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

The Evolution of Culture Through Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You
“How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways.” And count the ways she did. This altered quote from the famous sonnet written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning was used as a tagline for the 1999 teen comedy 10 Things I Hate About You, a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's famous play Taming of the Shrew. Both productions thrilled audiences with their witty comedy and romantic themes, but told in exceedingly different time periods. Both stories follow the sharp-tongued Katherine and her alluring younger sister in a story of manipulation, courtship, and abiding to societal expectations. Though both these stories follow all three of these themes, they differ immensely

in the lesson you get out of each one. Katherine and Petruchio show these differences specifically throughout both the play and the movie. The cultural evolution between the time periods Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You were created in drastically change the role that Katherine has in her relationship with Petruchio (or Patrick in 10 Things I Hate About You).

This role change is an example of how women's rights and roles in society have changed from the times that these pieces were written. Of course, Shakespeare’s sixteenth century play and a teen comedy are going to have some blatant differences such as writing style, fashion choices and setting, the changes made to the main couple are perhaps the most interesting.
In Shakespeare's play Taming of the Shrew, the theme of love, marriage, and women’s expectational roles recur often throughout the piece. Shakespeare wrote this play in the 1590’s as one of his early comedies. Around this time, marriage was usually treated as nothing more than a contract; an exchange of cash, goods and persons through written consent. Furthermore, these contracts favored men far above their partners. Women were treated as property; a slave to her husband in a sense, and women who acted otherwise were labeled as “undesirable” or “shrewish”. The way that the relationship between Katherine and Petruchio is handled shows this social construct often throughout the

play. Soon after being introduced, Petruchio has already displayed his following of the this social norm through his statement to Hortencio, “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua” (Shakespeare, 53). Petruchio states openly and shamelessly that he comes to Padua, not for love, but for money, further representing what marriage meant for men in the time period. Not only is this norm expressed through Petruchio, but also through Katherine near the end of the play. Near the end, Katherine’s new husband Petruchio puts her through extensive “shrew training”, and is transformed from the untamable to the ideal wife of the sixteenth century. In her reformed speech she states: “Such duty as the subject owes the prince. Even such a woman oweth to her husband; and when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour, and not obedient to his honest will, what is she but a foul contending rebel” (Shakespeare, 219). Katherine expresses her new devotion to her husband in the way that a subject devotes themselves to their king. This shows the way ideal relationships were visualized in the late sixteenth century, compared to how differently we see romantic relationships in today’s time and culture. Due to that difference, the analyzation of this play in today’s context can cause much controversy and debate. Nonetheless, the play is an extraordinary piece and has inspired many spin-offs and adaptations through the years, each one changing along with the time and culture.
One popular and recent spin-off of Taming of the Shrew is the 1999 movie adaptation 10 Things I Hate About You. This movie took Shakespeare's famous play and placed it into a modern high school setting complete with altered names, new characters and an updated language and humor. Of course, this movie was not without its alterations and tweaks of plot to give it more of a 1990’s flavor. Ignoring the name and setting changes, the portrayal of Katherine and Patrick (Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew), shows some of the best examples of the modernization of the film. Katherine and Patrick show a much more stable relationship than in the original playwright, first beginning in mutual hatred and manipulation from Patrick but then slowly evolving into reciprocated love and understanding. Near the beginning of the movie, you can see Patrick quickly realize that Katherine is almost immune to typical flirting, surprising Patrick immensely. It is not until Patrick begins making an effort in understanding Katherine that he makes any progress. The point in the movie where you really see the shift is when Patrick convinces Katherine to attend the party. Katherine becomes heavily intoxicated and instead of Patrick displaying his early movie traits, he stops and cares for Katherine, aiding her when she is sick and refusing to take advantage of her. Proceeding this scene, you can see Patrick uses the money being given for manipulation used to win over Katherine rather than personal use. It’s obvious then that Patrick is performing acts out of romantic interest rather than monetary gain. This greatly differs from the original Taming of the Shrew that is practically void of romance and based heavily on manipulation and trickery. This difference most likely stems from the culture present in the 1990’s and the culture present in the when the original play was written in the 1590’s.
In the gap of time between the publishing of Taming of the Shrew and the production of 10 Things I Hate About You, there were many cultural shifts and evolutions. Nowadays, we no longer think of marriage as a contract. Over the years, marriage became more about the concept of love and relationship than property and attaining possessions. Not only is this because of the prevalence of romance in today's culture, but also the shift in gender equality. In the sixteenth century, women had very little presence in society and culture. A movie taking place in the late twentieth century, having the same cultural standpoints as a late sixteenth century playwright would be extremely odd and unfitting. The creative liberties taken with 10 Things I Hate About You are not necessarily a bad thing however. Though it does change some of the main themes and lessons shown in Taming of the Shrew, the movie teaches a valuable lesson on love and shows just how much we’ve learned from Shakespeare's original play. It’s amazing to see such a positive outcome from the cultural shift between time periods; to see a world where marriage has changed from a trade of goods to a bond of love. The difference between Katherine’s prevalence in her relationship is also an example of the time change. Both Katherines start out as “shrewish” and untamable women, but instead of her being forced to change her personality to fit a societal mold like in Taming of the Shrew, Katherine in Ten Things I Hate About You changes her original character out of her own will, still retaining possession of her strong and independent personality through her reformation. The contrast between Petruchio and Patrick is also an illustration of the change in culture. Both Patrick and Petruchio start as manipulative and greedy, but just as Katherine changes in 10 Things I Hate About You, Patrick does something decidedly similar. He goes from a devious and greedy teen to a caring and loving partner for Katherine. In contrast, Petruchio has little to no character development from beginning to end, keeping his scheming and dastardly ways, mainly because the social construct of the time not only allows but promotes that behavior. Of course, there are other relationships and themes in the movie that give examples of cultural evolution, but Katherine and Petruchio’s relationship modification stands out far among the rest.
Though it may seem strange that two comedies full of slapstick humor and crude jokes could be a prime example of the way we as a human race have evolved over hundreds and hundreds of years, the truth still stands. The way the time period handled relationships are reflected through Katherine and Petruchio’s toxic and unrequited relationship just as 10 Things I Hate About You handles Kat and Patrick’s healthy and developed relationship according to the period it was produced. The differences between the two show off the hard work and sacrifice it took to get to the point where a relationship shown in 10 Things I Hate About You could become a reality. Furthermore, the two showed the evolution of women’s expectational roles both in society and in a romantic relationship. The way that such a change can be shown through two similar pieces of writing is astonishing. Perhaps in the near future, another director or author will take inspiration in this play again and we’ll get to see how culture has evolved even further. Even if not, it is inevitable that our society will continue to reshape, but we will always have Taming of the Shrew to look back and compare how far we’ve come.