Wooing and Romance

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how although they are both comedies revolving around the same basic plot of the older sister and her shrewish ways being calmed down on a bet by a money or status hungry stranger , Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" and "Ten Things I Hate about You" differ dramatically in the level of importance they deal with in the sincerity of wooing and romance. It looks at how although it adopts a brittle, harsh, and ironic tone at times, "Ten Things I Hate About You" ultimately validates common assumptions about teenage romance, the wisdom of adults, and solid social values that keep teens in their place in a truly based adult world. In contrast, it shows how Shakespeare is more ironic, crueler, more violent and complex in his definition the battle of the sexes.

From the Paper:

"The authority figures are more interested with intelligence and power in the film, but the other minor figures are weak in their intelligence and their wisdom. One of the most striking turns in the film is the character of Bianca. In Shakespeare, Bianca puts on a perfect performance of gentility and angelic the perfect daughter, until she is married. The audience sees her abused by her sister; in a way Petruccio will later abuse Katherine. "Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself, /To make a bondmaid and a slave of me;/That I disdain: but for these other gawds, /Unbind my hands, I'll pull them off myself, /Yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat;/Or what you will command me will I do, /So well I know my duty to my elders." (2.3) It is difficult to imagine Bianca Stratford being so accommodating to Kat at anytime. Only after marriage, does Shakespeare's Bianca's true "headstrong" spirit emerge. "

More papers on Wooing and Romance:

• Analytical Essay # 63354 : "Parents and Teens in Shakespeare and Film"
• Essay # 84417 : "Religion and Romance in English Drama "
• Analytical Essay # 113064 : "Danielle Steel and Romance"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: