinder daughter Bianca that she is not getting married before his eldest Katherine. In The William and Kate Story William’s father, Prince Charles, is meeting his son’s friends for the first time, most of them commoners. Among the friends is his girlfriend Kate who is also a commoner. It is hard for the Prince to be okay with his son, a part of the royal family, dating a commoner.   


    At this point in the movie Kate is getting to know her boyfriends father. She tried very hard to fit into the role of a suitor for her royal boyfriend. William invites his friends for lunch at the palace and his friends do their very best but the viewer can feel the awkwardness that is felt at the table. The Prince tries his best to make conversation but they have so little in common. It is hard for all the characters in both situations. In The Taming of the Shrew everyone wants to marry the youngest daughter but are unable to until the eldest is married. In The William and Kate Story William has fallen in love with someone who his family won’t approve of because of her social status.



“Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What, shall I be appointed hours as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave? Ha!” - Katherine (Act 1, Sc 1, Line 104 - 106)


    At this point in the play Katherine is ranting on why she doesn’t need a man. She feels as though if she was to get married the man would simply take over her life and control her. At the time the play was written that was a very legitimate fear. In Katherine Middleton’s case, 400 years from when Shakespeare was writing about it, has a legitimate reason to think her life is going to be taken over and controlled by the royal family.




    In the movie when these two screenshots takes place Kate is invited to William’s birthday party, where she believes she is going to be officially introduced as his girlfriend. Instead, she looks like a fool as he asks another girl to help him blow out the candles. Later, when Kate confronts William about it, he tells her that it was just for show and was something he had to do. He also stated he didn’t want to do it but because he is part of the royal family he has obligations that he had to conform to.

    Though the play and the movie were written so far apart it is clear to see that there are still clear similarities between how royal families treat their children being married off. In the play Baptista was very strict on the order in which his daughters could be married. In the movie Prince Charles is stuck in a situation where his son wants to marry someone outside of the royal family, that though is more common now a day is still not the normal way things are done. The viewer of both of these can see that though times have changed in terms of courtship and marriage has changed outside of the royal families, inside it is still very traditional.


​ How Men Control Love

How Men Control Love

A comparison of “Taming of the Shrew” and “50 First Dates”


Taming of the Shrew is a play about two sisters and their road to marriage.  Katherine (the shrew) marries a man named Petruchio who tries to “tame” her and her awful attitude.  “50 First Dates” is about a man named Henry Roth who meets a girl named Lucy,  He thinks he’s finally found the perfect girl.  The only problem is she has short term memory loss and once she goes to sleep she forgets what happened the day prior.  Henry tries to get her to fall in love with him a different way, everyday.  These movies are very different but both depict a man who thinks he can control their respected women’s feelings.


Petruchio and Henry are both trying to get a girl to fall in love with them just in two very different ways.  Henry is doing it the sweeter way though nothing like his situation has ever happened in reality.  It is touching to see he cares enough about a girl to think of new ways to get her to fall in love with him every single day.  Petruchio on the other hand is very cruel to his wife Katherine.  He wants her to stop being so mean.  The decision he makes is very dehumanizing to Katherine.  He decides to stop letting her eat and sleep as a hunter would do to a Falcon in order to tame it.  No matter which way anyone looks at it, they’d prefer to be with Henry.  Petruchio didn’t even really love Katherine.  He just married her so her younger sister Bianca could get married.  Today it is widely believed by many people that you are supposed to marry someone that you absolutely adore and they are supposed to absolutely adore you back, as well.

Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 10.32.31 PM.png

In this scene Henry(on the ground) has his friend act like he’s beating him up so Lucy (far left) comes and saves him.  For a comedic aspect Lucy pulls out a baseball bat and starts to beat the friend with it until he runs off.  Henry does things like this for many days until he gets caught by Lucy’s father who forbids him to speak to her.  Henry is under the impression that if he does this Lucy will start to remember him and ultimately fall in love with him.  At this point in the movie it is too early to tell if it works out for him but as it goes one we see how his plans pan out.


“And if she chance to nod, I’ll rail and brawl, and with the clamor keep her still awake.  This is a way to kill a wife with kindness…  He that knows better how to tame a shrew, Now let him speak; ‘tis charity to shrew”

Act 4 scene 1 line 206

This quote is from the point in the play when Petruchio has a plan to “tame” Katherine.  Like the scene from the movie, this scene is too early to tell whether or not the plan will work but you can see the difference between Petruchio and Henry’s approaches to getting their girls to fall in love.  Most in not all people would most likely want Henry to be their significant other.  This is evident towards the end of both the Play and the Movie.



“Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee… Too little payment for such debt.”

Act 5 scene 2 lines 162-170

This is the last line from “Taming of the Shrew” and Katherine is the one saying it.  It’s a very lengthy last line but basically Katherine tells the other wives to obey their husbands.  This could be either taken one of two ways.  The first way is that she believes every word she says and Petruchio has totally changed her.  The other way is that she is being sarcastic, she is only saying and doing what her husband wants to hear and see for her own good.  So she can eat and sleep.  Katherine was very stubborn but no one is mean their entire lives and when she’s going to live with someone for the rest of her life she might as well be nice to him because he is her provider and at this point in her life without him she is on her own.  


Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 11.06.16 PM.png


This scene from “50 First Dates” shows Henry and Lucy hanging out with Lucy’s friends for the first time since she lost her memory.  She calls Henry her boyfriend and her friends ask Henry how he does it every day and one of them asks her husband “Why can’t you do that for me?”  Henry has gotten Lucy to fall in love with him everyday even though she doesn’t remember him once she goes to sleep.  Henry was able to change Lucy’s feelings towards him but not with force like Petruchio.  He was a gentleman to Lucy everyday and came up with a plan to remind her who he is and what’s going on at the current time.


These stories are both forms of entertainment so they are definitely far from the truth.  “Taming of the Shrew” is also very old so it is outdated as well.  These stories both depict a man getting a woman he has interest in.  Henry does it the nice way and in the end it works out for him.  Petruchio does it the harsh way and based on what Katherine said she most likely is in it for her own good.  


Love Actually...or Not

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “Love Actually”


    “Taming of the Shrew” is a play about romance and the idea of looking for it. Two sisters, Katherine-the shrew- and Bianca-the “nice and gentle” one- have to get married. Bianca can’t get married until Katherine does. Petruchio, a suitor, says that he doesn’t care what kind of attitude Katherine has, he will still marry her so he must impress her father first. “Love Actually”, a romantic comedy that came out in 2003, showed a couple different story plots about love involving different people. One of the plots was about a little boy named Sam who had a huge crush on a girl he knew. He tries to win her over. Of course the techniques of trying to win over a girl are different from Petruchio in “The Taming of the Shrew” and Sam from “Love Actually” but they still had the same idea of trying to impress a girl. When looking at the two different stories,can see that they are very similar but also very different. In the modern love story, women have a lot more say in what they do, but with saying that, relationships- romantically or not- always have to do with winning somebody over. This type of love story has been romanticized and hailed by society forever, from the cheesy movies from the 50s to songs like “We Belong Together” by Mariah Carey. We as people crave someone to root for, an underdog, the geek that gets the girl.

    




“...And therefore, if thou know one rich enough to be Petruchio’s wife (as wealth is burden of my wooing dance), be she as foul as was Florentius’ love, as old as sibyl, and as curst and shrewd as Socrates’ Xanthippe, or a worse,…”

(Act I, Scene ii, Lines 67-72)


Petruchio has just arrived in Padua and is looking for a lady for marriage. He is speaking to another character from the play. He is saying that he basically just needs a girl with wealth. He doesn’t care about anything else about her. None of her other qualities matter as long as she has money.


In the movie, Sam is in a similar situation when he is explaining to his step father the crush he has on a classmate.



Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 8.58.00 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 8.58.00 PM

In this scene from the movie, Sam’s step father asks him what has been going on. He says, “Is it school? Are you being bullied? Or is it something worse?” Sam is admitting that he has a crush on a girl named Joanna, and that he is in love with her. He replies, “The truth is, actually, I’m in love...” He says that there is nothing he can do about it. We can see that he, similar to Petruchio, is explaining the relationship he is wanting to get involved with. They are both trying to court a girl. The difference between Sam and Petruchio is that Sam really does love this girl or at least thinks he does. Petruchio wants money. They both continue on this quest to getting their respective girls. This scene shows how Sam wants to be in a relationship with the girl and it shows his status with her.




“...I’ll attend her here- And woo her with some spirit when she comes! Say that she rail, why then ill tell her plain she sings as sweetly as a nightingale. Say that she frown, I’ll say she looks as clear As morning roses newly washed with dew...”

(Act II, Scene i, Lines 176-181)


In this scene, Petruchio is explaining what he will do to please Katherine. He wants to make her like him so he thinks that complimenting her and everything will make her like him a little more. Any time she says something bad he will kind of contradict it and make it into a compliment.


Likewise, in the movie, Sam is talking to his stepfather because he wants to impress the girl that he likes.


Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 11.35.16 AM
Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 11.35.16 AM

He says, “Girls love musicians, even the really weird ones get girlfriends.”  He later says that there is a big concert that Joanna is in, and he wants to join so that she will see him play and maybe start to like him. Both Sam and Petruchio are willing to do something or say something that they don’t exactly believe in so that they can get the girl they want. Sam wants a girlfriend and Petruchio wants a wife. Both are unsure if this will work, but they are both willing to try and see what happens.


In the end of the movie, Joanna moves back to America where she is from. She does come back for a visit eventually, but we have to remember that they are only 12 and while they may have crushes on each other; this doesn’t build into a relationship, at least from what we can see. Petruchio, gets the wife that he always wanted and the dowry that came along with her. Sam may not get the girl he had been crushing on, but he is still excited that he got to show her how he truly felt.



Works Cited:

1. Shakespeare, William, and W. J. Rolfe. Shakespeare's Comedy of the Taming of the Shrew. New York: Harper & Bros., 1881. Print.

2. Love Actually. Dir. Richard Curtis. Perf. Hugh Grant, Thomas Brodie Sangster, Olivia Olsen. 2003. Website.


Father Knows Best

Father Knows Best

Comparing the play “the Taming of the Shrew” to the film “50 First Dates”

Shakespeare’s play, “The Taming of the Shrew” displays the idea that love at first sight truly exists. In the play, when young scholar Lucentio comes to Padua and sees Bianca for the first time, he immediately falls in love. Lucentio decides from that moment on that he will do whatever it takes to marry Bianca. Similarly, in the film “50 First Dates,” Henry, a Hawaiian player, falls for a local girl named Lucy who suffers from short term memory loss. The second he sees her, he feels more strongly about her than he has for any other girl, which leads him to pull crazy stunts to try and get Lucy to fall for him everyday. Not only do Lucentio and Henry have to convince their perspective women to fall for them, but they also have to convince the girls’ fathers. The fathers in both the play and movie are skeptical of the potential relationships.


Even though both men go through similar processes when trying to win over the women of their dreams, they have different obstacles. For one, the two obstacles Lucentio faces when trying to marry Bianca are that she has many different suitors after her, and also that her father won’t let her marry until his eldest daughter is married. The two obstacles Henry faces are that she forgets who he is everyday, leaving him to convince her to fall for him all over again daily. The other obstacle faced by Henry is that Lucy’s father has no intention of ever allowing Lucy to get married as he wants to protect her. Even though their are a couple specific differences between the play and the movie, the overall messages remain the same. These texts show that even though love at first sight is real, the woman’s father will always have the final say in marriage.


“I firmly am resolved you know:

That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter

Before I have a husband for the elder.”


(Act I, Scene i, 48-51)


In this quote, two suitors have approached Baptista, Bianca’s father, with interest in marrying Bianca. Baptista lays down the law by telling them he will decide when Bianca is able to be married.

In “50 First Dates,” Lucy’s father also has strong commandments that must be followed.


Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 10.47.20 AM
Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 10.47.20 AM

In this scene from “50 First Dates,” Henry goes to Lucy’s house for the first time. Lucy’s father, Marlin, stops Henry from coming inside, and pulls him to the back of the house to give him a talk. This would be expected out of a father of a teenager, or a younger girl, however Henry and Lucy are both adults. Marlin is in complete charge of Henry and Lucy’s relationship, and is the determining factor of whether Henry will even be allowed to see Lucy or not. Both the film and the play have a strong father character who is not willing to back down from his rules.



“They have by marriage made thy daughter mine

While counterfeit supposes bleared thine eyne.”


(Act V, Scene i, 120-121)


In this quote, Lucentio has just confessed to deceiving Baptista in order to win Bianca’s love. This quote shows how Lucentio knew that Baptista would make the decisions for Bianca, so he had to go behind Baptista’s back to be with her.

Henry also knows that Lucy’s father will be the determining factor in their relationship, and decides to also pull a few tricks.



Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 10.57.43 AM
Screen Shot 2015-04-20 at 10.57.43 AM

This scene takes place after Marlin tells Henry not to go back to the diner where he meets Lucy. Like Lucentio, Henry knows that Lucy’s father will never allow him to see Lucy, so he goes behind Marlin’s back. Both Lucentio and Henry plan crazy tactics to see the women they love. The difference between the two characters is that Lucentio knows that once Katherine is married first, Baptista will be fine with him marrying Bianca, so he just has to wait to tell Baptista of his shenanigans. With Henry, he doesn’t think that Marlin will ever let him be with Lucy, so he has to find a way to convince Marlin that he is worthy of Lucy’s love.



In both the play “the Taming of the Shrew” and the film “50 First Dates,” it is shown that a woman’s father will make the decisions in her relationship, even if she and her partner already know they are in love. Even after hundreds of years have passed, it is still morally correct, just as it was in Shakespeare’s time, to have the father’s approval of a marriage, or relationship.


The American Changing Shrew



          The classic but controversial William Shakespeare play, “The Taming Of The Shrew” is one that audiences still disagree about . As scholars continue to attempt to understand what Shakespeare was trying to prove by creating a play in which, a once outspoken woman  becomes in full subjection to her husband. Claiming even he is her God.

          Though this is not one of those scholastic papers breaking down this play line for line, this essay will analyze the connections between “The Taming Of The Shrew” and the modern day theatrical film “American Wedding”. There are some themes that rise throughout the plot of the movie that connect characters between the two. One of which is that of supporting character in the movie Steve Stifler to the main character in the play Petruchio. Steve Stifler is like Petruchio in the sense that both are manipulative and change themselves to get what they want. In this case what they want is a woman. As shown in this play and movie, people change who they are to create love where there otherwise would not be any, and when this change is made it is often not genuine.




"Quote from Play"

“You wrong me, Signior Gremio. Give me leave.—

I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,

That hearing of her beauty and her wit,

Her affability and bashful modesty,

Her wondrous qualities and mild behavior,

Am bold to show myself a forward guest

Within your house, to make mine eye the witness

Of that report which I so oft have heard.”

Act 2, Scene 1, lines 49- 58

(Act x, Scene x, line numbers)



At this point in the play, Signior Petruchio is telling Signior Gremio how he plans to woo and charm Katherine, no matter what her personality may be. He says that he is such a gentleman he will overcome her personality. This shows that he feels he needs to be overbearing and very gentle with Katherine for her to fall in love with him. It is learned later in the book that is not truly his character.



Petruchio’s counter piece in the movie “American Wedding”, Steve Stifler, is in a similar but slightly different situation as Petruchio. Stifler meets a woman like Petruchio and supposedly falls for her upon first sight, and then exactly like Petruchio he changes his personality to come off as appealing to what the woman and the woman’s family and friends would like.


IMAGE GOES HERE



At this point in the movie, Stifler, a character known throughout the film for his noisy outbursts, annoyance and lack of respect for others, is about to meet the woman he would later claim to love. Candice, though, as he notices through eavesdropping wants a good man to fall in love with. So Stifler changes himself momentarily to show Candice’s parents first that he is a good guy. This, like what Petruchio did in the play, shows Stifler changing himself to give off an appeal of charm because he believes that is the only way Candice will love him. But it is seen that throughout the film that is not his true character.



"Quote from Play"

You lie, in faith, for you are called plain Kate,

And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst,

But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,

Kate of Kate Hall, my super-dainty Kate—

For dainties are all Kates—and therefore, Kate,

Take this of me, Kate of my consolation:

Hearing thy mildness praised in every town,

Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded—

Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs—

Myself am moved to woo thee for my wife.

(Act x, Scene x, line numbers)

act 2 scene 1, lines 179- 188


Here in the play Petruchio finally meets Katherine for the first time. As recalled earlier in the play he tells Gremio that his charm will make Kate fall in love with him. His tactic to show this charm is to shower her with overbearing compliments of her beauty and character. Later in the book his character is shown as arrogant and rude whereas in this scene in the play he comes off as charming and extremely kind. As shown here Petruchio changes who he is in the hopes of getting Katherine to like him right away, but this change was not genuine because later in the play he decided to show her his true colors.



Steve finds himself in a similar predicament when he first attempts to show candice individually that he is a great guy for her. Earlier in the film it shows Steve overhearing Candice and her sister in the bathroom talking about the perfect guy for her. Coincidentally Steve tries to replicate and become everything she says when he meets her.



IMAGE GOES HERE



Steve much like Petruchio finds himself in front of Candice trying to make the best possible first impression he can make. He comes off as sweet and endearing to her and in her mind he is her perfect man. Towards the end of the film there is a scene where Steve is shown acting out of character and she realizes he is nothing like who she thought he was. Steve decided to use the same tactic as Petruchio and change himself to get the girl, but like Petruchio the girl realizes he is not who he claims to be in the end which is why the change is not genuine.



In the end it is shown throughout both situations that the male feels as though he has to be the perfect guy for the girl in order to be in a relationship with her. Petruchio changes to be sweet and endearing and so does Steve. Both changes though are not genuine, and it therefore causes complications in the relationship. Society’s views on relationships shows this ideal in full, Steve’s modern day situation with Candice shows the model for relationships everywhere. The woman wants the perfect guy and so people change who they are to create love where there otherwise would not be any, and when this change is made it is often not genuine.










Worked Cited:


"The Taming of the Shrew." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Taming_of_the_Shrew>.


"American Wedding." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0328828/>.



Movie Visual Essay

“The Taming of the Shrew” is one of the is one of the earliest romantic comedies that has survived. In the play several men such as Lucentio, Hortensio, and Petruchio chase after women. In the 1985 movie “St. Elmo’s Fire”, Kirby is just like these men in this aspect except for the fact that the woman he is after is already in a relationship.




Kirby shares similarities to Lucentio as they both attempt to get the woman but fail. While their actions are similar their situations, the outcomes are different. Kirby is trying to get a woman who is much older than him while she is in a relationship, while Lucentio falls in love with someone of a similar socioeconomic class. Since Kirby is trying to get a woman older than him, so he is considered bolder and less caring of the social norm to marry a woman younger or around someone’s age. The fact that Kirby is just as eager to get close to Dale as Luciento is to Katherine is a sign of how the boundaries of what is considered an abnormal marriage are changing. The difference between “The Taming of the Shrew” and “St. Elmo Fire” is proof that people are becoming more open minded to people of very different ages and socioeconomic statuses being in relationship.


“You will be schoolmaster and undertake the teaching of the maid: That’s your device” (Act i, Scene i,  43)


In this quote Tranio is describing the idea he has for how Lucentio can get close to Bianca. The fact that Lucentio went along with this shows to what extremes he will go to in order to get with a woman. He does this in the spur of the moment as he just saw her pass him by for the first time.


Kirby finds himself in a similar situation with Dale except he is much more infatuated with her.

Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.02.17 AM.png

“What’s the meaning of life? Dale Biberman”


In this scene of “St. Elmo’s Fire” Kirby is talking about how Dale whom he just saw at a hospital is the love of his life even though they spent years apart without contact. He does not care about the advice from his friend, which is to not to go after her because of her age and the fact that she is already in a relationship. He completely disregards the advice and goes after her anyway. He is willing to change his college major from law to medicine in order to get closer to her, which is similar to what Lucentio was doing when he disguised himself as Bianca’s tutor. While Lucentio had nothing to get in his way such as socioeconomic status. Kirby has the problem of her age and socioeconomic status, which shows just how much men have changed over the centuries in their pursuit of women and have changed what they consider to be an acceptable relationship.



Preposterous ass, that never read so To know the cause of why music was ordained. (Act ii, Scene i, 109)

This is from when Lucentio, while disguised as Cambio was talking to Hortensio about how he should go first. He acts very pompous and believes he is more important than Hortensio when trying to get Bianca. She then does let Lucentio teach her first. His attitude is a sign of how confident he is that she will marry him.


“And deep down for a long time I’ll wonder if somehow this isn’t my loss”

In this scene Dale is telling Kirby how she regrets not being able to be in a relationship with him. She kisses him on the cheek and then he kisses her on the lips and she embraces it. This shows how even while their ages are far apart and she has a higher socioeconomic status than him she would still want to have been in a relationship with him.


What is considered an appropriate marriage today and during the time “The Taming of the Shrew” was written are completely different. Marriage is about more than marrying someone who is in the same age group and socioeconomic class. Now its about finding anyone who you love and who loves you no matter the differences between them.






Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Taming of the Shrew. New York: Washington Square, 2002. Print.

St. Elmo's Fire. Dir. Joel Schumacher. Perf. Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Demi Moore, Judd Nelson, Ally Sheedy, and Mare Winningham,. 1985.

Truly She’s Not All That

Comparing “The Taming of the Shrew” to “She’s All That”



In the play, “The Taming of the Shrew,” proves that men try to beautify their women, which in turn fuels their ego and eventually the men get something out of it. In, “Shrew,” Petruchio marries Katherine to obtain her wealth, and makes her become a better person. In the 1999 movie, “She’s All That,” Zach Siler tries to do the same, but to transform Laney Boggs into a prom queen to win a bet.


In both mediums of entertainment, the man tries to change the woman, in which he gets something out of it at the end. By achieving this, they boost their ego, and the women are more likeable, but their situations are different. In “Shrew,” Petruchio is married to Katherine and already promised 20 crowns. Then he tries to tame her attitude, and neither party truly loves each other by the end of the play. Although in “She’s All That,” Zach makes the bet before knowing the girl, and ends up falling in love with her. Guys play women as though they are easily changed objects and think they’re the greatest ever by doing so if they are successful. These two situations are in very different time periods, but it shows how the male’s idea of dating and/or women in general has stayed the same. These texts reflect that men stay trying to change the women for their benefit and because of this, the woman becomes more attractive.


"Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented

That you shall be my wife, your dowry 'greed on,

And, will you, nill you, I will marry you….For I am he am born to tame you, Kate,

And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate

Conformable as other household Kates."

(Act 2, Scene 1, 259-268)

Petruchio meets Katherine for the first time, and makes it clear that he is going to marry her, that the dowry is already set, and his job is to tame her. Petruchio already knows that Katherine isn’t the most pleasant person in the world to say the least, and that people hate her because of this. Since he’s going to be married to her, conforming her personality to be nicer adds to his benefit. By doing such a deed the people who dislike Katherine will see how she has become tamer and will find her more amusing.

Similarly to the movie, “She’s All That,” Zack knows that Laney has more of an introverted personality and isn’t really a people pleaser, so he tries to make more characteristics about her more appealing.


Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 10.20.08 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 10.20.08 PM

Zach shows up at Laney’s house to convince her to go to a party. She says she has nothing to wear so he gives her a short, red dress that shows cleavage, but then she complains she’s a mess. Zack brings along his sister to help change Laney’s look by doing her makeup and even cutting her hair to her shoulders. Even now, the guy is trying to beautify her. Zack is the most popular boy in school, and since he is going to a party with Laney, he wants her to look more on his level. By changing one of the most “plain Jane” looking girls in the school to a beautiful prom queen, would be the ultimate achievement in showing Zack’s high school career. When Zack changes Laney to look more acceptable, the people around Laney see her as more attractive rather than boring or not even noticing her at all.


"Tut, she’s a lamb, a dove, a fool to him!

I’ll tell you, Sir Lucentio: when the priest

Should ask if Katherine should be his wife,

“Ay, by gogs wouns!” quoth he, and swore so loud

That, all amazed, the priest let fall the book,

And as he stooped again to take it up,

The mad-brained bridegroom took him such a cuff

That down fell priest and book, and book and priest.

“Now take them up,” quoth he, “if any list.”"

(Act 3, Scene 2, 130-139)

Gremio(who is a suitor for Bianca -Katherine’s younger sister) is talking to Tranio(who is a servant) about how at the wedding, Petruchio made Katherine look like an innocent child next to him. Petruchio had flipped out at the wedding to the priest and caused an uproar. By him doing such in front of a crowd with Katherine next to his side, makes Katherine look like a goddess. Petruchio decided to act in such an abrupt manner because Katherine will be embarrassed of Petruchio, and know that that’s not an acceptable way to act in front of people. Once she know’s this, she will act in a calmer manner all the time. Even though Katherine has a foul attitude, by Petruchio such shows Katherine off, which is why Gremio said Katherine was an innocent child. Compared to Petruchio in this scene, people are seeing the difference in Katherine. She acts as a lamb or dove, and to Petruchio she becomes more pleasing to others than him. Slowly but surely Petruchio is conforming Katherine’s attitude by being ruder than her so people will like her better.

Zack is slowly, but surely changing Laney as well, and people are noticing.


Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 10.36.43 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 10.36.43 PM

Dean, Zack’s best friend is talking to Zack about “tapping”(having sex) with Laney. Zack says that hanging out with her isn’t about getting any. Dean asks if he could then partake because now since all of sudden due to Laney’s new looks and popularity, she’s become more attractive. Since Zack has spent so much time changing Laney to become better, people have noticed which is why Dean asks if it’s okay if he could have sex with her.

Both texts portray men as having the same outlook on women; women need to look a certain way in order to be considered “dateable.” The Taming of the Shrew was written in 1593, while “She’s All That,” was produced in 1999. These two texts are written over 400 years between each other, but both show that society deems it as okay that men change these women for their benefit, as long as the woman becomes a better version of herself. The portrayals of men and women in both the play and movie tell the viewer that in society, that there are certain physical and emotional expectations in courtship/dating.  


Works Cited:

Shakespeare, William, and Barbara A. Mowat. The Taming of the Shrew. Washington Square Press New Folger's ed. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.


She's All That. Perf. Freddie Prinze Jr, Rachael Leigh Cook, Paul Walker. Miramax Home Entertainment ;, 1999. Film.


"The Taming of the Shrew." SparkNotes. SparkNotes. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://nfs.sparknotes.com/shrew/>.


The Beginners Guide to Love in the Past and the Future

(Comparing “Beginners” and “The Taming of the Shrew”)


In the 417 years between when the play “The Taming of the Shrew” (1592) was written and the movie “Beginners” (2010) premiered, a lot has changed about what people see in relationships and love. In the play in one of the main characters is the titular “Shrew” Katherine, is a very loud mouthed and independent woman, at least until Petruccio marries her and she starts to become more subversive to him. In the movie “Beginners” is about a man, Oliver, who learns that his father; Hal, is not only dying but is gay, and reflects back onto his parents unhappy marriage that they were both forced into due to the circumstances and prejudice that existed at the time.



Both of these characters had very large personalities that were subverted due to their marriages and had to change themselves for it, although not for the better. “The Taming of the Shrew” and “Beginners” both show that changing yourself in a relationship will someone unhappy.



Kathrine:

“I pray you, sir is it your will to make me stale of  me amongst these mates?”       


HORTENSIO

“Mates,” maid? How mena you that? No Mates for  you, Unless were of gentler, milder mold.                                 


(Act 1. Sc . 1 lines 59-61)


In this scene Hortensio is talking with Kathrine about getting married, but Hortensio is arguing that little men would want her unless she was a calmer, gentler person in comparison to her rougher personality. As you can see , society, represented here by Hortensio, expects Katherine  to comply to what  it wants- which would be a calmer demeanor and attitude, though it is not in her own personal interests. To change herself for a marriage, with someone who; at this point in the play, Katrine doesn’t even know.

Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 8.16.36 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 8.16.36 PM

This is similar to much of Hal’s life in which he had to marry and live with a woman for most of his life, while  secretly being a gay man. This was due to the societal conventions of the times he lived in in which being gay was thought to be a mental illness, with his therapist, and to a certain degree his wife when she first proposed, telling him that as much. Hiding his true feelings and sexuality for fear of losing “everything” restricted  life, and even his happiness for what he would sexuality, emotionally or otherwise.                                                                                                                                                          



KATHARINA

...

“And place your hands below your husband's foot: In token of which duty, if he please, My hand is ready; may it do him ease.


PETRUCHIO

Why, there's a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.


In this scene it truly shows how far Katherine has “fallen” from her former self. After a barrage of physiological attacks from Petruchio her fire has almost died down leaving her an obedient shell of her former self. She obviously isn’t happy with her new surroundings; who would like to be starved and sleep deprived? But in order to receive these basic human needs she needed to change- again quite dramatically- for the sake of the relationship, and even her own well being for the better part.


Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.41.30 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.41.30 PM

However in contrast, when we see Hal refer back and started living his life as an out gay man, he is tremendously happier. With a loving relationship a plethora of new friends and hosting parties as demonstrated in an early montage in the movie he clearly is a happy, and presumably happier man. Because he changed himself for his relationship with Hal’s mother he wasn’t able to live the majority of his life as he wanted to. At one point he goes to a gay bar for the first time and tells his son it was more for young men, than him at 78. He states  “I don't want to just be theoretically gay. I want to do something about it.” showing that he’s lived his life so repressed from his true personality and that, now that his wife has passed away, he can live his life as he;s always wanted.



KATHERINE

No shame but mine. I must, forsooth, be forced, To give my hand, opposed against my heart,, Unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen, Who wooed in haste and means to wed at leisure. I told you, I, he was a frantic fool, Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behavior, And, to be noted for a merry man, He’ll woo a thousand, 'point the day of marriage, Make friends, invite, and proclaim the banns, Yet never means to wed where he hath wooed. Now must the world point at poor Katherine And say, “Lo, there is mad Petruchio’s wife, If it would please him come and marry her!”

(act 3. sc2)

In this it shows Katherine's frustration in approaching an unhappy marriage with Petruchio in which she’ll be reduced to being “Petruchio's crazy wife”. Surely the fact that she is tough to marry doesn’t escape her but it hardly seems to bother her; especially as Petruchio remains her best option at this point. Up until this point her identity has been mostly about her, while not all positive- being the titular “shrew” and having a reputation in the plays story, however now with Petruchio in the picture, her identity will always be second to him, and her relationship to him.


Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.34.46 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.34.46 PM

In this revealing scene, Hal reveals to Oliver that Oliver’s mother knew that Hal was gay but that she claimed that she “could fix that”. This relates to Taming of the Shrew as they both show examples of people unhappy with change, and their true personalities being reverted to their relationship to someone they truly do not love. In Hall's case it shows, that while he enjoyed his life as a whole, he clearly wished he could have lived as he wanted to- being out as a gay man.


In conclusion both The Taming of the Shrew and Beginners show how changing oneself for a relationship doesn’t make them happy. What is interesting to note that while Taming of the Shrew shows someone who is getting deeper and changing himself for their unhappy relationship, Beginners shows someone; both literally and metaphorically, coming out of such a relationship and becoming happier with the life he has left. The messages presented in both The Taming of the Shrew and Beginners are truly universal and can be shown as a cautionary tale for someone not to go into such a relationship but can also be used as a means of inspiration to any poor individual's stuck in such a situation.

Works Cited:
  • Beginners. Dir. Mark Mills. Perf. Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic. Focus Features, 2010. Film
  • Shakespeare, William. The Taming of The Shrew. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.

"Shrew? You Keep Using that Word. I Don't Think it Means What You Think it Means."

The Taming of the Shrew and the Princess Bride

The classic play, The Taming of the Shrew, written by Shakespeare is arguably the original romantic comedy. The Princess Bride, and 1980’s film, is a more modern romantic comedy, even though it takes place in a world resembling medieval Europe. The characters from the play that will mentioned most are Bianca, Lucentio, and Petruchio. From the Princess Bride, the characters of Buttercup, Westley and Prince Humperdinck will be analyzed.


There’s numerous similarities and differences between the characters but most similarities can be drawn from the interactions the characters have with each other. The two texts reflect that regardless of relationship status, men and women of a certain ilk will interact in set ways, portrayed in the roles they play such as dominant, subservient, or respectful.


Hic ibat as I have told you before Simois, I am Lucentio hic est son of Vincentio of Pisa Sigeia tellus, disguised to get your love.”

  • Lucentio page 111 Act 3. Sc. 1 Lines 33-35


In this scene, Lucentio is letting Bianca in on his plan to wed her and win her love. He’s being sneaky outwardly as he is masking is true intent from prying ears by speaking his intentions in between lines of Latin.


Westley conveys his love using a similar train of thought.



“As You Wish” -Westley


In the beginning of the film, Westley was a  farm boy at Buttercup’s farm. Whenever she requested something of him he responded by saying, “As you wish.” Buttercup later realizes this is his way of saying, “I love you.”

Westley is discreet, much how Lucentio was, in professing his love. Both men confessed their love in ways that would only be understood by the intended, Buttercup and Bianca. These men are of a strong willed and honest nature and, therefore, are willing to do moral things to get their woman. These moral things can also be construed as romantic, another trait both of these men share.

A difference in the courtship methods of Lucentio and Westley  are the levels of discrepancy. Lucentio’s methods are much more humorous, as they are poorly veiled and obvious to Bianca from the start. Westley, on the other hand, speaks in riddles and codes. It takes Buttercup much longer to decipher the meaning behind, “As you wish.”


“This is the way to kill a wife with kindness”     

-Petruchio Page Page 153 Act 4 Sc. 1 Line 208


In this quote, Petruchio, the master of deceit and cunning, is making a speech to himself concerning the taming of his wife. He means to do horrible things to her, all in the name of love and kindness.

In the Princess Bride, there is a character whose evil tendencies do match Petruchio’s.


“Please consider me as an alternative to suicide.”

-Prince Humperdinck


Prince Humperdinck is Buttercup’s betrothed. He chose to marry her and she went along with it because she believed her true love, Westley, to be dead. In this point in the movie, she knows Westley is alive and tells Prince Humperdinck that she will not marry him and if she is forced too, she will be dead by morning. Prince Humperdinck agrees to send word out to Westley (who is being held captive in the dungeons) that Buttercup wishes to marry him and not the Prince. Of course, the Prince is bluffing and never sends out word, leaving Buttercup to believe her true love abandoned her and that she must marry Humperdinck.

Both men are manipulative. They’re of a cruel and conniving nature. This makes them likely to take advantage of weaker people, as they both did. Although Buttercup, being likened to Bianca, is the one being taken advantage of by Humperdinck, Katherine is the one being abused by Petruchio.

“Why, there’s a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.”

-Petruchio page 221 Act 5 Sc. 2 Line 196


In The Taming of the Shrew, near the end of the play, Katherine makes a speech about the role of women. After her sudden change of heart, her husband Petruchio tells her to come and kiss him. The play then ends shortly after.

Here is the most obvious difference in the two. The movie ends with Buttercup running away with her true love Westley while the play ends with Katherine becoming “tamed.” Both are considered happy endings, for their time period. Although the ends are vastly different, the connections between characters through their actions are still present. Petruchio and Humperdinck both expect their women to be subservient. The relationship Petruchio and Kate has is that of subservient/ dominant. This is the type of relationship Humperdinck wants from Buttercup.

In the end, times have changed drastically since the Shakespeare’s time and the 1980’s. However, the same general human behaviors relating to love and marriage still stand.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Taming of the Shrew. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.
The Princess Bride. Dir. Rob Reiner. Perf. Cary Elwes and Robin Wright. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp., 1987. DVD.

Taming of the Wedding Crashers

The movie “ Wedding Crashers” is similar to William Shakespeare's “ Taming of the Shrew” in the sense that two guys fake their identities in order to meet women. “Wedding crashers” is a romantic comedy about two guys, John and and Jeremy  who frequently crash weddings in order to meet women. In order to do this, they often have to lie about who they are in order to seem like they were invited to the wedding. This is similar to “Taming of the Shrew” because in the play the characters Hortensio and Lucentio pretend to be different people in order to be with a woman, Bianca. In both “Wedding Crashers” and “Taming of the Shrew” men lie to women about their identities in order to be with them, and this causes conflict for them. It ends up working in wedding crashers, when John successfully gets a woman named Claire to break up with her boyfriend.  Lying in relationship can cause conflict, and may result in successful or failed relationship as seen in the contrasting results of “Wedding Crashers” and Taming of the Shrew” .

In “Taming of the Shrew” Lucentio and Hortensio plan to disguise themselves as teachers in order to be with Bianca. They both collaborate in this scheme to try and be with a girl.


“ You will be schoolmaster and undertake the teaching of the maid: that’s your device.” Tranio, Act 1. sc. 1, 196-198


They are agreeing to work together to disguise themselves as teachers in order to get to, and potentially marry Bianca,  because the plan won’t work for either of them if they give each other away. But their is some competition between them, as they both want the same woman. They have a mutual understanding that allows them to work together, but in the end, only one of them can marry Bianca.


In “Wedding Crashers”John and Jeremy are also planning what their disguised identities are going to be. They need to do this in order to meet girls at the wedding.

John plans the backstory to be “We’re brothers from New Hampshire, and we’re venture capitalists.” John (left), 23:34


John and Jeremy have to plan false identities in order to meet women, just like Lucentio and Hortensio. They are collaborating in order to do this.John and Jeremy’s cooperation with one another, however is stronger because they are not competing for the same woman, like Lucentio and Hortensio.

Lies are often seen through, and the truth is revealed. If Lucentio wants to marry Bianca, she has to find out who he really is. He quietly tells her during a philosophy lesson who he really is and what his intentions are. He does so discretely so that Hortensio will not hear.


His ibat, as I told you before, Simois, I am Lucentio, his est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa, ⎾Sigeia⏋tellus, disguised thus to get your love, Hic steterat, and that “Lucentio” that comes a-wooing, Priami, is my man Tranio, regia, bearing my port, celsa senis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon.” Lucentio, Act 3. sc. 1, 33-39


The charade of Lucentio and Hortensio being teachers was only meant to be temporary. The plan was to use the disguise in order to meet Bianca, and then one of them would marry her. At some point the truth would have to revealed.


In “ Wedding Crashers” Claire, the girl that John is in love with, finds out about who he is before John gets a chance to tell her. John admits everything later, because if he wants to have any chance of being with her she has to find out who he really his.

“For longer than I care to remember, my business has been crashing weddings. I crashed weddings to meet girls.”

This is similar to taming of the shrew, accept for the fact the Claire found out who John was before he admitted it. John did eventually give her the full story of his situation though. When these people lie to meet women, they eventually have to reveal their true selves in order to succeed.


Bianca doesn’t want to marry Lucentio after he admits everything. She tells him that his strategy for trying to be with her was foolish and ineffective.


“ The more fool you are for laying on my duty.” Bianca, Act 5. sc. 2, 143


Lying to a woman in order to be with her did not work for Lucentio nor Hortensio. Lying can cause conflict, and can damage a potential relationship.


Things work out better in Wedding Crashers. When John admits who he is, Claire quietly takes it in. Her boyfriend, Zack shows the general feeling that everyone, including Claire, has about John at that moment.

“ This congregation really doesn’t care about how depressing your life is, John.”  Zack, 2:29:02


Claire initially feels like John is pathetic after he tells her who he really is. She doesn’t want to be with him at first, but she eventually changes her mind. Lying worked for John in “ Wedding Crashers” in the end because he ended up worth Claire.  


“Taming of the Shrew” and  “Wedding Crashers” shows that with lying comes conflict, because the person being lied to feels betrayed. This is a risk factor in lying, but sometimes lying can actually work, as seen in “ Wedding Crashers”. Lying is a gamble, and one must decide if they are willing to take the risk.
Sometimes it is seen as the only popular course of action, like it was  in these two stories. Society does not condone lying in relationships, but sometimes it can actually work in establishing a successful relationship.


Works Cited


Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. New York City: Folger Shakespeare Library, 1992. Print.


Wedding Crashers. Dir. David Dobkin. Perf. Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn. New Line Cinema, 2006. Online.


Pleasure May Not Always Be The Right Pleasure

Pleasure May Not Always Be The Right Pleasure

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “Deliver Us From Eva”

By Kadija Koita



In the book “Taming of the Shrew” Katherine is one of the main characters is somewhat unfriendly and is completely shut off with the idea that someone could be in love with her. She is a  in the book and seems very closed off to love and anything that has to do with it.  Many people believe she is evil and a “shrew”, thus the name of the book. A very confident Petruchio tries to woo Katherine into marrying him, which may seem impossible, but works out at the end.

 In the 2003 movie “Deliver us from Eva”, the main character Eva, played by Gabrielle Union, has a lot of similarities to the main character in the book, Katherine. The plot of the movie is mainly about a woman named Evangeline Dandridge who is uptight and mean to her sister`s spouses. In order to get them out Eva out their hairs, the husbands get the town`s player Raymond played by LL Cool J, to go out on a date with her for $5,000. All goes well, but the plan is skewed when Raymond actually falls in love with Eva.  One similarity is that many people believed that Katherine was evil and that many people believed that someone needed to “tame” her. Although there are lots of differences, such being that Katherine was never in love with someone prior to falling in love with Petruchio, but Eva was once in love before falling for the movie character, Raymond. Petruchio is being compared to Raymond  who is payed to go out with Eva in the movie but seemingly falls for her in the end. This is the same that goes on in the book, although Petruchio knows he must marry her in order to get the dowry, and Raymond must try and go out with Eva in order to get the $5,000. In these two love stories, it shows that even though many other parties try to interfere themselves in the relationship, the two parties have to be the ones that are truly involved with each other in order for the relationship to succeed.



    

In this scene the three husbands, Mike, Darrell, and Tim have just been kicked out of Tim`s house for watching football. In a prior scene, Eva made them get out after saying this whole speech, just to basically say get out. They think that Eva is so mean and they dislike her so much. She controls their lives and make them feel like they are being controlled. The reason for them being kicked out is because Eva and her sisters needed the room to do a book club meeting. The three husbands had to go to the bar instead. While they are there, Mike  sees an old friend (Raymond) who they think can woo Eva to get her out their marriages. They have a little discussion in the bar and come to an epiphany that Raymond may be the one to get Eva out of all of their marriages. Mike even continues and says “This can work with Ray, the boy is a specialist, he is a master player.”  In comparison to Petruchio, Raymond is in it for the money at first. They both want to woo a lady who obviously has a hard time letting people in. On the contrary, Petruchio has to marry her for her father`s dowry and all raymond needs to do is go out with her a few times to get a couple thousands dollars. Which connects to my next quote from the book.




Tranio says “Ay, mistress, and Petruchio is the master, That teacheth tricks eleven and twenty long. To tame a shrew and charm her chattering tongue.” (Act iii./SC 2/ Line 213-20)


Tranio, Gremio and lucentio can all be compared to Mike, Darell, and Tim, the husbands who need Eva to date someone in order to get her out their hairs. In this scene Tranio, Lucentio and Bianca are all having a conversation about how they have someone for Katherine. At first Bianca is hesitant, but Tranio assures her that he is good and will marry Katherine in a day. In comparison, Gremio and Mike are the characters being compared because they try and find someone that will woo Katherine. They make sure the person has experience in basically charming women. In contrast, in the book, they involve Katherine`s sister in the conversation to let her know, but in the movie Eva`s sisters never know about what is going on with their husbands are doing. They know about Raymond, but never know his true motives. In the book, Bianca doesn't know Petruchio`s true motives either, but knows that Gremio and lucentio are trying to find Katherine someone that can woo her, so that she can get married, and eventually Bianca can then get married. This flows into my next scene to connect more with my thesis.




In this scene Ray is outside of Eva`s job, because he is trying to convince her that he is the one for her and to let him in again. The reason that it is the second time that Ray is trying to be closer to Eva is because Eva found out that he was doing a bet on her the whole entire time and that he wasn't truly in love with her. Although Ray claims that he was by saying “I am never, ever going to find another woman like you.” As you can see Eva is fed up and is now closed off to anything that Ray has to say. This compares to the book because Petruchio, also tries and say something like this to Katherine and makes her feel that he really and truly wants her. Both Petruchio and Ray, seem to use their words wisely into charming these women, Katherine and Eva, so they can ultimately be together in the end. On the contrary, Petruchio never ever reveals to Katherine that the only reason for him wanting her is because he wants her father`s dowry. Petruchio only commits to Katherine because of the money and Katherine never knows that. Ray tells Eva, thus making him pushed more away and for Eva`s wall to be back up. This leads up to the next quote from the book.



Katherine says “Nay, then, Do what thou canst, I will not go today, No, nor tomorrow, not till I please myself. The door is open, sir. There lies your way. You may be jogging whilst your boots are green. For me, I`ll not be gone till I please myself. `Tis like you`ll prove a jolly surly groom, That take it on you at the first roundly.” (Act iii./SC 2/ Line 213-20)


     In this quote Katherine is basically yelling at Petrucio telling him that if he doesn't love her, he can leave. She feels that she needs someone that is really going to be there for her, as to anyone who wants to be in love. In comparison to the movie character Eva, Katherine also explains to her lover that if he is not here to lover her  then they can stop wasting their time and get out their life. Both Ray and Petruchio have had to make their mark to woo these two women. In contrast though, Petruchio walked out right before this scene, which is the reason for this quote. Ray never stopped trying to charm Eva, but was always persistent. Petruchio was not very persistent, often putting his confidence on a 10.




Screen Shot 2015-04-19 at 5.43.34 PM.png

In this end scene, Ray just confessed his true love to Eva in front of everyone at her job. Eva had been lied to and put Ray in the doghouse. In order to woo her finally, Ray had to really show Eva that he loved her, and that was by buying her a horse that she always wanted as shown on the left in the picture. In comparison to the book, both couples ended up being together and either one of the parties confessing their love to their partners. Although in contrast, in the movie Ray confessed his love to Eva in front of all her co-workers, on the other hand in the book, Katherine actually confesses her love to Petruchio in front of all their family and friends. This may be kind of shocking, go off that in the book, Petruchio was the one that was supposed to be charming Katherine and saying that he loved her, but Katherine confessed her love to Petruchio, which was the moral of the title, “Taming of the Shrew”.








Petruchio says: Why, there`s a wrench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate. (Act 5./ SC.2/ Line 197)



This is a later scene,when Katherine has just confessed her true love for Petruchio in front of all her friends and has in a way been “tamed”. She says how she will be by his side and will do as a wife is supposed to. Comparing this to the movie, Katherine and Ray are very similar, in that being that they both tell their lovers that they surrender themselves into loving them completely. Also both Petruchio and Ray are the ones to finally grab their women and say “kiss me”. In contrast Petruchio's tactics are still to get Katherine`s dowry, but Ray has completely dismissed that notion and only want Eva.




Ray and Eva and Petruchio and Katherine obviously all have something in common, they all want something. Weather it be love or money. In the beginning the road is rocky and it seems that the men in both texts are trying to charm the woman, but in the “Taming of the Shrew” Katherine is the one to confess her love to Petruchio. Interference from outside parties may not always be the right thing to do when it comes to relationships, because it`s up to the 2 original parties to truly feel something, even if it`s not there at first.














Work Cited:

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. New York: Penguin, 1977. Print.

Deliver Us from Eva. Universal, 2003. DVD.


The Trap of the Shrewd: A comparison between The Taming of the Shrew and The Parent Trap

The Parent Trap (1998) is about two girls, Hallie and Annie, who go to a camp and find out that they are twins, but separated after birth, one living with their mom and one living with their dad. When their camp is over they switch places in an effort to try to get their mom and dad back together, so they can all live together. When Annie goes back with their dad, she finds out that their dad picked up a summer girlfriend named Meredith and that they are planning on getting married later on in the summer. Meredith is 10 years younger than their dad and immediately, Annie doesn’t like her. In The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is up for the challenge of marrying Katherine, a daughter of a wealthy man because of the dowry that goes along with Katherine. Marrying Katherine is perceived as a challenge because she is someone who is grumpy and not well liked. These two stories show that society’s values around courtship and marriage have not changed because both suitors are in the relationship for the money.


In Taming of the Shrew, everyone thinks that Petruchio is a little crazy when he says that he would be willing to marry Katherine. Petruchio just really wants the dowry from Katherine.


“Then tell me, if I get your daughter’s love, What dowry shall I have with her to wife?” - page 83 (Act 2. Scene 1)


In this scene Petruchio is talking to Baptista, Katherine’s father and Hortensio, a suitor for Katherine’s sister. Hortensio was surprised and confused as to why Petruchio would want to marry someone as crazy and ill-tempered as Katherine. When Petruchio mentions that he has a wealthy background, he also mentions Katherine’s dowry to Baptista. The dowry was either a piece of land or money or both that the father would give to the husband to ensure that he would stay with the wife. Petruchio only really thinks about marrying Katherine because of the money involved with her.



In The Parent Trap, Meredith pretends to be nice and sweet but Annie and Hallie can see right through her act. She wants to marry their dad because he has so much money.


Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.13.30 PM.png

In this scene, Meredith is meeting Annie for the first time. Annie already knows some rumors about why Meredith, age 26, is marrying their dad, who is at least 20 years older than her. The rumors are saying that she just wants the money that goes with the winery that Annie’s dad owns. Meredith is slightly nervous because Annie seems like an obstacle in the way of her and the money. Meredith already has lots of money being a publicist but she has want to always have more, enforcing the idea that more is always better. In this way, she is alike to Petruchio because they are both in the relationship for money even though they have already have a good amount from their families.


“And to conclude, we have ‘greed so well together That upon Sunday is the wedding day.” - page 97 (Act 2, Scene 1)


In this scene, Petruchio has finished talking to Katherine and has told her father that they are ready to be married because Katherine loves him. Katherine, in fact, does not love him or even slightly like him, so Petruchio is flat out lying to Baptista so he can get the dowry and money quicker. At this point in the play, some people believe that he has forgotten about the money and only thinks of Katherine as a challenge to overcome by annoying her. Petruchio must have some concern about the dowry still, because it is a large amount of money and land.



Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 9.30.57 PM.png


In this scene, Annie confronts Meredith about her intentions of marrying her father. Meredith gets defensive and mean but doesn’t deny the rumor that she is marrying for money. Meredith sees the girls as a roadblock in front of her money, so she tries hard to get rid of them. She is lying to their father that she likes them and that she would be a good stepmother for them. Petruchio lies to Katherine’s father about how he got her to love him, so that Petruchio could get the dowry. Later on in the movie, Meredith mentions to her father about how much money her boyfriend has and how in love with the money she is. This reminds the audience how driven she is for the money and how much she wants to have more and more.


Petruchio seems like a better person because eventually he forgets the idea of the money that Katherine comes with, or so it seems. He then moves on to the goal of taming Katherine by giving her an ultimatum; agree with everything he says or she won’t be well fed. Since Petruchio is stuck with Katherine, after marrying her for the money, he has to figure out a way to live with her and make her tame. Meredith, at the end of the movie, gives the girls’ father an ultimatum; herself or the girls. She gets so fed up with the girls’ antics and tricks that she is willing to give up the large amount of money that their father has for some peace. In both of the stories, the greedy character has to overcome some obstacles or roadblocks that are in the way of the money that they want. In the end, Petruchio gets the money along with the woman, but Meredith doesn’t succeed. In Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio is willing to live with a bitter woman for money and in The Parent Trap, Meredith is willing to marry a man that she doesn’t particularly love for money. This shows that society’s view on marriage and courtship is that people will marry for money, no matter what they have to deal with on the road to money.


Sources:

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square, 1992. Print.

The Parent Trap. Dir. Nancy Meyers. Prod. Charles Shyer. Buena Vista Pictures, 1998. DVD.


Time to Make Your Own Life Choices

Time to Make Your Own Life Choices

A Comparison between the Taming of the Shrew and Coming to America

Social justice is a thing that most people strive for. This includes everything from equal rights among different races to equal rights among different genders. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare is the story of two different couples going down very different paths to find love. One man needs to fight other men off to win his future bride, while another has to fight his own bride off to earn her respect and adoration. It was written during and about a time where men were thought of and treated as superior beings to women. Since then, times have evolved and so have love stories. Coming to America (1988) is a story of a prince fighting tradition and attempting to find a mate who loves him for who he is on the inside. It is a story of love, deception and comedy. It also displays a strong female lead who knows what she wants and isn’t going to let her father stop her from getting it. Women no longer feel like they need men to be their whole world. This is evident by examples such as those present in the movie Coming to America. Many traditions that used to exist are no longer valid. Even men have more say in their relationships as the parents have a smaller role than ever before. As shown by the differences between Coming to America and Taming of the Shrew, over time, women’s and men’s control over their own lives have become more equal.

The main character in Coming to America is Prince Akeem, played by Eddie Murphy. As the movie opens, Prince Akeem is about to be married to a woman he has never met and is very distraught about the situation. Instead of following tradition and marrying this woman, he decides to take his friend and servant Semmi to America where he can find and earn his bride. However, he believes that any woman that knows who he is will act insincere because of his fortune.Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 8.33.03 AM.png


In this early scene from the movie, Akeem and Semmi arrive in the “strange” land of America and realize immediately that they do not fit in. Akeem wants people to see him as a regular person and knows that his current attire is not the way to do it. He decides to put on a charade where acts as a poor person so that the person he falls in love with will love him for who he is. It is for this reason that I compare Prince Akeem to Lucentio from The Taming of the Shrew. Both are trying to earn their way into their future brides’ hearts by acting as commoners. This shows how traditions have evolved, giving kids more power in their own lives. Prince Akeem showed how times have changed by finding his own bride in the dating world. Lucentio, despite putting on this game, still had to have his servant interact with Baptista, the father of the girl he wants to marry, as at that time, the father played an unbelievably large role in the marriage process.

The girl that Prince Akeem will eventually find and fall in love with is Lisa McDowell. Lisa is the character with the most wide-ranging personality in the movie. When she first meets Akeem, she is romantically involved with another man named Darryl Jenks. Darryl is a rich man, but he is insensitive, slightly abusive and an all around obnoxious person.mQBp1ornAh4y6MaP9dyceXQTJ4I.jpg


In this scene Darryl is trying to charm his way into Lisa’s life. I would compare Darryl to the character Petruchio from The Taming of the Shrew. Both characters are very wealthy and use this wealth to try and control their mates. Another big similarity is that both characters feel the need to lock down their girlfriends or companions because of their beauty and wealth. However, at this time, both of their counterparts do not want marriage, so Petruchio and Darryl each lied to the respective fathers saying that they and their girlfriends agreed to get married. They both say this without their girlfriends’ (Katherine and Lisa, respectively) consent, but each is met with a much different result.

In the Taming of the Shrew Petruchio announces that he and Katherine have agreed to be married to which she responds with a lot of anger and sadness.

“Petruchio: ...And to conclude, we have ‘greed so well together that upon Sunday is the wedding day.

Katherine: I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first.” (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 314-316)

Despite Katherine’s obvious and severe protests to this potential marriage, no one seems to care. This is mainly because she is a woman at a time where they received little to no respect. Meanwhile, in Coming to America, Darryl announces the same thing about Lisa. At first Lisa is so upset that she storms out of the room, but when she talks to Darryl next she tells him off and breaks up with him saying that they will never be married. Her father supports the potential marriage because of what Darryl has to offer as a caretaker but Lisa does not care. This shows a huge evolution of the female character in a relationship. They have evolved from people that gets no say in their own lives and are forced to stay with whatever men will have them because they cannot provide for themselves, into real people with real rights who can take care of themselves.

Another aspect of relationships that has drastically changed is dating. As evident by the sudden marriage of Petruchio and Katherine, back then, as long as the father was on board, the woman got no say. There was little courtship of the woman, and a great deal courtship toward the father. In The Taming of The Shrew this very tradition occurs, or so Katherine is meant to believe. Despite the fact that it is not true, Petruchio tells Kate that her father agreed to marriage between them and there is nothing she can do about it. While cruel, this was not only possible, but common during this time period.


Petruchio: “Thus in plain terms: your father hath consented that you shall be my wife, your dowry ‘greed on, and will you, nill you, I will marry you. Now Kate, I am a husband for your turn...Here comes your father. Never make denial. I must and will have Katherine to my wife”. (Act 2, Scene 1, Lines 284–295)


In Coming to America the father figure is Cleo McDowell, an upper middle class restaurant owner and father of two daughters. Throughout the movie McDowell is trying to ensure that his eldest daughter, Lisa, not only ends up with the right man, but also ends up with a wealthy man so that he won’t have to worry about her future. It is for this reason that he pushes Darryl on her, and reject Akeem as a potential suitor (until he finds out he is a prince).


Coming-to-America-em18.jpg

In this scene Akeem is shown working at Cleo McDowell’s restaurant as a common janitor. It is for this reason that McDowell rejects him as a suitor, he wants Lisa to have someone who can take care of her and doesn’t care about how she actually feels. This is quite similar to The Taming of The Shrew where the father figure, Baptista, is trying to find the right man for his desirable daughter (Bianca) and any man for his shrewish daughter (Katherine). Baptista talks with suitors seeing who can offer the most to his daughter Bianca, not caring at all for her happiness, and wants to make sure she has a rich husband to provide for her. Here Baptista explains his rules about selling off his daughters, he wants to unload his less desirable daughter before the bidding for his very desirable daughter can begin.

Baptista: 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. If either of you both love Katherina, because I know you well and love you well leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure. (Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 48-54)

The two fathers are very similar in both their tactics and their desires for their daughters. The key difference between the two stories is the result. Because of the social convention at the time, Baptista is completely allowed to sell of his daughters like cattle and they would have to do what he says. Meanwhile, during the time of Coming to America McDowell can push whoever he wants to push on Lisa, but she doesn’t need to rely on a man the way that she would have had to in a different time period. She is free to choose whoever she wants, and even be alone if she so chooses.

Tradition has changed quite drastically as time has went on. Coming to America and The Taming of The Shrew are examples of two love stories with the same basic types of characters, goals, and plot lines and yet they are two stories with such different outcomes. Civil rights have made such a huge difference on the way that people act and think in the 21st century. Thankfully women’s and men’s control over their own lives have become more equal.


Works Cited

Coming to America. Dir. John Landis. Perf. Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Shari Headley and James Earl Jones. Paramount Pictures, 1988. Online Movie.

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shew. New York: Penguin, 1977. Print.


This is Why You can't Have Nice Things

This is Why You can’t Have Nice Things

Comparing relationship expectations between ‘Taming of the Shrew,’ and ‘Not Cool.’



The idea of a solid guideline within relationships has been around for quite sometime, justified by Shakespeare’s ‘Taming of the Shrew.’ Petruchio, an eccentric, exceptionally motivated suitor, seeks to win the affection, (or not,) of Katherine, regardless of what she wants. While this is far from the case today, in the 2014 release, Not Cool, the roles are almost completely switched. the main character, Tori, decides that she can ‘fix,’ her old classmate, Scott,  that made high school a hellish experience for her, only to learn that she has feelings for him.


At a glance, Petruchio and Tori almost have very different motives. Petruchio uses much harsher methods, including starving his own fiancee, in order to have her submit to him. while  Tori, unwilling to forgo the cold demeanor she’d built up for so long, uses more subtle methods  disguised as simple gestures of friendship in order to get what she wants. Despite this, her efforts almost always result in the same thing, her attempt to deny any kind of feeling toward Scott, before because of his lack of change, when in reality, it’s because of her refusal of letting someone else hurt her again. This portrays the constant fear that past relationships will often haunt someone, which forces one to become  against love, perceiving the notion that one is ultimately unlovable, even when it is far from the case.



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.

I tell you, ’tis incredible to believe

How much she loves me. O, the kindest Kate!

She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss

She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath,

That in a twink she won me to her love.

O, you are novices! 'Tis a world to see,

How tame, when men and women are alone,

A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.

(Act II, Scene I, Line 1153 Petruchio)


Petruchio describes the fact that regardless of how Katherine thinks, he will some how manage to ‘tame,’ her, by ensuring she does exactly what he says, has a certain attitude, and ultimately becomes his own pawn. He implies that marrying her, or otherwise keeping her completely under his control will help shape her into another person, giving the audience the idea that she is essentially unable to find someone else that would love her, without proper guidance.


Tori’s take on this approach is almost entirely different, with varying results as she goes.



After confronting Scott one night at a party, and having an encounter while Black Friday shopping, Tori decides to see if she can challenge the previous connotations of Scott’s attitude, and essentially have him gradually change his ways. Hence the introduction of the bucket list with a twist. The list contains different activities that generally hold major consequences, however the entire point, as speculated by Scott, is to loosen up.  It is later revealed, however,  that Tori’s initial intent from the start was to change Scott, in order to be exactly like she was. This gives insight on Tori’s past, which to an extent was ostracized by the fact that most had negative outlooks on her, which caused her to look down at the rest of the world, specifically Scott. These ideas, despite being so small, are a much bigger problem, because they give Tori justification that she is, in fact, vulnerable, and to an extent, unlovable.   This carries out through the movie, and through realizations and actions of her own doing, her mentality is challenged, showing her overall that she in fact, had nothing to hold a tough front over.


Why came I hither but to that intent?

Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?

Have I not in my time heard lions roar?

Have I not heard the sea puff'd up with winds

Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?

Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,

And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?

Have I not in a pitched battle heard

Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?

And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,

That gives not half so great a blow to hear

As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?

Tush, tush! fear boys with bugs.

(Petruchio Act I, Scene II Line 16)


Petruchio, in one of his many speeches, declares in part, that if a man cannot control his wife, he is more often than not, effeminate, and therefore loses a strong sense of masculinity because of it. The problem with this kind of thinking, is the fact that it leads to a much more destructive mindset when it comes to relationships. These ideas can branch off from extreme moments of insecurity, specifically when feeling as if the opposing gender is better to some degree. By holding what Petruchio considers, ‘masculinity,’ by controlling his soon to be wife, Katherine, he gives himself some form of gratitude that he is far superior to her, because of his gender.


In the movie, this exact mindset is shared by a secondary main character, Joel, who believes that his gender alone sets him apart from the rest, as he attempts to chase after Janie, Scott’s younger sister.



Throughout the movie, Joel has an arrogant attitude toward both himself, and women in general. He feels as though, much like Petruchio, gender alone is a means of strength. This alone gives him a false sense of entitlement, which fuels his attraction toward Janie, motivating him to go to the extremes in order to impress her. While he does, in the end realize his mistakes, the vast majority of the movie is Joel taking pretty immense risks in order to captivate a girl that barely has any connection toward him, for his own selfish justifications. His attitude in general comes off as an entire facade, generated from a semi narcissistic personality, in order to hide major insecurities.


Women have definitely  taken a much higher stand when it comes toward relationships. They aren't generally going to change themselves for someone else, nor are they going to follow closely in the footsteps of Katherine. In a way, women have almost taken to the role of Petruchio.The main character holds the same attitude as Katherine does. She's blunt completely out there, and at first glance, extremely cold. The problem is though, her motives are very different from that of Katherine's which makes this comparison completely useless.


Unlike Katherine, Tori isn't the one being tamed, she is, however the one attempting to do the taming. She, unlike Katherine, stays true to what she really is, while attempting to change and mold the male main character into her own image. The same goes for Joel, in the sense that manipulating himself, in order to hide a false sense of accomplishment, ‘tames,’ Janie, in order to justify the fact that he is worth something and can be loved.




Sources Cited:


Not Cool. Dir. Shane Dawson. Perf. Shane Dawson and Cherami Leigh. Netflix, 01 Sept. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

Crowther, John, ed. “No Fear The Taming of the Shrew.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 19 Apr. 2015.

The Tactics of the Shrewd

The Tactics of the Shrewd

A comparison of The Taming in the Shrew and Amélie

Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew proves that deception has long been a tactic people use to find a romantic partner. Lucentio is the son of a rich man who has traveled to Padua and is determined to gain the love of young, attractive Bianca. He disguises as a tutor, “Cambio,” in order to get closer to Bianca while his servant, Tranio, disguises as him.

In Jeunet’s Amélie (2001), Amélie is a very shy young woman who falls in love with Nino, a man who collects and reassembles discarded photos from a photo booth. However, she is too shy to meet him, so she plays a cat-and-mouse game with him, leading him to various places all across Paris and dropping hints about her identity.

There’s a similarity between their motivations, but a difference in their tactics. Though the genders are reversed, Lucentio and Amélie have the same goal: to gain the love of their respective sweethearts. But, Lucentio has to work around Bianca’s father Baptista, who has said that Bianca shall not court any men until her older sister has gotten married, whereas the only obstacle Amélie has to overcome is her own reticence. Amélie and The Taming of the Shrew both support the message that a little deception in a relationship can be a beneficial thing.

“LUCENTIO, as CAMBIO

 Now mistress, profit you in what you read?

BIANCA

 What, master, read you? First resolve me that.

LUCENTIO, as CAMBIO

 I read that I profess, The Art of Love.”

(Act IV, Scene ii, Page 153)

In this quote, Lucentio is disguised as Cambio, a tutor, and flirting with Bianca while it appears that he is teaching her from a book. His line, “I read that I profess, The Art of Love” is a not-so-subtle way of telling Bianca that he is in love with her. Lucentio’s use of a disguise to get Bianca is similar to Amélie’s use of clues in order to reveal pieces of her identity to Nino and eventually meet him: they’re both acts of deception. Their tactics are different though, Lucentio is disguised as another person while his servant is disguised as him, whereas Amélie never actually disguises as anyone but keeps her identity clandestine. This also means that Nino and Bianca, despite the gender differences, are similar in one aspect: they are the targets of the protagonist’s affection and deception.

Here’s an example of Amélie’s deception.

In this scene, Amélie (center) leads Nino (left) across a local park with arrows in order to arrive him at his scrapbook which he had lost when it fell off of his motorcycle, all without revealing herself. She avoids communicating with her partner until it is necessary, unlike Lucentio, who disguises as someone else and then reveals himself later.

“Love wrought these miracles. Bianca’s love

Made me exchange my state with Tranio,

While he did bear my countenance in the town,

And happily I have arrived at the last

Unto the wished haven of my bliss.”

(Act V, Scene i, Page 203)

When Lucentio delivers this quote, it is near the end of the play and he has married Bianca. When closely examining Lucentio’s strategy, it’s surprising it worked. There are many things that could have gone wrong during its operation: Bianca might not have immediately fallen in love with Lucentio like she did, or Lucentio could have been found out by Bianca’s father, or Petruchio could have failed to court Katherine which would’ve meant that Bianca couldn’t marry, and so on. So, even though the scenario where Lucentio and Bianca marry isn’t realistic, Shakespeare chose to write it that way.

Amélie has a similarly unrealistic plan. She creates an elaborate path that will eventually lead Nino to her, but there are also many possible complications: she could lose track of him or he could lose track of her, Nino could lose interest, and so on. However, it worked out regardless and they ended up together.

This shows that both Shakespeare and the director of Amélie, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, had the same idea: they wanted to show that a little deception can improve relationships. The characters they created, Lucentio and Amélie, represent this. As both the play and the movie end, we are left with Lucentio and Bianca, Amélie and Nino, two happy couples who wouldn’t have been without a little trickery.

Works Cited:
- Amélie. Dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Perf. Audrey Tautou. 20th Century Fox, 2001.
- Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. New Haven: Yale UP, 1954. Print.

Does The Family Affect Relationships?

Comparing "The Taming of the Shrew" to "While You Were Sleeping".

In the play  The Taming of the Shrew, Bianca is controlled by her father Baptista because her older sister needs to get married first in order for Bianca to get married. In the 1995 movie “While You Were Sleeping,” the main character Lucy does not have her family anymore until she saves a man that she fell in love with every time she saw him at the train station. His family believes they are engaged because the nurse at the hospital introduced her as his fiancé. She becomes a part of the family until the truth is revealed that she never met Peter.

          The Taming of the Shrew, has a viewpoint where the father decides who his daughter will marry, which will affect their relationship. The movie, “While You Were Sleeping,” shows a different way on how family acts to relationships, than the family from the “Shrew.” These two texts show that family involvement has changed over time because nowadays people pick who they are going to marry, and back then father or his/her parents decided for them instead.

Baptista:

"Gentlemen, importune me no farther, For how I firmly am resolved you know; That is, not bestow my youngest daughter. Before I have a husband for the elder: If either of you both love Katharina, Because I know you well and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure"

(Act 1, Scene 1, 48-54)

         In the “Shrew” Baptista is the father of Bianca and Katharina. Both of the daughters want to get married although there has to be a certain order of who is going to be first. The eldest, Katherina, has to get married before Bianca. The play shows that the family is affecting the potential engagement of Bianca and a suitor because Baptista is controlling who is going to get married first. Katherina does not have any suitors for her bitter attitude, therefore for Bianca to get married, it seems as though it will be a while because nobody wants to marry a witch.

Similar but not exactly like the play, “While You Were Sleeping” also shows that family has an influence on relationships. Lucy, the main character does not want to deny that she is not going to marry Peter because Peter’s family thinks they are engaged, and in love and doesn’t want to upset the family.

Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 11.45.24 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 11.45.24 PM

  Lucy does not have her family anymore and she decides who she wants to be with. Every morning she works at the train station where she sees a man named Peter. He takes the train to his work and Lucy fell in love with him right away. She never met him, but in her opinion it was the love at first sight. He was just perfect. When he is pushed on the train tracks by other men, he is not at first aware and Lucy saves his life. When he gets to the hospital the nurse heard Lucy talking to herself about her wanting to marry Peter. When Lucy walked into his room they told her he was in the coma. His family came to the hospital and they did not know who Lucy was, but the nurse introduced her as his fiancé. Peter’s family did not know what was going on, but when they heard from the doctor that Lucy saved his life they were happy and approved of the “engagement” immediately.

         His family became like her family while Peter was in the coma, and they treated her like their daughter. Lucy did not know how to say “no” to being engaged to Peter so she just went along with it. This scenario shows that his family affected their “engagement” because they were inviting her for family gatherings and accepted her because she saved his life without knowing her before.

         This scene is similar to the “Shrew” because it shows how even Peter’s family controls their ‘engagement’ because they accepted Lucy for what she did. The family was so kind that Lucy didn’t want to break their hearts. The only difference between the movie and the play is that Lucy does not have a sister that affects if she has to wait for to get married or not.

Baptista:

"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. Say, Signior Gremio, what can you assure her?"

(Act 2, Scene 1, 361-365)

         Baptista also wants to make sure his daughter in this situation finds someone who is good. He want the best for his kids and in the play, Baptista wants to make sure their daughter will have a good life and not worry about making sure they have things to survive. The play shows that the man should be able to provide for the family. In order for the father to agree on his daughter getting married he needs to make sure the suitor is the right man for her. 

          The movie is a little bit different because the play was written a lot of years ago. The movie was produced in 1995 and shows more of a modern relationship.

Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 11.48.33 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 11.48.33 PM

         In the movie Peter’s family really likes Lucy as a person. Peter’s grandfather heard Lucy talking to Peter when he was in the coma that they are not actually engaged, but she tells him how she always saw him taking the train. His grandfather talked to Lucy about it and he said that he understands why she did not say anything. He told her that Peter’s family needs her now and she is a good person. When Peter woke up, his grandpa made him think he does not remember her at all. Lucy talked to him after a while, but while Peter was in the coma Lucy spent a lot of time with Jack, who is Peter’s brother. At the end Jack and Lucy actually got married. 

Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 11.49.57 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-16 at 11.49.57 PM
       The movie and the play shows that family wants the best for their children, but there are times where they might not make them as happy as they could. In the play the daughters could not be happy if the father picked their husbands because it would not be someone who they love, but at the end they marry who they love. In the society back then parents affected their children’s relationship/courtship. It looks like in the movie people pick whoever they want to marry at the end, but also they do not have to wait for their siblings to get married first.

Work Cited:


Shakespeare, William, Barbara A. Mowat, and Paul Werstine. The Taming of the Shrew. New York: Washington Square, 2002. Print.


While You Were Sleeping. Dir. Jon Turteltaub. Prod. Roger Birnbaum. By Sullivan Daniel G. and Fredric Lebow. Perf. Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, and Peter Gallagher. Buena Vista Pictures, 1995.

The Romance of the Shrew and the Submarine

Comparing: 
Submarine (2010)
The Taming of the Shrew​


Romance is a thing that has been molded and reproduced for centuries. Books like the Taming of the Shrew portray romance as a victory and something to be sought after. Petruchio, the leading man, makes it his duty to have the intimidating Katherine as his wife. In the 2010 movie Submarine, shy and observant teenager Oliver wants to do the same thing; seeking the affections of conventionally unattractive girl in order to satisfy his need for romance.

Oliver and Petruchio are alike and different in both motive and character. Their initial idea of wanting to have a relationship are the same, but the way that going after the women they want are almost completely different. Petruchio is a brute and aggressive character who seeks to have Katherine as his wife for his own personal gain. This is very much Oliver’s initial reason for wanting to be with Jordana as well. While the motives are the same, the actions are different, these two situations make room for exploring society’s view on relationships, love, and how they are presented with the opposite sexes. More specifically, that true relationships are built on love, not by manipulation or force, and that women have more control in relationships than they had before.


“Few words suffice. And therefore, if thou know one rich enough to be Petruchio’s wife (as wealth is burde  of my wooing dance...She moves me not, or not removes at least affection’s edge in me, were she as rough as are the swelling Adriatic seas. I  come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua.”

-Petruchio (Act 1. Scene 2. Page 53. Lines 67-77)

During this scene, Petruchio  meets with Hortensio, who brings him with the option to marry Katherine. Petruchio, whom is introduced as a arrogant and violent (moments before he was hitting Gremio), learns that Katherine is wealthy. He then sees her as an opportunity to become even more wealthy despite not loving her. In this quote, he describes how regardless of how terrible she is, that he will pacify her even  into obedience when they marry. None of the other characters in the scene object to this, most likely because men being in charge of relationships was a common thing during the time period.

The main character in Submarine, Oliver Tate, finds himself with a similar mindset when he is introduced to his love interest. The deliverance is different, but the intent is very much the same.

Moments before this scene, Oliver Tate is reminiscing about how he wishes to be popular and beloved when he dies. Along with this, he believes that having a girlfriend would add to his fantasy. When he first comes across Jordana Bevan, he already has his mind made.

“Her only real flaws are is her sporadic bouts of eczema Other than that, she has many qualities. She never speaks about herself. She could be anything. She's moderately unpopular, which makes a romance between us more likely. She's also a girl - to be seen with her would improve my street cred, which, though high, could be higher.”

Despite the movie and play being centuries apart,  Oliver and Petruchio manage to share a similar viewpoint on women and relationships. Both of them want to be in a relationship not based on love, but on social status. If Oliver dates Jorana, his popularity amongst his peers and family will increase to the point that when he dies, he will have a legacy. Petruchio wants to marry Katherine so that he will become even richer than he already is. However, Oliver chooses Jordana because he believes she is lower than him on the social totem pole. He mentions that she is “moderately unpopular” while his “street cred” is already high (but could be higher). Petruchio knows that Katherine is rather wealthy. He chooses her not because she is lower than him, but  because she will make him richer.

In both the film and book, the men are taking control even before they are actually in their fantasized relationships. Neither Jordana or Katherine have given consent to the relationship. It has already been decided for them.  Both the Shrew and Submarine are reinforcing the idea that men are in control of the relationships they are in. However, the paths that Petruchio and Oliver take into getting the women to like are completely different. Petruchio initially starts out with kindness, which is painfully fake, and then immediately begins using force on Katherine. Olive however, never forces Jordana to do anything. He instead does everything that she wants him to do in order to get her attention and is kind to her despite her repeated rebuffs. Oliver and Jordana eventually end up in a relationship where he is mostly infatuated with her and she accepts his feelings as well. Oliver forgets his initial reason for wanting to date her and even ignores his friends that tell him to break it off. Katherine and Petruchio have a relationship built off of the greed of Petruchio and misery of Katherine. The contrasts between these two sets of relationships show that modern relationships are created with two consenting people and not force from another. Not only this, but that women have way more control over their relationships than they did in the past.

The moments in the movie that ensue after Oliver sees Jorana and tries to get her to date him is what adds the humorous aspect. While the viewer knows that Oliver is not experiencing the “love at first sight” trope, they still want to see what ensues afterward.

“Pluck up thy spirits. Look cheerfully upon me. Here, love, thou seest how diligent I am, to dress thy meat myself and bring it thee. I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks. What, not a word? Nay then, thou lov’st it not. And all my pains is sorted to no proof.”

Petruchio (Act 4. Scene 3. Page 167. Line 39-44)

This is one of the scenes where Petruchio is putting on his act of kindness, trying to woo and tame the “dreadful” Katherine. However, things aren’t going as expected. Katherine is rebuffing his acts of kindness with her usual condescending and rude language. It is clear in this moment that Katherine does not love Petruchio, and that no act of kindness will twist her since she does not love him.

Oliver’s ways into getting Jordana to love him varie. Throughout their relationship, he shows her kindness and understanding, much like Petruchio. However, the ways in which he shows this kindness are not fake. When Jorana realizes this, her tough exterior begins to soften, which deepens their relationship.


Oliver asks her to have sex with him, but Jordana asks for reasons why she should. Oliver writes on his hands three reasons, but Jordana ends up crossing off the first one which reads “You’re fatally in love with me”. Jordana knows that she likes Oliver, but she isn’t in love with him. Despite saying this, Jordana ends up having sex with him anyway.

In most modern day societies, many would agree that a man and woman in a relationship should love one another. In Jordana and Katherine’s cases, they aren’t in love with their significant others. Jordana may be technically Oliver’s girlfriend, but Jordana does not have as strong feelings for Oliver as he does for her. Jordana seems to like Oliver because of the things he does for her and the way he treats her. She doesn’t actually love Oliver as a person. This is why the relationship eventually falls apart. Jordana takes advantage of the fact that Oliver is in love with her and uses him to her full advantage. Thus proving that real relationships are built on true love and not force or manipulation. If Jordana existed during the Shrew’s time period, she most likely wouldn’t have had a choice of having sex with Oliver or breaking up with him. Unlike Katherine, who is ultimately forced to stay with Petruchio if she wants to live.

By the end of the movie, the similarities between Jordana and Oliver’s and Katherine and Petruchio’s relationships begin to split.  Oliver love for Jordana deepens while she continuously pushes him away. He sees that his parent’s relationship is falling apart and doesn’t understand why. Petruchio is able to further his agenda in taming Katherine, and eventually succeeds with a submissive wife and vast amounts of wealth to go with it.

Soon, when Oliver turns to Jordana for help, she is nowhere to be found except for a letter in the mail that detailed:

“Dear Oliver, I tried to tell you but I figure you'll only probably believe me if it's in writing. It's over. I enclose my lighter as a parting gift for you. Also, I think you should know, I've found someone else.”

Despite Oliver and Jordana’s relationship ending, Katherine and Petruchio’s lived on. In the final scene of the book, Hortensio and Bianca are having their wedding accompanied by Katherine and Petruchio. To everyone’s surprise, Katherine has been tamed and obeys everything Petruchio says. Petruchio even has Katherine prove to everyone that she has changed.  

“Katherine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands.”

-Petruchio (Act 5, Scene 2, line 2638, page 154)

With this, Katherine then gives a long speech about how women should obey and submit to their husbands.

By the end of the book, Petruchio claims his victory and Katherine accepts her fate as his wife. Oliver eventually accepts the fact that Jordana doesn’t love him and they decide to stay friends. The difference between these two conclusions is that the time period effect how everything is carried out. Katherine and Petruchio both know they did not love each other. Petruchio saw her has a prize to win and Katherine was forced into marrying him. During Shakespeare’s time, arranged marriages were common and women usually had no decision on who they were to marry. The marriages were not built on love, but on social status and survival (Petruchio wants to marry Katherine in order to gain wealth and raise his position in society, and Katherine is forced into marrying him in order to survive). When looking at Oliver and Jordana’s relationship, everything is flipped. Oliver initially wants Jordana to be his girlfriend as a means of social status as well. He even takes the same route as Petruchio and tries flattering Jordana from the beginning. But the difference is that these behaviors are apart of Oliver’s character and are therefore genuine. He genuinely falls in love with Jordana. But the relationship falls apart because Jordana is not in love with him.

The book the Taming of the Shrew and the film Submarine both present that relationships only work when both members love each other. Not only this, but that women have way more control in their relationships than they did before. Katherine does not have the choice to leave Petruchio, while Jordana does. Katherine and Petruchio’s relationship is forced while Oliver and Jordana’s ends because it is one sided love. Modern audiences would feel satisfied with the ending of Submarine because it shows that love is what holds two people together, not abuse or force. The four hundred year contrast between these two art forms present that society's views on relationships and women's roles have definitely changed for the positive.

Works Cited

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



Wooing, Charming, and Taming




Screen Shot 2015-04-18 at 5.27.57 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-18 at 5.27.57 PM




Screen Shot 2015-04-18 at 5.29.30 PM
Screen Shot 2015-04-18 at 5.29.30 PM

Wooing, Charming, and Taming

Comparing “Taming of the Shrew” to “50 First Dates”


In “The Taming of the Shrew” the idea of a man pursuing and trying to woo a woman is still present today. The character Petruchio is very persistent in having Katherine as his wife and to make her his. Similarly in the movie, 50 First Dates, the main character Henry makes up his mind to woo Lucy who has short term memory less, so he has to win her over again every day.


Petruchio and Henry have both set their hearts on the woman of their choosing, however the way they approach their each individual situation with different tactics. Petruchio’s problem is the fact that Katherine is very adamant on resisting him, but that makes it easier for him to push her towards him. He finds her weak points to get her to comply with him. However, Henry has to come up with new ways each day to win over Lucy due to the fact that she does not remember anything the next morning of each day. Both situations have humorous context and also different ideas of male courtship and dating. Both of these show that society believes in male determination to get what they want no matter what the obstacle and that to win over a female there has to be persistency until she gives in.



“The poorest service is repaid with thanks, And so shall mine before you touch the meat.”

(Act 4 Sc. 3 (p. 164) lines 46-48)


In this quote, Petruchio is making Katharine say thank you to him for giving her food, even though he is the one who has deprived her of it. This is one of his tactics he uses for her to comply to him or else she would face consequences that she would not like. By making her behave and earn the things she wants to do he is able to “tame” Katherine and her resistance towards him.




Henry finds himself in a situation where he tries to have breakfast with Lucy each day, using different methods to approach her.


In this scene, it is one of the many days Henry has tried to find a way of having breakfast with Lucy. He pretends to cry which catches the attention of Lucy, and she approaches him asking if she can help him. He then continues to “cry,” and say, “I can’t read,” as he is looking at a menu. He pretends to struggle to read it and Lucy seeing this offers to help him how to read and asks him to join her for breakfast. Similar to Petruchio, he manipulates the situation which would bring Lucy to him and she would be the one giving him what he wants.  Petruchio is is using love for selfish reasons while Henry never intended for it to happen in the first place.


His different attempts to catch Lucy’s attention adds humor throughout this part of the movie and also shows the audience that he is doing exactly what he said he wouldn’t do, which is fall for a local. In this situation, he too is making himself fall in love with Lucy without realizing it.




“It shall be moon,or star, or what I list. Or e’er I journey to your father’s house.”

(Act 4 Sc. 5 (p.187) lines 7-10)

Petruchio is twisting his words around to test Katherine on how well she obeys him. He says the moon is shining when it is actually the sun. When Katherine goes to correct him, he threatens that she must believe what he says it is or else they will never make the journey to her fathers house. He tells her there will be consequences which makes Katherine vulnerable to agree to what he says. He doesn’t let go until she agrees with him.



However, Lucy’s loved ones are prohibiting Henry from pursuing anything with her because of her short term memory loss and they want to protect her. Henry is warned to stay away from her.


This scene is a part of an ongoing routine of Henry trying to meet Lucy and talking to her even after her dad had told him to stay away from her. He agrees to not go back to the diner where he used to meet her. Henry thinks of an alternative way, which is by using different methods like this scene where he gets his friend to beat him up in the middle of the road to catch Lucy’s attention. He does so successfully, and Lucy comes to the rescue and beats Henry’s friend with a bat. His new ways of coming up with a way to get Lucy to notice him and talk to him helps him to spend time with her. In “Shrew,” Petruchio is directly trying to get Katherine to be his while Henry is indirectly trying to just spend some time with Lucy no matter what it takes.



In the end, all of Henry’s attempts to get Lucy to live a normal life and to help her with her memory pays off. Henry decides that he loves Lucy too much to ever leave her, so even though her memory does not come back he helps her remember everything every morning by videotape that has all their moments together. This helps the audience see that persistency and wins over in the end. In “Shrew,” Petruchio gets Katherine to obey him after pushing her around and getting rid of her rebelliousness.






Work Cited:

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew;. Washington Square, 1992. Print.

50 First Dates. Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment :, 2004. Film.  


Jade Schweitzer Q3

This quarter, art class aside was very difficult for me for many different personal reasons, and that defiantly had an effect on my productivity in art. I completed my assignments, although my work seemed to come out differently. More smooth, utilizing more curved lines, and softening my usually harsh lines. Most of my inspiration and my idea this quarter came from things I am used to seeing everyday, like ashtrays, snails, and snakes. Using these memories helped to calm me down, and made concentrating on making them look as realistic as I could in the moment much easier. I took steps this quarter to try and improve on areas I had little to no comfort in, such as drawing people in general, let alone creating a self portrait, as well as working on physical textures, like the scales on my snake. 
Overall this quarter I expanded my comfort zone, learned new techniques for creating my art, and became more willing to share and get my art critiqued by peers.