Anwar+Abdul-Qawi

** Love Is A Game, How Will You Play It? **
A comparison between the book "Taming of The Shrew", and the movie "Hitch"

In the "Taming of The Shrew" it talks about deception, and honesty in relationships, and also men's views on women. In the book Petruchio wants to woo a rich woman named Katherine who has a mean attitude towards people. Hearing the stories about her, he then puts together a strategy to attract her, and eventually gets her. This relates to the movie "Hitch", because the main character Alex Hitchens plays a date doctor. He believes that all men have a chance at finding the girl of thier dreams, and that they just need the right plan to get around shyness. He eventually meets a young reporter named Sara, and uses his skill to woo her. Aside from Alex Hitchens, the movie presents different men ideas, and feelings for women in a relationship.

Aside from the views of men, deception and honesty play a big roll in both "Taming of the Shrew", and "Hitch". Throughout the book Petruchio shows different sides of himself as he tries to marry Katherine. In public he will seem like a wordy gentleman who uses his mouth to persuade others, and in private, with Katherine he has a more abusive side that is demanding for Katherine to be broken and tamed. Her father Baptista only wishes that she is happy, and if so he can have her, so Petruchio makes everyone believe that she is, and marries her taking her away. Alex Hitchen, and other characters in the movie play similiar roles as some characters in "Taming of The Shrew".

//** "I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; **// //** If wealthily, then happily in Padua."-Petruchio **//

//** (Act 1, Sc. 2, Lines 76-77) **//

This statement from Petruchio talks about his reason for coming to Padua, and the fact that he didn't care if Katherine was known for being mean, or evil, he just cared for her money. He believes that money will make him happy and that Katherine is just an extra attachment.



In this scene, Alex Hitchen is called by a wealthy man named Vance to help him with a relationship problem. "I have never felt like this before, I need her, I am always thinking about her."-Vance. After hearing this Hitch started to understand how Vance felt, but he then says something that offends Hitch. "Yes I got to get her off my mind...I need to bang her. I heard you help people there, that's what you do."-Vance. After hearing this Hitch disagrees, and says " Right, but see, here's the thing my clients actually like women. "Hit it and quit it" is not my thing." This shows that some men see women only as a tool or a form of pleasure. Instead of actually wanting help, he just wanted away to meet her so that he could have sex with her, and then dump her. When Hitch decides to leave, Vance still desperate about having sex writes Hitch a check, using money to persuade him. Instead of taking the money Hitch subdues the man, and leaves. Even though in "Taming of the Shrew" Petruchio mentioned he wanted to marry Katherine for money, it still relates to the modern day theme of "Hitch". In both cases money was important.

Another man that was blinded by money was Katherine's father Baptista. Act 2, Sc. 1, Lines 361-365
 * "Content you, gentlemen. I will compound this strife.**
 * 'Tis deeds must win the prize, and he of both**
 * That can assure my daughter greatest dower**
 * Shall have my Bianca's love."-Baptista**

Baptista mentions for Petruchio that if he wants to have his daughter Katherine, he must offer a dower, and she must also be happy with him. For his other daughter Bianca he doesn't mention about her happiness to Tranio and Gremio, both men who wish to marry her. Baptista only states that the one who can give the most money, and wealth can have her. In both scenes men are portrayed as seeing women as objects, and see money greater than them.


 * "Another way I have to man my haggard, **
 * To make her come and know her keeper's call **
 * That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites **
 * That bate and beat and will not be obeidient. **
 * She ate no meat today, nor none shall eat. **
 * Last night she slept not, nor tonight she shall not." **


 * Act 4, Sc. 2, Lines 188-211 **

In this scene Petruchio talks about how he plans to tame Katherine. He plans on breaking her physically, by not feeding her, and depriving her of sleep. He feels as though even though she was known for being mean and harsh, he knew that she could be broken down. Alongside with his views on females, he was only able to make it to that step, only by deceiving her father. Sine her father would not allow her to marry him if she wasn't happy, he had to find a way to make her father believe that she was happy. By her being married to him, Petruchio had more control over her, resulting in her taming.



In this scene of "Hitch", it shows different men struggling to get the attention of women. "She doesn't even know you... yet. Luckily, the fact is that just like the rest of us, even a beautiful woman doesn't know what she wants until she sees it, and that's where I come in. My job is to open her eyes. Basic Principles - no matter what, no matter when, no matter who... any man has a chance to sweep any woman off her feet; he just needs the right broom."-Hitch In the end, of the scene, the man desperate to woo the woman, finally ends up in bed with her, because of Hitch. Both men Hitch and Petruchio have thier own ways of wooing, and taming women. The main difference is that Hitch mainly wants to see his customers to have a "happy ending", and Petruchio wants to see respect from women, because of his beliefs that men deserve more. Even though both goals are different, both circle around thier views on females in a relationship in some form of control. Aside from Petruchio, Tranio, and Gremio are other characters who use thier own strategies to woo someone they love.


 * ".as I told you before.I am **
 * Lucentio.son unto Vincentio of Pisa, **
 * .diguised thus to get your love. **
 * .and that "Lucentio" that comes a-wooing, **
 * .is my man Tranio.bearing my port, **
 * .that we might beguile the old pantaloon."-Lucentio(Tranio) **


 * Act 3, Sc. 1, Lines 33-48 **

In this scene Tranio disguises himself as a teacher so her can get closer to Bianca, the women that he loves. He then tells her about himself in Latin, using this also to get close to her. Along with Tranio, Gremio also wants to be with Katherine, and in result both men conflict. It then turns into an inner battle of who can impress her father more to achieve Bianca. A similar scene is set up in "Hitch". When Hitch first sees Sara in a bar, he grabs two drinks and proceeds to have a conversation with her. As he goes to her, another man appears and tries to attract her, with his own form of strategy, but it fails. Hitch then introduces himself, and them starts his own tactics. Both movie, and book portray women as prizes rather than human beings. In both cases there was one female, but only one man was able to successfully attract her. Aside from seeing women as people, this shows how love is a game to men, and that some know how to play the game better than others, resulting in the winning of the prize, the female.




 * "No shame but mine. I must, forsooth, be forced **
 * To give my hand, opposed agaisnt my heart **
 *  Unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen **
 *  Who wooed in haste and means to wed at leisure"-Katherine **

**Act 3, Sc. 2, Lines 8-11 **

This was stated by Katherine at wedding when she told the guest about Petruchio being late. This falls under honesty and deception because she says that she was forced to marry him, and she doesn't love him, and that he only wants to marry her for money. In this relationship it was clearly seen that she didn't like Petruchio so she decided to be honest exploiting Petruchio to the public about his real intentions. At first she wasn't clearly aware of Petruchio's true intentions but later on she figured out it was about getting money. When Petruchio arrives she then embarrasses him in public when she avoids kissing him. Petruchio felt as though since she was a women she had to obey him whether she loved him or not.





In this scene Sara finds out that the one who attracted her into love was actually the date doctor. Since her job was based on finding the date doctor and exploiting him, she felt heart broken because she felt as though everything he said was just a trick just to be with her. In this case she felt as if she had been hoodwinked into loving him. At the same time, she was actually tricking him because the man who requested Hitch's help was just a decoy to find out who the date doctor was. Even though she was unaware that Hitch was the doctor, both characters were not fully honest with each others background.



After Sara finds out that Hitch is actually the date doctor she attends the date that they had planned. Hitch being unaware about Sara knowing his secret, welcomes her when she enters. When he goes to kiss her she puts up a shirt that blocks the kiss. He then later on tries to kiss her again and she quickly turns away from him eventually ending in an argument. This kiss scene relates to Petruchio and Katherine's kiss scene at the wedding. Katherine being aware of Petruchio's main goal decides to embarrass him by revealing about the forced marriage, and also avoids his kiss.



Angry about the fight she then exposes Hitch on the news about his "dirty" profession, giving him a bad image. Still trying to tame Sara Hitch finds her with a friend at a dating bar and gets embaressed by her in public. She then yells "Why don't you go hang out at a sex bar, since all you do is trick women...." Hitch then cuts her off saying, "to trick women into noticing others.. so great guys can have a chance." She then says that he was working with Vance, (who was the man who just wanted to have sex and go). "I want everyone here to take a good look at this, this is why falling in love is so god damn hard. I refused to work with him, and you need to get your facts right!" said Hitch as he walked out. Both "Taming of The Shrew'', and "Hitch" consisted of both characters getting into an argument with each other in public, and because of their expectations from each other, and honesty and deception. Since Sara didn't get the full detail of the situation she falsely acclaimed Hitch of being a bad person. Both the book and movie show that trust and honesty play a big part in a relationship. If there is no trust chaos can easily break out resulting in a major conflict.

In the movie "Hitch", towards the end he is also being tamed in a certian way. After he loses hope in his business one of his succesful clients named Albert visits him. "You just don't get it do you? You're selling this stuff, but you don't you buy your own product."-Albert. "Love is my life!"-Hitch. "No love is your job."-Albert. This talks about Hitch's main views in love. Even though he may be the so called "love doctor", he doesn't really believe in his own product. he mainly feels for his business, and making money off of people who can't find love. He was tamed because he was brought to a reality of his own situation. He might have felt as though he was doing the right thing helping out others, he wasn't doing it for the right reasons.

The "Taming of The Shrew", and "Hitch" show that men see women as objects, and prizes, rather than human beings. It is often a competition between men to see who can when her love. Even though both were set in different time periods the objectives are the same.Along with men's views on women, honesty and deception play a big role in relationships. They can start them, and they can also end them, because of honesty and deception, a lot of opportunities were opened for the characters, and in the end it all came back to haunt them. Even though women had major roles in both book, and movie, it mainly focused on the hardships that men have to go through with attracting and wooing women. Alex Hitchen and Petruchio had totally different reasons for their taming. Petruchio believed that money was important, and that women are objects meaning that men deserve respect from them. Hitch saw that men often struggle with expressing themselves to women, so he helped men tame, and control women's attitudes so that they could have a chance gaining their interest. Even though both seem different both reflect around the controlling of women, and the idea that women are seen as prizes, and in order to obtain them, men must when the game.