10 Things I Hate About You And Taming Of The Shrew

In the 1500’s William Shakespeare wrote a play called “Taming of the Shrew”. This play was based on the Elizabethan ideals and judgments of marriage, love, money and social status of the time. However, since then the stereotypes of these ideals have been changed and modernised. In 1999, Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith wrote the Movie “10 Things I Hate About You” (a modern adaption of the 16th century play originally written by Shakespeare). Even though “10 Things I Hate About You” is a more relatable text towards the modern society, “Taming of the Shrew” shows the ideals and themes of the Elizabethan era more elaborate than “10 Things I Hate About You” does.
During the era dominated by men and money, women had little to no rights and were treated like items, belongings of men. This meant that they had no access to education so they could never pursue a suitable career because occupations were limited for them and university
In Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio confirmed this by saying: “I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua.” Basically, this means that he is only seeking fortune from marrying Katherina, as he is quite up-front with it. Once married, the woman automatically becomes property of the man she had wed and all of her belongings are now his. Women were expected to increase the wealth of the family and thad to bring a dowry of money, goods and/or property to the marriage. Although divorce was highly unlikely, the woman in the marriage only got what she brought to it, otherwise she left with nothing. If women did not wish to marry, they were looked down upon as a burden to the family and single women were judged and thought to be witches at times. In the Elizabethan times, marriage was a sign of wealth and a higher social rank which was a crucial importance to the citizens of the Elizabethan