In this paper I am going to focus on some characteristics of

the film “The Taming of the Shrew” based on Shakespeare’s play

to explain why it can be considered a comedy in the light of
Rush’s ad Bentley’s theory.
To start with the analysis it is important to point out the main
conflict present in this film. This is about traditional roles
imposed by a society in marriage versus “new” unconventional
QDA MEJOR CREO roles of women and men. In the film the
audience is able to see a different, atypical woman who faces a
society with conventional rules about how a woman should be
like. Katherine, one of the main characters of the film, is not a
common girl bearing in mind society’s conventions. She is rude,
bad-tempered and violent to all people. These are not
characteristics which are usually associated with women that is
why she is seen as someone unusual. Besides, she is a politician
and this job is not commonly connected with women. According to
Rush, the world of a classic comedy is composed by a society
which is blocked. In other words, it is a society who has a fix ed
set of written and NO LO PONDRIA unwritten rules about men’ s
and women’s roles. Clearly, in this film Katherine does not fulfill
society’s expectations which are part of the unwritten rules. The
world presented does not let Katherine succeed in her job
because she does not follow the established conventions. Bearing
in mind the first scene of the film it is possible to think that she
does not care about her social image and she seems to be happy
with her behavior and her appearance as it is but then we realize
she is miserable in fact. She needs to be accepted by her SACALO
society in order to get her goals. For this reason, she decides to
get married. Using Rush’s terminology, Katherine’s world is
blocked because it cannot accept a woman whose job is concerned
with politics and who does not have a husband. In other words,
this society cannot vote a candidate who is not married. After
some time, she realizes that she cannot escape from society’s
conventions. No matter how intelligent and hard-working she is,
she will never succeed further in politics if she does not get
married. In the film, there are scenes in which Katherine’s
colleague and mother tell her that she needs to marry if she
wants to be the Prime Minister of Britain. Through these
characters, the audience can perceive what the world thinks
about politicians and women and the traditional features they
need to have.
Besides, another character of the film is Petruchio who also
rejects the established conventions about which characteristics a
man must have. He does not have money, a job or good manners.
He does not treat women gently and he is rude to everyone.
Although he has a title, he does not behave as a noble man. The
characteristics of this character are a clear example of how he,
intentionally, does not follow the conventions of this world. A
scene that exemplifies this may be the one in the church. There,
he appears drunk and dressed like a woman. He presents an
image of a man that is clearly opposed to the traditional image of
a bridegroom. In this way, he is announcing that he does not
follow the unwritten rules. Katherine and Petruchio are happy
with their lives but they need to get married to get their goals.
So, they follow the convention of marriage just to get a
traditional image of a man and a woman that helps them to solve
their problems. She needs to have a perfect image to be the
prime minister and he needs money. In other words, Katherine’s
image of a married woman helps her to become a successful
politician and Petruchio gets financial support in exchange.
Another important aspect to take into account is that the
conflict is transmitted through different themes. One of the main
themes is appearances which is clearly connected with the conflict
of the play. Each gender has a role in this blocked society.
Consequently, the main characters need to create an image of a
traditional couple to keep up with appearances. In other words,
they need to hide that they are not common people. LO SACARIA
Both are not normal according to people’s expectations. Women
are expected to be weak, polite and beautiful and men are
expected to be strong, hard-working and handsome. Besides, men
are the ones who have to work and women are the ones who have
to be at home and take care of the children. Here, Katherine is
the one who is strong and plays the role of a man and Petruchio
plays the role of a woman in this specific society. She is the one
who works and he is the one who stays at home. In contrast,
Bianca, Katherine’s sister, is the model of a woman required by
the society. She has complies with the image that all women wish
if they want to succeed in their lives in this specific society but
she is not married.
Another theme is marriage which establishes the role s of
husband and wife . At the beginning, she does not want to get
married because she thinks that she has to change her
personality to be his wife. But then she understands that
Petruchio does not want to control dominate her so she does not
need to change her behavior. This realization is strictly connected
with the cognition of a classic comedy. Rush states “Classic
comedies share with all other types of plays the need for a
central climactic moment. If the play is at all well-made, in the
Aristotelian sense, it will build to a moment of recognition and
reversal” (Rush, 122). Katherine realizes that she is not
subjected to her husband’s desires. In other words, she
understands that her husband is not interested in keeping her
under his control. As he is against the conventions he does not
care about people’s opinions LO SACARIA. The cognition happens
in the climax that is a central moment in which the position of the
characters changes. This occurs in their honeymoon, more
specifically, when Katherine is talking to Petruchio’s best friend.
There, she understands her position and Petruchio’s way of
thinking. After this, she decides to be more open -minded and be
happy with someone who does not follow the conventional
unwritten rules of society. A clear piece of evidence of this
change is that she does not react violently when Petruchio throws
her suitcase into the swimming pool. On the contrary, she kisses
him. And after this scene, her appearance as regards clothes and
hairstyle changes and these are pieces of evidence that which
shows the audience that something important has happened. She
realizes that she is able to keep their her personality in spite of
the fact that she is Petruchio’s wife. She does not need to create
a cover to protect herself and this release of tension is seen
through her change of image.
Another relevant point is that the cognition or recognition is
clearly connected with the blocker, who is a kind of character in
classic comedy. As soon as the block ed world is unblocked
disappears, the play has a happy ending. In this film, Katherine
plays the role of the blocker who after the cognition changes and
then, so she becomes happy. Rush states “in order to get to the
happy ending, the block has to be eliminated; thus, this person
has to be changed.” (124)
Bearing in mind the title of the film it is possible to state that
the teacher is Petruchio, who is the person in charge of taming
the shrew, and Katherine is the one who is being tamed or
domesticated. Rush says “the teacher works on a character to
eliminate the major block of the play” (125). In this case
Petruchio works on Katherine to change her and when he
succeeds in doing so, the play gets its happy ending. Besides,
these characters are also defined in terms of the protagonist and
the antagonist. It is also ORDER possible to say that Petruchio is
the protagonist who performs the main action. Bearing in mind
the title, he is the one who domesticates Katherine. And
Katherine is the antagonist who suffers the action of the
protagonist. Although the film is about Katherine, she is not the
person who is in charge of does not perform the main actions.
Petruchio is the person that makes her change her attitude
towards him and marriage.
Buffoons are also important because some of them they
present the author’s voice. In this case Petruchio’s friend, Harry,
talks to Katherine about Petruchio during their honeymoon, there ,
he presents the playwright’s viewpoint indirectly. Katherine’s
secretary may be considered a buffoon who serves as a foil to
Katherine as well. She always tells him off and treats him badly.
Besides, this character presents a man in a job which is
commonly associated to women in this society.
 As regards the sources of laughter it is necessary to clarify
that the audience needs does not necessarily to feels identified
with the characters in order to laugh. Here, Katherine has
uncommon characteristics that prevent the observers from being
identified. Katherine is so rude and violent that no woman can
understand and share her feelings, that is to say, she is so strong
that she seems not to need any help but this is only part of her
appearance.
One of the sources of laughter that is used in this film is
incongruity. This is one of the elements the playwright uses to
provoke laughter in the audience. For instance there is a scene in
which it is possible to see incongruity in relation to words. This
happens when the main characters are getting married and the
priest asks Petruchio the traditional question and he says “yep”
instead of answering “I will”. There the use of the word “yep” is
not expected in that context. This is called verbal humour by
Rush.
As regards rigidity, it is possible to state that Petruchio
presents instances of bodily rigidity. His special behaviour in
relation to food resembles the behaviour of animals. Rush states:
“as humans, we may dream and plan, but as animals, we have to
eat, sleep and eliminate our bodily waste. Sometimes these
things have to be done immediately, and when they do, we are
once again reminded of our “mechanical” nature” (129). There are
two scenes in which the audience is able to see Petruchio eating
not only his lunch but also Harry’s lunch. A third scene happens
in the honeymoon when he eats all the meat without taking into
account Katherine’s hunger.
Another device present in the film is emotional rigidity.
Katherine’s behaviour is a clear example of someone who cannot
control herself. Her violent and bad-tempered personality appears
in any moment. Rush states “Sometimes a character will let her
emotions take over; her mind shuts down, and she goes out of
control”. (120)
 Cases of mental rigidity may be represented by Katherine’s
mother and colleague because they see marriage as the only
source of being successful. They are stuck in this way of thinking.
There are also many instances of what Rush calls Topsy-turvy
“this device refers to any situation in the play in which your
normal expectations are turned upside down” (133). This happens
when Petruchio appears drunk and dressed like a woman in the
church. This is something really unexpected. Nobody can imagine
the bridegroom in those conditions taking into account society’s
unwritten rules. Another example is when Katherine is changing a
flat tyre in the middle of a road. This scene changes all
expectations because it is the man who should be in charge of
this situation bearing in mind traditional conventions. A third
example may be the end of the film because Katherine is the one
who works and Petruchio is the one who stays at home and takes
care of the children. This situation is not expected because there
has been a complete reversal of roles taking into account the
traditional roles imposed by the blocked society. This ending is
not expected.
As conclusion, it is possible to state that this film represents
a classic comedy bearing in mind the analysis done following
Rush’ theory.
 Bibliographical References

+ BENTLEY,Eric.1991(1964). The Life of Drama. New York:

Applause.II, Ch.9, pp.295-315, “Comedy”
+ RUSH,David. 2005 A Student Guide to Play Analysis .
Southern Illinois University Press/ Carbondale. Chapter 7 “Classic
Comedy”
+ SHAKESPEARE, William. the film “The Taming of the Shrew”
By
William Shakespeare