Many of the plays written by the greatest English playwright William Shakespeare have been adapted into films with much success. The comedy "The Taming of the Shrew" is a good example of this. The Taming of the Shrew reflects the concerns of married life in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the play follows the main plot of love and affection of Luncentio towards Bianca and his fight to win her over against Hortensio and Gremio. But a conflict occurs when Baptista states that for Bianca to be married, the shrew Katherine must be married first. Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare’s most controversial plays, but in many ways, the values represented in the text are still prevalent today. In several different aspects, 10 Things I Hate …show more content…
Shrewish Katherine and uncaring Petruchio were transformed into, what the writers believed to be, the modern equivalent of the plays characters. Although most of the characters are quite alike to one another there are still significant differences. Kat and Katherine both end up giving in to their suitors Patrick and Petruchio but in very different ways and different reasons. Kat forgives Patrick hoping that he actually has feelings for her and will continue to see her without the monetary compensation as she wants love. Whereas Katherine is the opposite, she gives guarantees and stamps them with powerful and theatrical words of submission. She gives into Petruchio and submits her life towards the betterment of his. Katherine gives nothing ‘but love, fair looks and true obedience (Act 5 Scene 2) to Petruchio. Patrick and Petruchio are also two alike characters but also extremely different. Petruchio is portrayed as a selfish and uncaring character when he decides that he will marry Kate, he does this only after inquiring about the size of her dowry. He matches her sharp tongue with his own and claims to be her equal in this regard. He never gives up and goes to extreme lengths to gain her submission and hand in marriage. At one point in the play he deprives Katherine of food, portraying him as a pompous and selfish man. Patrick is too thought like this at a first glance. Patrick agrees to go out on a date with Kat for financial reasons, however, he hesitates to take the money at first debating whether he should take it or not. Kat and Patricks dates are not him ‘taming’ her, they are rather two people falling in love together. Patrick continues to see Kat because he is falling for her. In one scene Patrick publicly sings “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” to Kat during school, he does this
However, it is the the effects of each of these situations that allow us to evaluate the two as a whole. Although Kat’s emotions go up and down about Patrick nonstop throughout the movie, in the end she is much happier than she was before she met Patrick. Similarly, Katherine ends up stating how submission has “made her heart great”, implying that she is content with the situation, but she does not appear to be truly happy with Petruchio. She is aware that she has no choice in regards to submission, and that her life will be better if she just accepts it. Thus, Katherine’s happiness is superficial as opposed to Kat’s which is real. Also feminism did not exist until the 19th century, so during the time of Shakespeare Katherine and Bianca did not even think of the idea that they could have a choice when it comes to men. Marriages were arranged, and that concept was accepted for many centuries,In fact, Katherine and Bianca are not even considered to be citizens because they
“Then God be blessed, 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 named, even that it is,And so it shall be still for Katherine. (IV.vi.19–23) The relationship of Katherine and Petruchio has changed throughout the various adaptations of the Taming of the Shrew. Things such as the motives to the interaction, even the role of love has changed. These differences between these adaptations were not a mistake but made to appeal to a variety of audiences.
In the play, Taming of the Shrew, this character is known as Petruchio. In act 1 scene 2, Petruchio insists on meeting Kat no matter who tells her of his behavior, for he was only looking at one factor – that she had a rich father. Upon meeting Baptista, Petruchio insists on meeting Katherine. “Lucentio” and Petruchio battle, promising this and that to Katherine until Baptista finally chooses Petruchio. Upon meeting Katherine, she immediately is biting at his heels. With his quick wit he is responding with equal amounts of insults which frustrates Katherine. Every insult Katherine throws at Petruchio he manages to throw back a sexual innuendo. further along into the story with Kate and Petruchio. Petruchio
All in all Katherina undergoes a complete metamorphosis from the beginning of the play to the end of the play. She starts out a girl, acting like foal trying to kick free from her harness and ends up a submissive, sweet, gentle and kind woman, whom is controlled yet, controls her husband Petruchio, whom she ends up loving dearly.
In the play The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare, Petrucio recognizes, respects and desires Katherine’s strength of character. Petrucio is a clever man who sees beyond facades because he uses them himself. (II, i 46) (II, I 283 - 89) He is stimulated by Katherine’s sharp tongue and harsh actions. He proves this many times throughout the play.
The Taming of the Shrew unravels to reveal a wild beastly Katharine lacking respect for her family, herself and others around her. Kate is a very outspoken and vulgar woman without respect to authority. Katharine, although depicted as a beautiful woman quickly becomes the talk of Padua. Kate has found that if she is loud and obnoxious she can have her way. She screams and grunts and pushes those who she does not get along with. The general character of Katharine seems to be that of a small child.
Kate never finds out that Petruchio was paid to marry her. Petruchio and Patrick both use deceitful tactics in order to be with their respective loves. They disguise their true feelings and motives for being with their girl. Both Kat and Katherine fall in love with the man who was paid to be with her.
A long time ago, a drunken man fell asleep outside an alehouse. This man, Christopher Sly, was discovered by a mischievous lord who took him into his home. The witty lord then convinced Sly that he was a lord, as well. The lord then put on a play for him. The play, The Taming of the Shrew, was about the two young daughters of Baptista. The youngest daughter, Bianca, wished to wed but her father, Baptista, would not allow this until his eldest daughter, Katherina, was married. Under normal circumstances, it would be easy to find a husband for Katherina with all her beauty, but all her beauty was covered by her shrewd personality. By this time Bianca's suitors were growing very impatient, so they decide to team up and find a husband for Katherina. In jest they mentioned their plan to a friend, Petruchio, who surprisingly agreed to marry Katherina. All her beauty and wealth were enough for him. Katherina reluctantly was wed to Petruchio and she was taken to his home to be tamed. With Katherina out of the way, Bianca was now allowed to marry Lucentio, who offered her father the highest dowry for her. In the final scenes of the play, Katherina proves that she is tamed by winning an obedience contest at a dinner party. Katherina is now even more in accordance with her wifely duties than Bianca. A fare is a type of comedy based on a ridiculous situation. The Taming of the Shrew, an eminent example of a farce, is the first of three farces written by Shakespeare.
The second reason the bond survives is that Petruchio is strong enough to accept the fact that Katherine has a mind and, more importantly, he loves her for that reason. Petruchio cleverly weaves the relationship into the framework of society without compromising the integrity of the relationship. Petruchio does this by comparing Katherine’s attitude to repulsive clothing. Carefully and calculatingly, Petruchio forges a relationship that is envied by all who witness it. Called "cursed Kate" throughout the play, Katherine is openly jealous of the attention her sister is receiving, whereas she, because she speaks her mind, is being bypassed and even avoided in the wooing process.
... for both sides. In the case of Katherine and Petruchio, the battle is won because they both love each other and live happily ever after. The battle of the sexes between Bianca and Lucentio is lost because neither is willing to love each other.
William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is an interesting story that demonstrates the patriarchal ideas of how a marriage is suppose to be according to society, what is acceptable of a woman's role in a relationship. It's a story that has many things to show for it's been remade, and remade, even slightly altered to better relate to the teenage audience.
By charming her with kind words, Petruchio is able to manipulate Katherine into marriage and woo her, but in an unaccustomed way, as Kate is not used to men being so nice and direct with her. Petruchio is able to achieve this end by manipulating Katherine’s words. He twists what Kate says and makes it seem as if she is coming on to him sexually, while in reality he is the one implying the sexual innuendo. This manipulation can be seen when they have an argument about whether or not the wasp carries his sting on his tail or tongue, and Petruchio says “What, with my tongue in your tail? Nay, come again, good Kate. I am a gentleman—” (II, 1; 230-231). By contorting the words he ...
William Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew illistrates the difficulty of trying to tame a headstrong, stubborn, and a high-spirited woman so that she will make a docile wife. The one attempting to tame Kate, the shrew, is Petruchio. They contend with each other with tremendous vitality and have a forced relationship. In contrast, there is another romantically linked couple who seemingly possess an ideal relationship. These young lovers, Bianca and Lucentio, share a love that is not grounded in reality, but in fantasy. These two sub-plot characters are stock characters and Shakespeare creates the irony of the play through the differences between the two couples. It is through his use of stock characters and irony that the differences between the two couples are revealed.
He thinks he is in charge and always the superior to women. He expects Katherine to always do what he tells her to do, because he believes that is her duty as his wife. He should not be expected to do that for her. Furthermore, Bianca is what many would describe as the perfect woman. She is nurturing and she does not speak out against what she is told.
During The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has used pleasure and pain in order to tell the story of Petruchio and Katherina’s courtship. This is problematic for modern day audiences, as they do not find the courtship methods that Petruchio employs to woo Katherina particularly comical. However, it could be argued that Shakespeare crafted The Taming of the Shrew precisely for this reason, to feature his views on patriarchy and to make the audience see what was happening through a new perspective. The Elizabethan audience would have been shocked at the methods used in order to achieve the taming, even though it was well within a man’s right to discipline his wife if she was deemed unfit. From the very beginning of The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare indicates that this play will not follow traditional rules of decorum, and that it is intended to both give pleasure and cause pain in order to make both Elizabethan and modern audiences take note of his underlying message.