Chelsea+Starks

= It's All About Honesty, Deception, & Perception =

Comparing "Taming of the Shrew" to "Deliver Us From Eva".

Honesty and deception in relationships as well as part of male/female expectations in relationships have always been a challenege for people. In "The Taming of the Shrew," the vivacious and cunning Petruchio, tries to woo the shrewd Katherine and break her of wild and tough ways. In the 2003 movie "Deliver Us From Eva," the main character, Eva Dandridge, has just met her match when she meets Ray Adams, a deliver meat trucker that has a way with the ladies. Petruchio manipulates situations to his advantage to be able to make Katherine his wife. Katherine is as tough as nails and won't let anyone get too close. Her hostility towards everyone makes it even harder for her to find a mate.

 In the movie "Deliver Us From Eva," as Ray gets to know Eva, his barriers as well as hers start to come down and he shares things with her that he never shared with anyone but, his own deception of his own motives of being with her in the first place cloud the overall goodness of the the relationship between the couple. In the past as well as the present, some men are manipulative and deceitful in relationships just as these two movies portray and they show that over time not much has really changed in terms of how males interact with females in a relationship and how their their expectations differ.

**"Good morrow, Kate, for that's your name I hear... Comfortable as other household Kates." **

(Act II, Scene i,190-293)

When Petruchio firsts meets Katherine, he begins by asking her name but calling her Kate instead of Katherine. She corrects him on it and continues to have this back and forth conversation that entails her firing insults at him and him countering it with compliments about her. This throws her somewhat off balance because she's used to people being negative right back to her, not complementing her. Her expectation is for Petruchio to be just like the others and when he isn't it kind of ruffles her feathers.

When Ray meets Eva the fire essence just like Petruchio and Katherine never leaves as the two finally meet their match.



The first time the two meet, Eva calls Ray, Raymond but he corrects her. As they continue with their introductions Ray mentions that he has a girlfriend and cuts their first meeting short. They don't have too many words after that but it ruffled Eva's feathers a bit when he told her that he was taken but it seemed as if he was subtly interested in Eva. She expected he was and just as she was about to shut him down before he began, he threw her off balance with telling her he had a girlfriend. This goes back to men not really changing much when it came to manipulation and deception as well as the expectations that males and females have for relationships because of their interactions with one another which wasn't necessarily that long but got the point across.

="I am as peremptory as she proud-minded; = =And where two raging fires meet together, = =They do consume the thing that feeds their fury. " =

(Act II, Scene i, 137-140)

Petruchio knows that he and Katherine together are something of a disaster and that they're complete opposites but he feels like they both will get the thing that they desire most, when it's all said and done. His desire is to tame her as well as get the money and things that come with her. And he sees it as he and Katherine becoming this one flame united or at least that's how he wanted others to see it. He was being honest about how different they are but lied about the two of them coming together to become one.

The next spicy encounter between Ray and Eva leaves her without any insults.



Some weeks later after their first meeting, Ray decides to make his move when Kareenah and Tim have a cookout and Mike invites him to come. Kareenah tells Eva to lighten up a little because in reality she is emotionally inaccessible. Ray talks to her and tells her more about himself and what he does. And Eva explains her truth about men and what she expects from Ray. The scene ends with Ray getting his date with Eva and her impressed with him. To get him out of the first lie about his girlfriend, he tells her it didn't work out. But Eva also explains to him that if he wants to take her out, he has to act a certain way and treat her with respect.

These portrayals show us that society's attitude towards courtship/dating hasn't since changed and men are still the same. The men protrayed in both the play as well as "Deliver Us From Eva" are manipulative, clever, and deceitful to get what they want. Petruchio wanted to marry Katherine because with marrying her came major money benefits and for a long time he did not mention the word love into the situation until it came time to talk with her father. Petruchio saw Katherine as the prize to be won and he was going to do what it took to make her his, whether it was lying, scheming, or just being a total jerk. His expectations of Katherine were that she do just as he says. The difference with Ray is that he wasn't completely deceitful because as he started to get know Eva, he opened up more as well. He started out manipulative and deceitful in the beginning but soon knew that that wasn't the way to go. Even though he did make that realization, the fact of the matter was that his lies soon caught up with him. When Eva found out that Ray was dishonest, she couldn't believe it because she expect him to be exactly as he said he was. And Ray expected Eva to be more understanding than she was. They each expected different things of one another and some of their expectations were surpassed, others not so much.

Society's attitude towards courtship/dating is essentially telling people that there my be a level of dishonesty in the relationship as well as an honest level. It is telling people that they won't have the perfect Disney storybook relationship because these two medias show that there is no such thing. For centuries most men have not changed their courtship/dating ways and the way each of these men get with these women prove that fact. The manipulation still goes on as well as the lies. Expectations between men and women in a relationship differ for each relationship and each couple expected something less than what they got and they also expected something more than what they got.