The lack of trust between the two broke them apart, instead or keeping them together. Since Lola knew that Chase could no longer be trusted, and the trust between them was totally gone, so she knew she had nothing to work with in her relationship. However, in Taming of the shrew, lies actually helped Lucentio gain a relationship with Bianca:

Act 1 sc 1 pg 43: “Tell me thine first...you will be schoolmaster”

Lucentio lied about who he really was, being able to get closer to Bianca. When he told her the truth, she was not concerned about the fact he lied to her father, friends, everyone- including herself. She was more impressed by the scheme. Compared to LOL, lack of trust and lies gained the characters a relationship, instead of losing them.

Lies weren’t just told to boyfriends or girlfriends either- the characters also lied to the parents in the play or movie a lot too-

Lola lied to her mother about different events in the movie, including the party she had, whether she had sex or not, and whether she was doing drugs. When her mother found out, the trust between them was gone and their relationship began to slowly die. In the scene were Lola’s mom found her diary, their relationship was forever scarred.

In contrast, in Taming of the shrew Lucentio lied to his father and Bianca’s father and their relationship was not affected at all.

Act 5 Scene 1 : “Here’s Lucentio, right son to the right Vincentio,

That have by marriage made thy daughter mine

While counterfeit supposes bleared thine eyne.”

Lucentio was supposed to be in school at the time, and instead lied to his father and Bianca’s. However, by the end of the book when Lucentio revealed himself, Baptista or his father were not mad or angry. His father instead seemed happy to see him, regardless of that fact that he disobeyed him, lied to everyone in town about who he was, and just made his father look crazy in public. This shows the deep contrast between that time and today- during shakespeare's time trust was hard to loose,  but today trust is easily lost and hard to get back.

Lucentio, and other characters, seemed to get off easy in the play when they lied. However, lying it is different today. Lola had a hard time during the whole movie because it was hard to tell who she could trust. Many of her boyfriends seemed to be cheating on her, and the lack of trust she had with the different characters just destroyed some of her relationships. However, she gained friends when she learned to trust them- even her rival, who finally spoke the truth at the end of the movie. This reinforces the belief that an audience wants to see the trusty friend to win in the end, and the unfaithful, lying rival to lose and be taught a lesson.

Stranger Than Shakespeare

Comparing “The Taming of the Shrew” to “Stranger Than Fiction”

With today’s ideals in mind, most people would assume that love comes before marriage. The opposite is the case in The Taming of the Shrew.  The protagonist, Petruchio, gets married to Katherine in the beginning of the play without really knowing her. The marriage was for his own financial gains and also so two other suitors could have the ability to marry Katherine’s sister, Bianca. At the end of the play, after a score of mental games played by Petruchio to “tame” Katherine, she gives a long, emotional speech that displays her love for him and he goes on to tell of his love for her.

Stranger Than Fiction revolves around Harold Crick, an IRS agent who lives a monotonous, receptive and droll life. One day, everything changes. He begins to hear an author in his head narrating his life to extraordinary accuracy. He recognizes the voice to be that of a famous author he once saw on television. The author reveals that Harold is going to die and he has to find her and convince her to change the end of the story (and his life) before it’s too late. At the same time, Harold takes on the task of auditing a baker, Ana Pascal. Harold is uncomfortable with the narrations made by the author when he’s around Ms. Pascal. The author makes Harold realize that he’s subconsciously falling in love with her. Romantic love is approached differently by both men in both scenarios. This shows that romantic love is approached differently in today’s society.

In Act Two: Scene 1 of Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio says, “What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.”

This is a quote from when Petruchio is first meeting Katherine. He is crude and inappropriate at first, intentionally. He is trying to be funny. This was Shakespeare’s version of comedy. Petruchio is aware that Katherine is known as the mean sister and takes a jab at her sense of humor or perhaps just tries to make her feel uncomfortable. Petruchio goes on to confirm that he was just kidding and he tries to show her that he is a respectable man. Harold Crick is in a similar situation. He runs into Ana Pascal on a bus and tries to interact with her in a non-auditing manner.

Harold: How are you?

Ana: I’m lousy, I’m being audited

Harold: Of course

Ana: By a real creep too

In this short exchange of dialogue, Harold attempts to show Ana that he’s a respectable man by apologizing for an incident that happened a few days prior in which he began to fantasize about her and blatantly stare at her breasts. Harold’s crude actions weren’t intentional, like Petruchio’s. Because this movie takes place about four hundred years after all of Shakespeare’s plays were written, courtship is approached very differently by the two men.

In Act One: Scene 1 of Taming of the Shrew, Hortensio says, “There's small choice in rotten apples.”

Hortensio and Gremio are the two suitors that are going after Bianca, Katherine’s younger sister. Hortensio and Gremio are friends and they have to work together to get past the only obstacle in their way: Bianca cannot get married until Katherine gets married. They have to narrow down the already small pool of men who would be willing to marry her for them, so they could achieve their goals. In the beginning of Stranger Than Fiction, Harold Crick goes to a therapist about the voice in his head. The therapist listens to him and then tells him she thinks he’s schizophrenic. He tells her that he isn’t schizophrenic and she tells him that if his condition were real, she’d refer him to a literary expert. Harold then goes to Professor Jules Hilbert, a Literature Theory professor. After Professor Hilbert agrees to help Harold, he explains the theory that all works of fiction can be narrowed down to two categories: Comedy and Tragedy. He explains it in simple terms to Harold, “Tragedy you die, Comedy you get hitched.” They go on to try to figure out which story Harold is living in.

Professor Hilbert: Most comic heroes fall in love with people who are introduced after the story has begun, usually people who hate the hero initially. Although I can’t imagine anyone hating you, Harold.

Harold: Professor Hilbert, I’m an IRS agent. Everyone hates me.

Professor Hilbert: Ah ah good, have you met anyone recently who might loathe the very core of you?

Harold: I just started auditing a woman who told me to get bent.

Professor Hilbert: Well that sounds like a comedy.

Similarly to Hortensio and Gremio, Harold and Professor Hilbert are trying to narrow down a pool of possible people. In The Taming of the Shrew they’re looking for a man to marry Katherine. In Stranger Than Fiction they’re looking for the possible love interest that would determine whether Harold is living a Comedy or a Tragedy. He later goes to Ms. Pascal’s bakery with a small moleskine journal that he uses to record the instances that would make the story a one of the two defining genres. He spends the whole day going through Ana Pascal’s receipts while she spends the whole day making sure his day is awful. He chalks his story up to being a Tragedy. When he’s on his way out, Ana makes him cookies and they spend time talking. Harold upsets her by turning down a box for the rest of the cookies and feels terrible about it. Days later he can’t get the smell of cookies or the thought of Ms. Pascal out of his head. It starts to affect his work and they give him a paid vacation that he spends trying to court her.

By the end of the movie, Harold and Ana are in love. By the end of Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio and Katherine are in love. Both men achieve their end goal while pursuing it in vastly different ways. If Harold Crick had approached Ana Pascal in the same way that Petruchio did with Katherine, the movie would have been very different and they most likely would not have fallen in love. In Petruchio’s time, his tactics were commonplace. That goes to show how much society has changed in the last 400 years.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding::Taming of the Shrew

My Big Fat Greek Wedding contains characters that are similar to ones in Taming of the Shrew. Maria Portokalos, the mother in MBFGW, has an issue with the way her husband, Gus, thinks. Gus believes that he is superior, however, he doesn’t know that his wife really has the upper hand in the relationship. MBFGW and Taming of the Shrew relate to each other because Maria and Katherine give their husbands what they want, but sneak in their own rules as well.

Katherine: “Then God be blest, it is the blessed sun.

                 But sun it is not, when you say it is not,

                 And the moon changes even as your mind.

                 What you will have it names, even that it is,

                 And so it shall be so for Katherine.” (IV.vi.21-15)

Petruchio is arguing with Katherine because he says that the moon is the sun and she disagrees. She eventually gives in and makes him feel empowered. Then she replies back with a statement that should’ve insulted Petruchio, but instead makes his ego larger.

Following and relating to the quote above, is a screenshot from My Big Fat Greek Wedding:

In this scene, Maria and her sister, Voula, wanted to trick Gus into letting his daughter, Toula, leave work at their restaurant, Dancing Zorba’s, to go work at Voula’s travel agency. In order to do that they had to make him believe that it was his idea. Their plan worked when Gus pointed at Tula (the one with the coffee in her hand) and said, “Send Tula!” Maria praised Gus as he bragged about how a man “knows.”

KATHERINE: “If I be waspish, best beware my sting.” (II.i.223)

Katherine is explaining that she will not be submissive and Petruchio is saying that women should always have submissiveness. Katherine is relentless, so she kept going on about how “waspish” she can be.

Following and relating to the quote above, is a screenshot from My Big Fat Greek Wedding:

Characters like Katherine and Petruchio, in Taming of the Shrew, and Maria and Gus, in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, completely relate to each other because they all play similar roles. Maria and Kate both can be submissive, but always sneak a level of authority into their relationship. Gus and Petruchio think that they “rule” their wives, but also know that their wives have the ability to be powerful and take the lead.

Sources

Taming of the Shrew (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061407/)

- Director: Franco Zeffirelli

- Writers: Suso Cecchi D’Amico (screenplay), Franco Zeffirelli (screenplay), Paul Dehn (screenplay), William Shakespeare

- Characters: Elizabeth Taylor (Katherine), Richard Burton (Petruchio)

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa9kRSReJLo)

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259446/)

- Director: Joel Swick

- Writer: Nia Vardalos

35 & Shrewing

Comparing and contrasting the deceptions versus honesty of marriage between the film, “35 & Ticking” and Shakespeare's “Taming of the Shrew”.

After reading Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”, readers’ minds are implanted with the idea that romantic love is a myth. If this is the case, what is the point of marriage? Shakespeare’s “Shrew” argues control, the thrill of the journey, etc. Although couples in both “Shrew” and the 2011 film, “35 and Ticking” come to grips with their tactics differently, they covertly bestow the idea that the importance of marriage is resorting to the drastic measures of deception over honesty in order to obtain what one desires most from the other.

In “Shrew”, Petruchio forces Katherine into marrying him. On the day of their wedding, he carries her off to his home where he starves, manipulates, beats and humiliates her and, on top of that, deprives her of sleep in the sense of actually “taming” her–to her demise, of course. In the end of the book, Katherine recognizes Petruchio’s hostility as a means of love and breaking her bad habits to make her the dutiful wife that women of that era were expected to be. All along, however, Petruchio went after Katherine for her fortune, as he is a man of greed rather than romance. A similar couple: Victoria and Austin, In “35 and Ticking”, have been married for 3 years. Only this time it is the wife Victoria who is deceiving her distant husband to get what she wants from him–children. In the end, Victoria fails at this and unfortunately loses Austin. Both text, aside from the distinct humor of their times, relate as they reflect the idea that for centuries, couples believe that whether romantic love exists or not, deception is the only route to self-success in a marriage because the deceiver is the dominant partner.

“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 Flourentius’s love,

As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd

As Socrates’ Xanthippe, or a worse,

She moves me not, or not moves 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 wealthy, then happily in Padua.”

(Act I, Scene ii, 66-77)

At this point in the play, Petruchio and his servant arrive in Padua and is convinced by his friend Hortensio to woo Baptista’s eldest and shrew of a daughter–Katherine. Petruchio, learns that Katherine is very rich and tells Hortensio that no matter how old, ugly or rude a woman is, as long as she is rich, she qualifies as the perfect wife for him. It is here that Petruchio reveals that his only intention in life is to wed wealth rather than a wife. He is straightforward and honest about his selfishness and his unconcern for romance to everyone except the Baptista family, especially Katherine. He instead woos her and tricks her into believing he is truly in love with her. This is Petruchio’s best chance at succeeding in his scheme.

In “35 and Ticking”, Victoria is revealed as the Petruchio of her marriage as her and Austin have continuous heated discussions on whether it is time to start a family together or not.

In this scene, Victoria complains that at she does want to wait until she is 40 while Austin claims she is putting too much pressure on him and rushing into having a baby. Victoria argues that, “Do you know how degrading, how embarrassing it is to have to beg someone you committed your entire life to to have a baby? The fact is, I’m ready to start a family.” To her surprise, Austin says, “I am tired of you putting so much pressure on me. I can’t even enjoy having sex with you because I feel like you’re trying to set me up. Fact number one, I know your body better than you do. I know what time of the month you’re ovulating and that’s when you really put pressure on me to have sex with you.”

The scene ends with Austin saying one of the reasons he does not want to have a baby is because he isn’t sure how long they’re going to be married. Victoria, denying nothing, stands speechless as Austin walks out. In this scene, Victoria is called out on her scheme whereas her shrew of a husband does not submit to her deception and instead admits he is unsure of their marriage. Victoria, having already felt distant from Austin, thought that enforcing a child into their marriage would make them stronger as a couple. Though instead of being honest with him about it, she thought she could deceive him to accomplish her “power couple” goal.

Katherine, “I know it is the sun that shines so bright.”

Petruchio, “I say it is the moon.”

Katherine, “I know it is the moon.”

Petruchio, “Nay, you lie. It is the blesséd sun.

Katherine, “Then God be blest, it is the blesséd sun.

But sun it is not when you say it is not,

And the moon changes as your mind.”

(Act IV, Scene vi, 5-21)

By now in the play, Petruchio is pulling the strings on Katherine’s view on reality in the form of celestial events. Only it is now Katherine deceiving her husband, allowing her soul to play possum in order to please Petruchio and put an end to his merciless acts against her. This tactic is Petruchio’s way to tame his shrew of a wife into being obedient. Earlier in the play, the two would debate such as this and Katherine, blind of his schemes, would disagree and argue back. Now, she is the one pulling his strings, making him believe that he has tamed her well. Once Petruchio is convinced, Katherine will have achieved repossession of her own freedom.

Austin comes home to see Victoria has packed his bag of clothes which is her way of telling him to leave the house. Austin replays his statement to Victoria from earlier, “The real reason I don’t want to have a baby with you, is because I don’t know how long I’m going to be married to you.” As he says this, he takes off his wedding ring and places it on the bed.

In their next scene, Victoria calls Austin and begs him to come home, upset  that he’s not coming home at all instead of apologizing and submitting to her, as she expected. Now Austin has become Petruchio and Victoria has become Katherine. While she has diminished to begging and submission, Austin, as Petruchio did to Katherine, deprives her of health–a healthy heart. Victoria is now the one in need of taming–at least this is how she believes Austin sees her. If the shoe fits, she must wear it. Victoria has failed indefinitely.

“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 labour both by sea and land,

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,

And craves no other tribute at thy hands

But love, fair looks, and true obedience,

Too little payment for so great a debt.”

(Act V, Scene ii, 140-183)

At the end of the play, Katherine submits indefinitely to Petruchio, with a changed view on what marriage means and the status of women versus men–whom she now recognizes as rulers such as: kings, governors and lords. Katherine honors  Petruchio as a loving, warm and securing husband and to love and obey is the least a woman can do for their husbands who are loving, warm and securing. Both Katherine and Petruchio have achieved their initial goals. Katherine has gained Petruchio’s ultimate trust and thus her freedom while Petruchio, although already has her money, has earned Katherine’s obedience, love and respect. This once “shrewd” couple supports the idea that deception equals success.

However, “35 & Ticking”’s outcome on deception greatly differs.

Since Victoria and Austin’s dispute over family, his calling out on her scheme has abated her to the passive character Austin once was. In the end of the movie, Victoria signs the divorce papers. A year later, she sees Austin with a pregnant woman. He exchanges shrugs and pity looks at her while she cries at the sight. Austin, once realizing Victoria had deceived him, reclaims his dominance by dragging her to his feet as he moved on with another woman. Austin has tamed  Victoria, teaching her that the deceitful “baby trap” no longer works on men, and he will not stand to be the punchline of her joke.

It is also crucial to consider Austin the deceiver himself. After all, he had been hiding his doubts about the marriage, purposely becoming distant from Victoria, except when to have sex, and was eventually freed. Petruchio on the other hand, hid his true intentions for wedding Katherine, depriving her of all things critical to human beings, by not looking at her as a human being, but a sack of money. He even “justified” his acts by lying to Katherine that she could not eat because the food had been burnt and contaminated. Austin would justify his distance from Victoria by working late and go to the gym afterwards. In the end, both men got what they wanted through ultimate and disclosed deception.

The fact that both Victoria and Katherine yielded to their husbands is no  surprise the audience. For centuries women have been portrayed as weak and compliant partners, whereas Victoria’s character tried to prove so otherwise. Her failure and Katherine’s submission sets forth the idea that there are still men today who despise and wish to “tame” the spirit of strong women. By doing this, both Petruchio and Austin reclaimed their masculinity and succeeded in their own plans.

WORKS CITED

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

Parents: Dictators of Love

(Chennai Express, “Taming of the Shrew”)

Yeah, I say my title twice. 'Cause I'm awesome.

Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare was a masterpiece of its time, like most of Shakespeare's works, and the plot was heavily driven by a fathers involvement in his daughters’ marital status. This method of thought is closely tied to the modern Indian movie “Chennai Express”. In Taming of the Shrew, the character Baptista sets multiple challenges for potential suitors of his young and beautiful daughter, while in the movie “Chennai Express” the father, Durgeshwara, merely puts up a constant ever changing wall of intimidation so that only the suitor who is willing to keep up and succeed through the changing conditions will be allowed to marry the girl. Though the way that the fathers display their protection is different, both are trying to assure love for their daughters by dissuading suitors.

“That is, not to bestow my younger daughter before I have a husband for the elder.”

Act 1 Scene 1 Lines 50-51

Baptista is a loving father, who merely wants what’s best for his daughters. However his eldest daughter, Katherine, is slightly sadistic, and enjoys the pain of others. In the second scene she’s in, she’s annoyed that she’ll be forced to marry. To release her anger,  Katherine ties her younger sister up, drags her around the house, and then slaps her in the face when she talks back. Naturally, all of the suitors were terrified that someone would have to marry her before anyone could court Bianca. Yet Baptista doesn’t seem to worry at all about his younger daughter losing any suitors because of the task he set before them. Baptista wouldn’t willingly try and harm his daughter’s prospects, he is instead trying to guarantee that only the ones who would actually attempt a risky task for his daughter would be able to get her.

In this scene Rahul meets the extended family of Meenalochni for the first time. In this scene the Rahul is introduced to Durgeshwara, or Durge,  as her fiance. Durge carries with him a passive intimidation, which serves the purpose of keeping anyone beneath him away. For Rahul, this is meant to assure that he is worthy even of being near Durge or his daughter Meena. Baptista had a more active interaction with the suitors while Durge is displaying a passive intimidation. Partly this is due to Baptista having multiple ellegible suitors for his daughter, while Durge had few. However, it’s also heavily dependant on Baptista merely being a merchant, while Durge was in the role of a local king. Baptista was passively intimidating class wise, but Durge had the military power to ensure that if he disliked someone they would be imprisoned for as long as he wished. Both fathers had different ways of intimidating suitors that weren’t good enough.

“Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both that can assure my daughter greatest dower shall have my Bianca’s love.”

Act 2 Scene 1 Lines 135-136

Tangballi is a local leader who was arranged to marry Meena. Unbeknown to him, Durge had recently changed his mind and allowed her new suitor Rahul her hand in marriage. Tangballi arrived with the intention to marry Meena and was personally delivered information of this change directly by Durge. Durge did this as a test, to see how Tangaballi would react under such pressure. If he didn’t love Meena enough to try for her, he wouldn’t be worthy of her. Both Baptista and Durge are setting tests to see how suitors will act, but again Durge takes a more passive role, while Baptista takes a more active one.

Tangballi decided that the best way to prove his worthiness to Meena was to kill her suitor Rahul. Durge takes an active stance in this by preventing anyone from interfering with the fight. He even prevents his daughter from having a choice in it. He is purely interested in who is willing stake their life on the decision. Both Baptista and Duge have suitors battle, but they make the suitors fight on fields that the father is comfortable on. The merchant Baptista makes them fight over money, while the local lord Durge makes them fight to the death.

In both “Taming of the Shrew” and Chennai Express, though the focus was on the main characters, the plots were mostly shaped by the decisions of the parents. The actions of the characters are made to placate or impress the elders, and every move the elders make causes rippling consequences throughout the story. They both come from different stories, “Taming of the Shrew” being focused on the the trials faced by characters, and Chennai Express being focused on the interaction between the lovers, and the parent is more passive.  Both Baptista and Durge try and protect their children by setting tests for them, tests that range from tests of love and reactions to pure merit, whether it’s in the form of a fight or of the amount of money available.

Works cited:

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

Netflix. Perf. Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. Netflix. N.p., 8 Aug. 2013. Web. 1 Dec. 2013

Comparing “The Taming of the Shrew” to “He’s Mine, Not Yours”

In the play of “The Taming of the Shrew”, characters from centuries ago, portray their idea of love by trying to win their lover with greed. The cocky and confident Petruchio insists of wifing the quick-tempered Katherine by using his power and money. The movie “He’s Mine, Not Yours” filmed in 2011 comes from a similar angle on their idea of love -- only it is a woman, Mandy, who is requested by another woman to use her power of her appearance to win the man.

Petruchio and Mandy share the same goals and mindsets in their predicaments, but the process on accomplishing these goals are different. Petruchio owning loads of money due to his father’s death, uses that to his advantage to go to Padua to wive a woman. Trying to win her over, Katherine’s stubborn personality causes her to resist the marriage, leaving Petruchio in a dispute. On the other hand, Mandy’s career is using the power of her looks as a career path to find out if “Prince Charmings” are cheaters. She is hired by Brooke who is in a perfect relationship with Kent, but was influenced by others that all men cheat. Mandy disguises herself to see if Kent will fall for her traps and cheat. These texts reflect that despite the gender, romance (genuine or not) can be created through lies and power.

“Signior Hortensio, ’twixt such friends as we

Few words suffice. And therefore, if thou know

One rich enough to be Petruchio’s wife,

As wealth is burden of my wooing dance...”

(Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 66-77)

In this quote, Petruchio is speaking to his dear friend from Padua, Hortensio. He is telling Hortensio that people like them who are rich and handsome can get away with things by only doing a bare minimum. All Petruchio is looking for is a rich woman and that is enough for him to start a romance. Petruchio is influenced by himself to take upon this risky idea of marrying someone by flaunting his wealth to his greatest measures through lies even if it might have consequences.

A similar conversation is shared between Brooke and her friend about her plan through advice and a warning, but Brooke doesn’t listen.

Sophia is strongly advising to Brooke that she shouldn’t hire the “Man Stealer” (Mandy) to spy on Kent. She strictly says, "Don't go looking for trouble; because people who go looking for trouble, they normally find it." Ignoring her advice, Brooke is convinced that all men cheat so she finds the Man Stealer. This shows that Mandy was specifically sent by Brooke to use her power to manipulate Kent. But since Mandy specializes in lying and using her power to get what she wants, she is confident that she will win Kent with no obstacles. Petruchio and Mandy feel like their plans will both go smoothly, but Petruchio doesn’t know what to expect. Mandy has done this a thousand times so she is already assuming it will be an open and close, easy case.

“Why, Petruchio is coming in a new hat and an old jerkin, a pair of old breeches thrice turned, a pair of boots that have been candle cases, one buckled, another laced; an old rusty sword ta'en out of the town armory, with a broken hilt and chapeless; with two broken points; his horse hipped, with an old mothy saddle and stirrups of no kindred...”

(Act 3, Scene 2, Lines 42-62)

Biondello is announcing that Petruchio is arriving to his own wedding to marry Katherine wearing outrageous things like non matching boots, an old vest, a rusty sword, and more. Petruchio has gained even more confidence due to others insisting that just because he comes from good money and he has all the right things to say to lure Katherine, that he can get away with showing up to his wedding dressing completely out of sorts. Petruchio thinks he can get away with anything and that as long as a person’s actions are a strong as their lies and deceitfulness, he can force a marriage on Katherine and call it a romance.

Getting The Girl 2011 v. 1590

Comparing “Crazy, Stupid, Love” & “The Taming of the Shrew”

The “Taming of the Shrew” by William Shakespeare is a comedy from 1590 that proves, men attempting to woo women is a centuries long practice. In “Shrew”, male suitors lined up in large quantities to attempt to woo the beautiful Bianca, with no limit on what they were willing to try to win her heart. The 2011 movie “Crazy, Stupid, Love” expresses the same practice of men doing what is necessary to woo women, and although the tactics that these men use are completely different than in “The Taming of the Shrew”, both proved that the main principle of honesty has been what women respond to the most for years.

Although the tactics that Lucentio and Hortensio use in “Taming of the Shrew” in order to try and win over Bianca are completely different than the tactics that Cal Weaver and Jacob Palmer deployed in order to win over women, the principle of honesty when attempting to woo these women remained there. Lucentio and Hortensio dress up in school teacher garments in order to get close to Bianca. Lucentio uses honesty hidden in his Latin lesson with Bianca, and Hortensio uses honesty hidden within a gamut. All that Cal and Jacob have to do is walk up to women and talk to them. These two situations show exactly how men and women have remained the same through centuries when it comes to what they respond to in the opposite sex. Both of these texts reflect that over years the tradition has been the same, multiple men walk up to attractive women and try to woo them in hopes of being with them. Although the measures in which these men take may have changed, the tradition and principal has remained the same.

“'Hic ibat' as I told you before- 'Simois' I am Lucentio-

'hic est' son unto Vincentio of Pisa- 'Sigeia tellus' disguised thus to get your love- 'Hic steterat' and that Lucentio thatcomes a-wooing- 'Priami' is my man Tranio- 'regia' bearing my port- 'celsa senis' that we might beguile the old pantaloon.”

(Lucentio, Act 3 Scene i, 33-38)

Within this quote, Lucentio is disguised as a schoolmaster and attempting to woo Bianca through pure honesty. He is forced to encode his message within his “lesson” due to the fact that Bianca’s other suitor, Hortensio, is also within the room during this time. He uses this honesty at his advantage, and she responds just as he hoped she would. This is also shown with Cal in “Crazy, Stupid, Love”.

In this earlier scene from “Crazy Stupid Love”, Cal is walking up to a women in a nightclub, and it is his first time attempting to talk to another female since his split with his wife. Jacob gave him a game plan when talking to women, but when that does not go well he immediately apologizes and is completely honest with the woman. “Im sorry! I’m in corporate insurance, I have children, plural. And my wife was cheating on me with David Lindhagen, which I wasn’t supposed to tell you about either. Nice to meet you.” “What were you supposed to tell me?” “I don’t know, I was supposed to say that you are the perfect combination of sexy and cute. Which is actually something that I used to say to my wife, but now it’s become corrupted. And I have 8 layers of clothes on. I’m wearing a shirt, and a tie, and a sweater, and a suede jacket that just seals in all the heat. Seals in all the juices. It’s just all sweat under here, this is all sweat from here down. And this sweater, it’s called slim cut, but it feels like a scuba suit. And I’m looking at your breasts, what is that about?” “You think I’m the perfect combination of sexy and cute?” Just like Lucentio, Cal is completely honest about everything that’s going on. He reveals the facade that he is portraying, and tells her exactly who he really is just like Lucentio. The comedy within this movie surrounds this, and proves to the audience the overall power of honesty when attempting to woo a woman.

'"Gamut" I am, the ground of all accord-

"A re" to plead Hortensio's passion-

"B mi" Bianca, take him for thy lord-

"C fa ut" that loves with all affection-

"D sol re" one clef, two notes have I-

"E la mi" show pity or I die.

Call you this gamut? Tut, I like it not!

Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice

To change true rules for odd inventions.”

(Hortensio, Act 3, Scene 1, Line 76)

In this very early scene in “Crazy, Stupid, Love”, Jacob walks up to a woman named Hannah along with her friend in a nightclub and attempts to woo her. Although he uses complete honesty this is does not work due to the fact that Hannah is not single and does not like his straightforwardness. “That’s weird because I think your friend Hannah is really sexy.” “Oh my god! You did not just say that. How old are you?!..... Don’t you think you’re a little too old to be using cheesy pick up lines?”...... “Wow Hannah, you’re really wearing that dress like you’re doing it a favor!-- That’s a line. Me sitting over there for the past two hours not being able to take my eyes off you is a fact. I mean there’s lots of beautiful women in this bar, your friend included, Hi”, “I love you.” “But I can’t take my eyes off you. That’s a fact it’s not a line.... Ok Hannah, can I buy you a drink?” “It’s time to go home.” In the same way that Hortensio attempted to “get” the women that he was interested in using honesty, Jacob did the same and they both did so to no avail due to different factors. This proves to the audience of these two medias that although honesty does often help when it comes to attempting to woo a person, it is unrealistic to believe that just because you’re honest that person will automatically fall in love with you over any other suitors or people that may want them.