Shalia+Wallace

= Taming The Kiss = Comparing "Taming of the Shrew" to "Never Been Kissed"

In the play "Taming of the Shrew", Katherine is known as the evil sister and is looked at as ugly when compared to her younger sister Bianca. By surprise, there was a man, Petruchio, who was willing to marry Katherine. The marriage of Katherine and Petruchio is based on a lie that eventually turns into love.

In the 1999 movie "Never Been Kissed", the main character, Josie is a successful writer who has never been "really" been kissed by a man. She goes on an undercover assignment as a high school student and her disguise prevent her from the realizing that she has fallen in love. Katherine is forced into a marriage and she has no choice but to do as her husband says. She later begins to learn that it was love that she truly wanted. In "Never Been Kissed", Josie has a goal of becoming a reporter and she uses her career to hide the fact that she yarns to find a man who will love her as much as she does him.

While in the play "Taming of the Shrew", Petruchio lies to Katherine's Father, Baptista, about Katherine being in love with him, in the movie "Never Been Kissed", Josie lies to herself by not allowing herself to believe it is love that she really wants. In both, the movie and the play, love is what everyone yarns for but the challenge is finding the right person to share love with.

Being in love isn't the hard part but allowing it to happen is.

(Act 2, Scene 1, 326-329)
 * "How much she loves. O, the kindest Kate! She hung about my neck, and kiss on kiss She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath, That in twin she won me to her love." **

Petruchio had to prove that he won Katherine’s heart before her father allowed them to marry. Katherine does not want to marry Petruchio so he decides to lie to her father in order to be able to take her hand in marriage. Since the marriage was rushed, Katherine had no time to realize that she may actually “like” him.

Josie gets the chance of a lifetime.



Josie gets her first job as a reporter. She has to go to a high school and relive her teenage years in order to get a good story. She starts to fall for “her teacher” who thinks she is an actual student. She begins the relationship, which she later cherishes, with a lie.

In both, the play “Taming of the Shrew” and the movie “Never Been Kissed,” The relationship is begun because of a lie. This simple lie, is what brings the two characters in each story closer together.

 (Act 5, Scene 2, 196)
 * “Why, there’s a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.” **

After Katherine give gives her speech, Petruchio finally feels like Katherine really loves him. He asked her to kiss him in a scene or two before, but it turned out not to be what he had expected. By Katherine realizing that she really does love Petruchio, she enabled her to show her love for him in public, not caring who was to see.

Josie finally gets her real kiss.



After uncovering her disguise, Josie realizes that she has not only lost the story for the paper but also the man whom she has fallen for. She decides that she will fix everything that she has messed up and begins to put her best foot forward. She writes a story in the paper about her journey through high school for a second time. She writes hoping that the man she has falling in love with will read the story. He read the story and Josie finally had a “real kiss” for the first time. She found someone to share her love with and wasn’t afraid to show it.

At the end of both the play and the movie, everyone has gotten what they have dreamed of. Although these relationships weren’t love at first sight, outcome of them not being love at first sight is just as meaningful as if they were. Both of the female character had challenges within finding love and trusting a man with their hearts but after allowing it to happen, they’ve realized that love is what they’ve wanted all along.