Comparing Taming Of The Shrew And 10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You, a romantic comedy, directed by Gil Junger, is one of several films adapted from William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. While there are similarities between the original play and the 1999 film, there are also many remarkable differences, which is exactly what makes the film so significant. 10 Things I Hate About You borrows multiple aspects directly from the play, such as character names, direct quotes, and multiple homages to William Shakespeare himself, taking a classic Shakespeare comedy and making it easier for young adults to understand and relate to in many ways – it is a modern retelling, and while the film was set in the 1990s, the tropes and topics within the film transcend the decade.

The biggest difference,

though arguably a positive change, is that 10 Things I Hate About You takes a more feminist approach to the original story. The film’s main character is much more independent than the play’s lead in both her disinterest in dating and her eventual shift in attitude by the end of the film. Katarina chooses not to date – to both protect herself and stand against the patriarchal norms of society – rather than simply no one wanting to date her, though that is also the case. Similarly, she chooses to begin dating Patrick, whereas in the play, Petruchio decides that he will marry and tame Kate, no matter what. Katarina is very adamant that Patrick will not be able to “tame” her, while in Taming of the Shrew, Kate easily and readily gives into Petruchio’s ideas for her. One other significant difference is the relationship between the sisters, Katharina/Katarina and Bianca. 10 Things I Hate About You can easily be dismissed as a loose adaptation of Taming of the Shrew because the story itself does not follow the original plot exactly. However, the key foundations and elements still exist throughout the film, therefore, it can also be argued that it is one of the most significant modernized versions of this Shakespeare play because of its differences.
One of the most important differences between Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You exists primarily in Act Two, scene one.

Here we see Petruchio, the misogynistic male lead of the play, arrive in Padua to find a wife –ideally a rich woman, no matter her looks or personality. Upon hearing of Katharina “Kate” Minola, he decides, at once, that he will marry her. Petruchio thus seeks out Kate’s father, Baptista, to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. Once he is granted permission, he meets Katharina for the first time. Their first interaction is less than civil, with Kate firing insult after insult at Petruchio, calling him things such as a “buzzard,” meaning he is useless, and saying that he is too much a fool to find her “stinger” – with which her sharp words come from (2.1). Even still, Petruchio insists on marrying, and in doing so, taming Katharina, and will not take any of her protests,

saying,
. . . 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.
Here comes your father. Never make denial.
I must and will have Katherine to my wife. (2.1.233-247)
There is no specific scene such as this in 10 Things I Hate About You, and the plot itself takes a different route. Where Petruchio is determined to marry Katharina, Patrick Verona (Heath Ledger), the mysterious and seemingly dangerous male lead, has no intention of wooing Katarina “Kat” Stratford, played by Julia Stiles. In the film, it is initially Cameron James (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a new student, who is interested in pursuing Bianca Stratford, Kat’s younger sister, played by Larisa Oleynik, but their father has made it so Bianca cannot date until Kat does. The problem with this is that Katarina is described as “a bitter, self-righteous hag,” a “heinous bitch,” and “the shrew.” (10 Things I Hate About You). Cameron, with the help of a rich classmate, Joey Donner (Andrew Keegan), (who is also interested in Bianca) bribes Patrick into asking Kat out on a date, therefore making dating Bianca eligible. Much like in the play, Kat is resistant to Patrick’s attempts of asking her out. She turns him down repeatedly, however her reasoning is that she does not need a boyfriend and she has no interest in conforming to the patriarchy and gender stereotypes set up by it. One of the most crucial reasons Kat does not have any interest in dating is because when she briefly dated Joey Donner, she felt pressured into having sex with him and when she told him she wasn’t interested in doing it again, he dumped her. This instance left a deep mark on her feelings towards men and the patriarchy, causing her to willingly leave behind her popularity and take to focusing on her future and education, rather than getting caught up in the trivial patterns of high school. Eventually, Kat agrees to go on a date with Patrick that leads to an on-off relationship between the two over the course of the film, but the initial decision to go on the date with Patrick was her own choice – not because she was forced. The combination of these reasons and actions makes Katarina Stratford a more independent and feminist character than Katharina Minola.
Another major difference between Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You comes in Act five, scene two of the play. In the final scene, Katharina gives a speech at a wedding, stating, “A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty,” (5.2.151-152). She goes on to claim “Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper, Thy head, thy sovereign, one that cares for thee,” (5.2.155-156). For all intents and purposes, Petruchio has tamed Katharina. She has given into the patriarchal attitudes of society and thus lost all of her strong-willed, independent ideals. In 10 Things I Hate About You, however, while Katarina does end up with Patrick, she did so on her own will. By the end of the film, Kat’s attitude has softened, but she maintains her feminist values. After finding out that Patrick had been bribed to go out with her, she breaks things off with him, but in a poem she delivers for her English class – based on Shakespeare’s sonnet 141 – she acknowledges the fact that she loves him, despite his flaws;
I hate the way you're always right.
I hate it when you lie.
I hate it when you make me laugh;
Even worse when you make me cry.
. . . But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you;
Not even close;
Not even a little bit;
Not even at all. (10 Things I Hate About You).
Following this proclamation of Kat’s love for Patrick, as a way of apologizing, Patrick buys Kat the Fender Strat guitar she had been wanting, using the money he had been receiving from Joey Donner for his dates. This seemingly fixes their relationship, though Kat makes it clear that Patrick cannot simply keep buying her instruments, saying, “You can’t just buy me a guitar every time you screw up, you know.” (10 Things I Hate About You). She has become a somewhat softer person, but she still holds true to her original feminist beliefs and independent lifestyle. A major difference between the taming of Katharina and the “taming” of Katarina is that Petruchio was responsible for giving Katharina no option other than to become submissive, whereas Patrick played an extremely passive part, if any part at all, in Katarina’s change.
Arguably, one of the most significant feminist changes from Taming of the Shrew to 10 Things I Hate About You is the relationship between Katharina/Katarina and Bianca.

In both pieces, the sisters have strained relationships. Katharina and Bianca’s relationship in Taming of the Shrew is, quite simply, tenser than that of Kat and Bianca’s in 10 Things I Hate About You. As Act two, scene one opens, Kate and Bianca are bickering over who Bianca has feelings for, and the altercation builds to the point of where Kate slaps Bianca. Never in 10 Things I Hate About You do Kat and Bianca’s bickering get to the point of physical arguments. While it is very clear that both Kat and Bianca are judgmental of the other’s lifestyle – Kat judges Bianca for caring so much about being popular and Bianca judges Kat for her disinterest in being popular – throughout the entire film, there is an underlying sense of protectiveness between the two. In Christopher Bertucci’s article “Rethinking Binaries by Recovering Bianca in 10 Things I Hate About You and Zeffirelli’s The Taming of the Shrew”, he states that the Kat and Bianca can be viewed “as part of an ongoing struggle against repressive gender and identity norms,” (Bertucci, 415). Both Katarina and Bianca are, in their own rights, struggling to break the gender norms traditionally placed on them by society. Kat challenges the misogynistic influences when it comes to many aspects of life – education, relationships, authors, and music. Bianca,

on the other hand, while she very much can be described as vapid and pre-occupied with how people view her, is so much more than a one-dimensional character. Throughout the course of the film, she develops into a strong woman, standing up for herself and her sister when it matters most. Kat and Bianca share a moment towards the end of the film where Kat tells her sister her true reasons for not being interested in dating that “begins to explore the possibility of a female solidarity,” (Bertucci, 421). The truth behind Katarina’s disinterest in dating is because Kat briefly dated Joey Donner. While they were dating, she felt pressured to have sex with him, but when she told him she “didn’t want to do it anymore because [she] wasn’t ready and he got pissed and dumped [her],” (10 Things I Hate About You). Once Bianca found out about this, as well as finding out Joey only liked her “for one reason” and “had a bet going with his friends” for whether or not he could have sex with her on prom night (10 Things I Hate About You), she asserted herself and punched Joey in the face twice; once “for making my date bleed,” once “for my sister,” and, finally, she kneed him in the groin “for me.” (10 Things I Hate About You). This is clearly a very protective and transitioning move on Bianca’s part. Katarina opening up to Bianca on the reasons for which she gave up her popularity and desire to date was in an effort to protect her from the manipulative actions of Joey Donner. Despite the fact that the sisters do not get along throughout a majority of the film, by the end, their relationship is stronger and even their father is “impressed” by the fact that some of Kat’s feminist ideals have rubbed off on Bianca. Because of this difference between the sisters’ relationships, 10 Things I Hate About You is a significantly more feminist version of Taming of the Shrew.
While the film 10 Things I Hate About You is a loosely adapted from William Shakespeare’s comedy Taming of the Shrew, it is one of the most significant versions. Using both parallels and variations from the original script, the film, written by Karen McCullah and Kristen Smith, takes a more feminist and female empowering approach. By reworking Katharina/Katarina into a headstrong and intelligent female lead, giving Katharina/Katarina’s sister Bianca a more significant and multi-dimensional role, and adding more depth to the story itself, are some of the ways that provide this take on a classic Shakespearean comedy a more modern spin, allowing it to be more relatable to young adults.