10 Things I Hate About You And Petruchio's The Taming

Petruchio wears the psychological mask of a guy who only has eyes for money. He makes his mask clear to the reader when he tells Hortensio to “wife wealthily” adding “you don’t know the power of gold.” after being told about Katherina’s bad behavior, not to mention her temper. It appears that Petruchio marries Kate for her money, but immediately starts to “kill her with kindness”. He begins going so by depriving her of food and sleep because he claims that neither the food from the kitchen nor the bed is good enough for her. Petruchio puts on a show of bad temper towards his servants for every fault, showing Kate what it is like to live with a bad-tempered person. For the first time in her life, Kate finds herself trying to get someone else to control their anger. Petruchio also shows Kate that she will get the things she wants when she learns to agree with what her husband says. By treating Kate in this manner, Petruchio seems cruel, but there is a reason for it. If he were truly interested only in money, he could have left Kate at home and gone out on his own. In the end, his efforts to improve his wife have worked. He improves Kate’s life, so that she does not continue to live an unhappy life. Because of Petruchio, Katherina the shrew is happily married in the end, and comes to be a good example to

Hello and welcome respected audience of the Shakespeare Society. I would like to start today by thanking you for allowing me to speak on the topic of how the stereotypical roles of women have changed and evolved in a positive manner since the Elizabethan era. I will start by defining a few beneficial terms before discussing how Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew has been appropriated by Gil Junger’s in the 1999 movie, 10 Things I Hate About You.

Money isn’t the only thing that is valuable in this world. Although in many film texts this is not the case. Particularly in “Taming of the Shrew” and “10 Thing I Hate About You” because in both of the films, the main male characters Patrick and Petruchio are predominantly motivated by money. However, they ended up falling for Kat and Katharina who have been set up as the archetypal shrews in both films. During the Elizabethan era money was a major factor that influenced society’s view of your personal wealth. this is clearly reflected in the 1967 film text but is not evident in the 1998 version due to changing ideologies. Subsequently,I believe that the “Taming of the Shrew” is more an exercise in misogyny whereas “10 Things I hate About You” is more of a love story about a man liberating a woman, who may be seen as her equal, and who is as cunning as he is.

In both Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart and Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society, the nature of father and son relationships are dependant on communication, the level of compromise that each is willing to give, and how each respond to one another. In the novel, Things Fall Apart, the village of Umuofia is a place where men are no less than warriors, and must fight for their social status. In the movie, Dead Poets Society, Welton is a strict school that has set rules that shall be followed, and if disobeyed, the students will face consequences. Both of these communities have a specific way of life, but both sons attempt to challenge society, and live their own way. However, their fathers are believers of their respective rules, and are ashamed

“What, in the midst of the street? / … / No, sir God forbid, be ashamed to kiss.” (v, ii, line 148, 149, page 205). Again, she is threatened with having to return home instead of joining in the festivities, and Kate gives Petruchio a kiss. This obedient kiss may indicate Petruchio’s power over her, but it was clear to Kate that if she did not give him the kiss he asked for, she would not have been allowed to proceed to the wedding feast. Kate is smart and cunning and she manipulated his yearn for her tameness in order to do everything that she wants to while making him happy and pleased.

Specifically, Petruchio uses the technique of starving Kat in order to tame her (4.1.194-195). He uses a cruel strategy because he feels weakening her will make her obedient. Patrick pretends to be interested in reading a book Kat enjoys (10 Things). He wants to tame Kat by showing her they have similar interests while showing her his charming side. In summary, both try to tame Kat; however Patrick uses compassion to woo her while Petruchio uses a more aggressive strategy.

Love is represented in many shapes and ideas based on social context as well as those caught within. William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew as well as its adaptation 10 Things I Hate About You by Gil Junger, represent their respective ideas on love which shares its similarities and differences, both portraying love in their own forms. Both texts highlight the ideals of love in their context as well as one of the main courtships, Katharina and Petruchio, involved in love, portraying their values of love.

Petruchio also manipulates Kate psychologically by pivoting her thoughts in the direction of them being suited to each other for marriage. When he says “I am too young for you” (Act 2 Scene 1, 250), he starts making her feel old and unwanted. This comment makes her mad, and causes her to feel the need to prove that he is old, which she accomplishes in the next line by saying “Yet you are withered” (II, 1; 251). Thus she unconsciously admits that he is at least suited to her in age for marriage, if nothing else. By complimenting her, Petruchio is also able to play with her psychologically. He begins by saying she is beautiful, nice, and modest. Even though he may not mean it, and Kate probably suspects he is lying, it still has a positive effect on her. Complements boost her confidence and make her feel wanted, which is a new experience for her. Such complements eventually lead her to believe that he may actually love her, or that there is a possibility of love between them in the future. This method of manipulation does have its effects, because she only opposes their marriage once in front of her father, and after Petruchio announces that they have decided that she should “still be curst [to him] in company” (II, 1; 324), but they really love each other, she offers no counterarguments.

‘Taming of the Shrew’ & ‘10 Things I hate about you’ shows the difference between how both genders are treated, males been shown as more important than the female sex. This belief is still carried out through our generation, men being portrayed as more legible to earn higher wages and given more respect in the workforce.

In the play Taming of the Shrew, written by William Shakespeare, many characters are reshaped and given new personality traits. Petruchio is known as being a cocky man who intends to help tame a shrewish young lady named Kate. There are many critics that believe Petruchio is solely obnoxious and a bully but through out his interactions with Kate it is shown that he truly cares about the well being of others. Of course at the beginning of Petruchio’s plan to tame a young lady he is acting off of his confidence and trying to impress those around him but this soon changes once he begins to interact with Kate. Petruchio proves that his ways have changed and he is only taming Kate to make her feel better about herself, “Petruchio uses psychological methods, not aggressive or barbaric ones, to tame Kate, which alls her to still be witty and intellectual, but also happily married, at the end of the play”(Natale,98). Petruchio truly believes that by taming Kate he is preforming a good deed and helping her accept herself in this process.

The story of The Taming of the Shrew is one that raises important issues both in the Shakespearean text and in the modern appropriation 10 Things I Hate About You.

The short stories “A Rose for Emily” and “Hills Like White Elephants” are like two people suited for each other; puzzle pieces. I say this because they can be hooked together by their common similarities. The two short stories may be different in some aspects, but they are very similar to one another. These similarities being, the themes, symbolism found in each of the stories and the tragedies that occur.

Petruchio may have been mean to her in order to tame her but by the end; he shows how he truly loves her. “Come, my sweet Kate/Better once than never, for never too late” (Shakespeare Vi 149-150). Kat’s sonnet about her feelings towards Patrick show that she has accepted that she can be in love. This is her version of being “tamed” because she can rely on someone other than herself. Patrick uses the money he made dating her to buy her a guitar and beg for her forgiveness. He has fallen for her though that was no his original intention. “I thought you could use it. You know, when you start your band. Besides, I had some extra cash, you know. Some asshole paid me to take out a really great girl but I screwed up. I fell for her” (10 Things I Hate About You). Besides the story, the filmmakers have used several exact lines from the play in the movie. Cameron echoes Lucentio’s line, “I burn, I pine, I perish”(Shakespeare Ii 155) when he sees Bianca for the first time. Kat, like Kate, tells her sister “You don't always have to be who they want you to be” (10 Things I Hate About You). The filmmakers kept Shakespeare’s story of love and deceit intact in the modernization.

I am choosing Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona from 10 Things I Hate About You. They only came to know eachother when Patrick was payed by Joey to date Kat. Kat is very hostile and guarded so things start very slowly. Eventually Patrick begins to make more of an effort (partially due to money, partially due to an increasing interest in Kat.) Kat continually rebuffs Patrick's advances, so eventually information is obtained from Kat's sister in order for Patrick to become more likeable. then they go to a party together, somethign bad happens and Kat ends up drinking and almost getting a concussion. Patrick takes care of her, but doesnt kiss her when shes drunk so she becomes upset. Eventually they go to a school dance, some events happen and Kat learns Patrick was being paid to date her. Eventually they recover from this.

Wonder, for a moment, what Shakespeare means when he uses the word “love”, if it really does exist in any of the relationships in this play, particularly between Petruccio and Katherine. Is love not a certainty?