Elisa+Hyder

= There's Something About A Shrew =

// "Taming of the Shrew" and "There's Something About Mary" //

In "Taming of the Shrew," a wealthy socialite, Lucentio, comes to Padua with his servant, Tranio. While there, he sees the beautiful and gentle Bianca. He falls in love with her at first sight and requests help from Tranio to woo her and maker her his. The two of them devise a plan so that Lucentio may get close to Bianca and spark a relationship with her. In the movie "There's Something About Mary," the main character, Ted, decides to search for and restart a relationship with his high school love, Mary. He asks his friend Healy to help him, but what Ted does not know is that Healy gains an interest in Mary, too. In the play, Lucentio chooses to pursue Bianca and win her for himself through the use of a wing-man. Ted also wishes to pursue his love and asks his friend to help him succeed. However, while Tranio is completely faithful to Lucentio, Healy goes behind Ted's back instead. When men see something that they truly desire, they will chase after it. However, loyalty is large factor in this pursuit and the outcome because they often bring outsiders into this game of chase for assistance. The rules of the game are then defined by these outsiders as they become insiders.

"So had you need. In brief, sir, sith it your pleasure is, And I am tied to be obedient...I am content to be Lucentio, Because so well I love Lucentio."

(Act 1, Scene 1, 216-223)

In this scene from "Taming of the Shrew," Lucentio has just set his eyes on Bianca and decided that he wishes to have her. However, he knows that he cannot get to her directly, so he asks his servant, Tranio, to assist him. The two plan to switch places so Lucentio may go undercover as a teacher for Bianca. In truth, Tranio is at first hesitant because he does not believe his master truly loves the girl, but he agrees to assist him nonetheless for he is nothing but loyal to his master. Now, Lucentio has a chance at getting close to the lovely Bianca and starting a romance. The odds have now switched to Lucentio's favor. This would not have been possible without the help of Tranio.

In "There's Something About Mary," Healy takes on the same role as Tranio and becomes the behind-the-scenes wing-man for Ted.



This is a particularly crucial scene in "There's Something About Mary" because this is after Healy finishes his investigation for Ted on his high school sweetheart, Mary. During the investigation, Healy found out everything possible about Mary from her daily habits to her personal preferences. However, he reports back to Ted with lies in order to dissuade Ted from pursuing Mary since Healy decides he wants her for himself. In this scene, though, Ted explains to Healy that, despite everything Healy has said, he still wants to go find Mary and start something new with her. However, Healy is already on his way down to Miami to get to Mary first. So, while Healy is Ted's wing-man in this instance because he was meant to gather all the information Ted needed, Healy is turning away from this role and using it to his advantage. Instead of helping Ted, Healy is helping himself. He changed the rules of the game so that Ted will end up losing Mary, therefore leaving her open and available for himself.

"Mistress Bianca, bless you with such grace As 'longeth to a lover's blesséd case! Nay, I have ta'en you napping, gentle love, And have forsworn you with Hortensio."

"Tranio, you jest. But have you both forsworn me?" "Mistress, we have."

"Then we are rid of Litio." (Act 4, Scene 2, 44-50)

Lucentio's plan has finally come to fruition. In this scene, Lucentio has already revealed his true self to Bianca and the two of them have developed romantic feelings for one another. However, there were still other suitors attempting to win Bianca's hand in marriage. This is where Tranio came into play as Lucentio's wing-man. Tranio convinced the other suitor, Hortensio (with the pseudonym, Litio), to end his pursuit of Bianca. Here, Tranio reports the success of his efforts and informs Bianca that she and Lucentio are now free to go further into their love without obstacle. This is Tranio acting as a true wing-man for Lucentio. Since Lucentio had to go undercover in order to get close to Bianca and it was apparent to Hortensio that he was trying to win Bianca's love, there was no way that Lucentio could convince Hortensio to look to another for a wife. So, Tranio was an irreplaceable player who made it so that Lucentio's plan could work out in his favor.

However, while Tranio completed his job as the wing-man, Healy continued to use his role to get in between Ted and Mary.



Healy moved down to Miami and, using the information he gathered during his investigation of Mary for Ted, created a situation for Mary and himself to officially meet and talk to one another. He then offered up lies such as claiming to have been to Nepal, saying he is an architect, and finishing up with stating that he works with mentally challenged children. At the end of the scene, Mary looks at Healy and smiles. So, at the very least, Healy succeeded in getting Mary's attention. This meeting should have been between Ted and Mary if Healy had conducted his role as the wing-man honestly. However, Healy had complete power over the link between Mary and Ted since, currently, he is the link. Through making him the wing-man and sending him to do the investigation, Ted gave Healy an opportunity for Healy to push himself into Mary's life first, and Healy completely jumped at the chance.

The end results of Lucentio's and Ted's respective love-pursuits are, in essence, the same. Bianca chooses Lucentio, and Mary chooses Ted. So, both men won their game of chase. However, Lucentio's chase went much smoother than Ted's because, while Lucentio's path was constantly cleared by others, more and more obstacles were thrown in Ted's way. Both men put their faith and basically their futures in the hands of others, and just hoped that everything would go according to plan. While this worked out fine for Lucentio, Ted had many more struggles. In today's world, nothing can work out perfectly, for if it was not fought for, then it must not be worth the fight. There is no such thing as blind faith now. One must push forward and fight for one's own goals and achievements. This is the only way that happiness can truly be attained. Therefore, when men continue to allow outside players into their games, they lose control of the games and risk their own happiness. = =