Identity Two liquids lie in front of someone, one is clear as crystals and sits in a golden cup labeled water, the other is in a bottle encrusted with mud and grime labeled with a skull and crossbones. Both have lids sealed on tight. Which should one drink? As the liquid pours out of the golden cup, it smells of chemicals and is poisonous to taste. On the contrary, the liquid from the dirty bottle is pure and clear. Should one still drink from the golden cup? The way something appears or is identified as is not always true. Sometimes a deeper look is needed to see what is inside. The movie 10 Things I Hate About you and the play Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare both deal with how identities assigned by society can affect the way people act, no matter who they truly are, and this is seen through the actions of multiple characters throughout both the play and the movie. If someone is identified as a bitter person, no matter what he or she does, …show more content…
Sometimes a deeper look is needed to see what is inside. In Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew and in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You the underlying theme of identity stands out to show this. No matter how much characters change, they are still viewed with old identities. However, they both also show that no matter how society treats people, if they want to, they can be true to themselves and break the rules of society’s judgments. In addition, both plots show that people act the way they do for a reason. Now, two liquids sit in front of someone. One in a beautiful golden cup, the liquid is as clear as crystal, and the label says water. Next to it sits a bottle encrusted with mud and grime labeled with a skull and crossbones. Both have lids sealed on tight. Which should the person drink? Perhaps before a drink is taken the lids should be removed. Identities can be deceiving. One needs to take a closer look to see what truly lies
In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, there is a recurring theme of people hiding their real identity. First, there are cases of deception, such as Tranio pretending to be Lucentio, Lucentio pretending to be a Latin tutor, Hortensio pretending to be a music tutor. More complex than these obvious examples of deception are Shakespeare’s clever uses of psychological masks. Several characters in the play take on roles that do not agree with their personalities. The psychological masks that they wear are not immediately apparent to the audience, or even to the characters themselves, until they are unmasked through the course of the play. Shakespeare mostly uses this device with the characters of Katherina, Bianca,
The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III uses the theme of loyalty to show the importance of acts of cruelty as motivation. Kathy Lazaro, a cleaner, living in California had her home, which she inherited from her late father, wrongfully taken from her. She goes to the extreme to get it back from Behrani, a Persian Colonel, who was planning on selling the house to gain a profit. Kathy consistently shows loyalty to her family when cruel events happen to her. When Kathy’s husband, Nick, leaves her she keeps it from her family to remain loyal to Nick but also to keep them from worrying, she reveals her inability to handle conflicts. When Kathy’s house that she inherited from her father is taken from her she go to extreme measures in hopes of getting it back, this reveals her loyalty to her father.
“When love speaks the voice of all the gods makes heaven drowsy with the harmony,” Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, scene II.
Society has a tendency to believe that the way one perceives another individual is how they truly are. It is human nature to construct one’s personality based on the way one may speak or behave. However, it is also human nature to accept these roles created by others. In this modern day society, the majority believe that they are in charge of their own individuality. Yet, the way others behave towards a particular individual is what shapes one’s identity. This is well demonstrated by William Shakespeare in Taming of the Shrew. In this play, many characters easily mold into various other personas. Throughout the entire play, Shakespeare constantly emphasizes how individuals behave differently based on how others look upon them. This is shown repeatedly through the lives and experiences of Katherina, Bianca and Christopher Sly.
I must and will have Katherine to my wife. (Act 2, Scene 1, Page 13)
Welcome to our society, where individuals are constantly judged for their performances and different sceneries. Though taking place in different historical periods, these texts, paint a realistic picture of how identity is, today, so heavily constructed and imposed by society, and showcase the manipulative effect societal judgement can have on an individual’s sense of self-worth and internal values. First of all, what makes up an individual’s external identity? Well, there are many factors, including appearance, gender, race, status, name, ethnicity, and age. An individual’s
In essence, all Petruchio did was teach Kate not to be so brash and rebellious. He showed her how awful her actions looked, and on her own, she made the decision to change her demeanor. She could have remained bitter and feisty, but it would have been in vain, and I believe that she realized that her actions had been no worse than the vanity and shallowness she witnessed in the people of Padua.
In the Shakespearian play: The Taming of the Shrew, deception is one of the major concepts. A tangled web is created in the play through deception of character behavior and the change between clothing and class. Most of the deception in the play have particular motives behind them and create dramatic irony. Shakespeare has used dramatic irony to create a comedic play.
Depression, in general, affects more than 340 million people around the world and is reported to be the highest cause of disability in high-income countries (Demissie). 15% to 85% of mothers can experience postpartum “blues” with postpartum depression rates between 11.7% and 20.4% in the United States alone (Ersek). This depression can occur at anytime from post-delivery up to one year (Ersek).
Battle of the Sexes would have been another appropriate title for this play because the entire play is women verses men, men verses women. This battle of the sexes shows no boundaries between the rich and poor, young or old, man or women. The basis of all the rivalry stems from the fact that the men in this play look at the women as if they were objects, instead of human beings with feelings. This theory that women are merely objects creates an environment that the women have to adapt to and survive in and the environment of a person will depict what he or she will become, resulting in a battle between the sexes.
For instance, Mai Goda, from “Still Me Inside,” punctuates her experience with assumptions when she makes the decision to dye her hair a bright red. Ultimately, she describes instances where she felt intimidated and was classified as part of another group by her appearance. When she arrived late for school, the vice principal mistook her for a punk delinquent. Also, at her flute recital, parents appeared surprised when the beautiful music was coming from the girl with the stark hairstyle. Therefore, although people are judged initially by appearance, the identity of an individual or group is a collection of both self-perception, interests, and social-depiction.
The Taming of the Shrew, written by William Shakespeare, is historical proof that flirting and temptation, relating to the opposite sex, has been around since the earliest of times. Because males and females continue to interact, the complications in this play remain as relevant and humorous today as they did to Elizabethan audiences. This is a very fun play, full of comedy and sexual remarks. It's lasting impression imprints itself into the minds of its readers, for it is an unforgettable story of sex, flirting, and happiness. The Taming of the Shrew remains as relevant today because of its relation to the age-old story of the battle of the sexes and dynamics of marriage, as well as the woman's struggle with both of these.
There is a general understanding that appearances can be deceiving. This is one of the most fundamental questions in philosophy, appearance vs. reality. When we meet people and get to know them throughout our lives, we soon discover that there is a genuine side to everyone behind the appearance they show. In the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, the characters Polonius, Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Claudius use appearance vs. reality to manipulate and deceive, which ultimately leads to their downfall.
In Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare has a woman as one of the story's main characters. Katherine Minola (Kate) is off the wall, and kinda crazy. Because of her actions, the “male centered world” around her doesn't know what to do with her.
Margaret Thatcher became the first female to hold the position of British prime minister in 1979. While her time in office was controversial, those who loved or hated her agreed on one thing: she gave women in politics hopes of succeeding. The former British prime minister once remarked, “[i]n politics, if you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman.” William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew focuses on two sisters, Katherina and Bianca, who both seek love in a male-dominated society. Katherina is a resolute and hussy woman who eventually marries Petruchio, leading the two to a perfect marriage in which they both find happiness. Meanwhile, Bianca is a submissive and reticent woman who marries Lucentio, but they instead find themselves in an agonized marriage. Contrastingly, Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem, “Woman”, conveys that women should break free of society’s feminine expectations to live a more charitable life. Shakespeare believes that women should feign societal expectations until they gain respect and nobility, otherwise they will risk being berated and judged; however, Wilcox suggests that women should break free of the hindering expectations and control society imposes on them in order to live a more benevolent life.