These adaptations were immensely popular at the time, and fans today still enjoy performances of both. It is a modern retelling of the story, using relatable songs without wordy Shakespearean lyric. Kiss Me, Kate is a different story altogether, showing the backstage goings-on between the cast of a production of Taming of the Shrew. By making the central relationship Lilli-Fred instead of Petruchio-Kate, the creators bent and broke the dynamic of abuse contained in The Taming of the Shrew.
The growth of William Shakespeare throughout his career is obvious when examining the similar characteristics in his players. This evolution of Adriana to Katherine could have possibly even accounted for his depiction of the Lady Macbeth, in all her glory. Works Cited. Bevington, David.
The Necessary Shakespeare. New York: Pearson, Lamb, Charles and Mary. She becomes quarrelsome and apathetic. She becomes almost what her sister was. It is here that Shakespeare once again creates humour through the concept that things are not always as they seem.
The irony that comes from seeing the reversal of characteristics and the drastic change in our perceptions of Kate and Bianca provide a sense of amusement, and self-righteous satisfaction at the way the tides have turned. An example of this is in the final scene where Petruchio and Lucentio place a wager on the obedience of their wives Kate and Bianca respectively.
Of course Lucentio loses due to Biancas disobedience and near-contempt for her husband, while Petruchio and his newly transformed Kate, proceed to win a wager that according to the plot of the play to date, Bianca and Lucentio should have won without question.
These scenes were all significant in that they used a wide variety of techniques, such as creating false realities and mistaken identities, as well as the use of irony, to manipulate the audiences perceptions of people and events in a way that brings entertainment. This play successfully presents the fact that things are not always as they seem, and it is this concept that is used in order to convey humour to the audience. The humour in the play is first presented to the audience by the induction in which Sly the drunken tinker is the chief person.
The elaborate joke played by the Lord on Sly is very amusing, Bartholomew pretending to be the wife is hilarious. Layers of illusions are added in this induction when players themselves are deceived by the Lord. The audience goes along with this impossible deception of Sly and a humourous ambience is achieved even before Act I has started. The deception and false reality continue right through the play.
One can see two aspects of this amusing presentation: The comedy of characters where the behaviour and actions of some characters are truly humourous; sometimes because they are not what they pretend to be but other times because their behaviour or their persona is different from what the audience has come to expect. Early modern audiences would expect to experience entertainment through humour and some element of education through laughter: i.
The conventions of the comic genre included:. Most of these elements can be seen in The Taming of the Shrew. Similarly, the young lovers who face many obstacles are familiar characters and are seen in Lucentio and Bianca and, less obviously, in Petruchio and Katherina. Other familiar characters include Grumio as the clever, unruly servant who gets knocked about by his master, and Gremio as the old, lascivious man.
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