The Film Kiss Me Kate versus The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare

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Recommended: The Taming of the Shrew

The Film Kiss Me Kate versus The Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare

There have been many Shakespearean plays that have been made into movies throughout the years. One that may not be so easy to come across is “Kiss Me Kate”. This movie stars Kathryn Gayson ,as Lilli Vanessi, and Howard Keel, as Fred Graham. This is a adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew.” The movie contains a story with in a story. The movie is about a man, named Fred Graham, who makes a recreation of the famous play. Many of the characters portray real life people who are some what identical to those in the play. The movie illustrates Shakespeare’s characters as he intended them to be and gives the viewer a good idea of what the play is about.

The main characters in the movie are Lilli and Fred. They are a divorced couple who play Katherina and Petruchio. They are a divorced couple who are very unpleasant to each other. The clash on stage as well as off stage. This helps her relate better to her character. In the play, Petruchio is very nice to Katherina before they get married. He tells her that he can put up with her and that he was born to tame her. Once they are married, everything changes. He begins to act very mean, which is ultimately the reason for her change. In the movie, Fred does many things that upset Lilly and make her want to quit the play before the performance is even over. However at he end, Lilli and Fred End up reconciling, as do Katherina and Pertruchio. If watched closely, the viewers can see her pull out a black book from his coat and throw it away. This would be a sign that things may be shifting for them, in their favor. Fred begins treating Lilly very badly before they go ...

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...p Lucentio get closer to Bianca. Grumio is always there by Petruchio’s side. In the movie he is almost always by himself, rather than with his servants. The movie merely showed the main character to get the point across in an hour and a half. These characters in the play add much more to the story.

Finally, the movie did cover many of the main points in the movie. The actors were well chosen to fit their characters. The characters in the movie held many of the same qualities that the characters did in Shakespeare’s play. “Kiss Me Kate” is a movie for all ages that will help people to interpret “The Taming of the Shrew”. It is no substitute, but rather supplemental material.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Sidney, George (Director). Cummings, Jack (Producer). 1953. Kiss Me Kate. United States: MGM.

Shakespeare, William. “Taming of the Shrew”.

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