Julius Caesar—Public Life vs. Private Life

Throughout the play, Julius Caesar, personal interest versus public interest is a theme that has occurred in multiple places.  The theme can be seen mostly when looking at the difference between public life and private life.  Most of the characters neglect their personal feelings that are brought about in their private lives, and instead follow the interests of the public.  This decision usually leads to disaster.  The first example of this would be with Brutus.  Brutus does not tell his wife, Portia, what he is struggling with when she asks him to confide in her.  He puts aside his personal loyalties to Caesar and decides to act on what he thinks is the public’s will.  Brutus chooses to murder Caesar, despite the fact that they were close friends.  He goes through an inner struggle, but ultimately chooses to follow the interest of the public.  Cassius is another man who is determined to create a powerful public appearance.  He does not really have a private life, which is why he does not seem to deal with an internal struggle.  Cassius does not have any personal honor or sensibility and is just a ruthless murderer.  Caesar also struggles when determining whether or not he should stick with his private life or public life.  Calpurnia urges him to stay home when she has a dream that he will be murdered.  At first, Caesar decides not to go to the Senate, but he is then persuaded by Decius when Decius announces that he will receive the crown if he goes.  Caesar chooses his public self image over his private life and his wife.  He is so concerned with his image that he scolds his wife for making him look like he was afraid in the first place.  All of these characters neglected their private sentiments and chose to follow public concerns.  This is ultimately what led to Caesar’s death.

How Do You Read It?

There are two different ways that the audience could read or interpret The Taming of the Shrew.  View one would be that the play is extremely misogynistic, and view two would be that Kate actually improves or develops throughout the play.  There are definitely plenty of examples for Kate’s improvement.  If the director wanted to make the play have this type of reading, then he would need to stage it so that Kate’s and Petruchio’s great relationship was emphasized.  The most important piece would be to show that what actually happens is Kate learns to play the game.  Her spirit is not actually broken, but it just has to show that she now understands what is necessary in order to win men over.  The director could show Kate as being in on the scheme to win Petruchio money during the bet.  Another important piece to this argument would be to show that Kate is happier after all.  She did not like being a shrew and constantly going against society.  So, now that she no longer can debate everything, she is actually happier.  However, I would argue that this is quite a stretch.  The director would have a lot of work to do in order to give the audience this type of interpretation.  I believe that this play is much more misogynistic.  Kate becomes completely submissive to Petruchio and is no longer considered an equal.  She is married against her will, and Petruchio uses cold methods of manipulation.  Not only does he starve her and sleep deprives her, but he makes her say whatever he wants.  Petruchio completely humiliates Kate.  He never has to compromise, while she completely loses her voice in the play.  This play shows women having no role in society or even control over their own lives.  Men have power over their future but women do not.  The question is whether or not the men will be generous with this power, and clearly, Petruchio is not.

Themes in The Taming of the Shrew

I believe that social roles and disguise are an important recurring theme throughout the entire play.  The roles are defined by wealth, age, and gender.  Each character has a specific social role, and that role determines how they should behave.  Their behavior is enforced by their friends, family, and society as a whole.  Bianca and Kat are young, upper-class, ladies in waiting.  Baptista is their older, upper-class father, looking for someone to marry off his daughters to.  Lucentio is a young, wealthy student, and Tranio is his servant.  Hortensio is an older, upper-class, male looking for a potential bride.  These characters are expected to act appropriately as whom they are, which leads to the introduction of disguise.  Certain characters change classes by disguising who they are.  Tranio puts on the clothes of a lord and pretends to be Lucentio.  Lucentio and Hortensio dress up as working-class tutors to get closer to Bianca.  This transformation shows the power of appearance.  It only takes a change of clothing for these characters to be seen as members of a completely different social class.  On the other hand, Kat tries to reject her social role and shows her frustration to everyone.  Instead of disguising herself, she is open about how she feels with her position and what is expected of her.  Unfortunately, this is what causes her to be known as the shrew throughout the entire play.  People disapprove of her behavior because she does not live up to the expectations society places on her.  However, by the end of the play, all of the characters must conform to their original expectations.  Tranio must go back to being the servant of Lucentio.  Lucentio has to announce who he truly is to Baptista before he can marry Bianca. The most important transformation in the play is that Kat must ultimately submit to Petruchio, whether she wants to be his wife or not.  Order is reestablished by the end of play.  This shows that in order to truly be happy, one must accept their role in society.

The Taming of the Shrew vs. 10 Things I Hate About You

The film 10 Things I Hate About You was based upon Shakespeare’s 16^th century play, The Taming of the Shrew.  Although many could argue that a significant amount of the play was changed in order to better entertain a 21^st century audience, the directors were still able to capture the timeless elements.  There are many parallels between the two stories, including quotes that are similar word for word.  The overall plot is almost exactly the same as well.  In The Taming of the Shrew, Lucentio wants to marry Bianca, but she cannot wed before Katherine.  Lucentio then disguises himself as a schoolmaster in order to get close to Bianca and tutor her.  Another man vying for Bianca’s love is Hortensio.  His plan is to get Petruchio to marry Katherine, and Hortensio convinces him of this because of the large dowry that she comes with.  This plan is almost perfectly mirrored in 10 Things I Hate About You.  Cameron wants to date Bianca, but she cannot date until her sister Kat dates.  He then acts as a French tutor in order to get to know Bianca better.  Cameron has some competition because Joey also wants to take Bianca out.  Joey plans to pay this boy Patrick to take Kat out on a date, so that in return, he will be able to take out Bianca.  However, the major difference between the two is that in 10 Things I Hate About You, the characters actually fall in love with each other.  There is no element of taming Kat.  In The Taming of the Shrew, Kat is not happy with Petruchio, and he is forced to “tame” her.  This difference makes sense considering the two time periods in which these works were written/created.  It would not make sense for Kat to submit to dating Patrick for no apparent reason.  Not many fathers in today’s society would be able to force their daughters to go on a date with someone they didn’t want to.  It was acceptable back in the 16^th Century for a father to choose who his daughter would marry without her consent.  Katherine was not happy with Petruchio and he forced her to submit to him.