Alexander+Ringgold

= The Shrew is Not In to You = Comparing The Taming of the Shrew and He's Just Not That in to You

In the movie, "He's Just Not That In to You", the character who is purchasing the beers in the beginning, Ben, seems like he's in love with his wife, Janine, until he meets the beautiful Anna and he begins to fall for her, which eventually leads to Ben cheating on his wife because of the fact he didn't want to get married in the first place. Since Ben was put into the relationship as of means of being controlled it lead to deception, however, in the book "Taming of the Shrew", by William Shakespeare, Petruchio, a man who declares he's going marry Katherine, a woman who is intolerable to every suitor she's encountered, he uses deception to gain control.

Honesty and deception is what sticks out most in these relationships. That dishonesty and control go hand in hand, Petruchio can use that deception to get what he wants from Katherine, which in this case is not love. Same goes for the movie "He's Just Not That In to You", Janine's control on Ben forcing him to marry her, and even trying to make him quit smoking lead him to cheating on her. People have begin to see that marriage is not always about control, or having a good status quo in society, but about being with the one who you believe you'll love forever, an example is another couple in "He's Just Not That In to You", Beth and Neil, have been a couple for 7 years and Beth wants to get married but Neil doesn't believe in marriage. However, by the end of the movie Neil proposes because he doesn't want to lose Beth because he was in love with her. Marriage bring out the best and worst of people, from honesty and love to deception and hate. ** "Say that she rail, why the I'll tell her plain ** ** She sings as sweetly as a nightingale. **  ** Say that she frown, I'll say she looks as clear **  ** As morning roses newly washed with dew. **  ** If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day **  ** When I shall ask the banns, and when be married." ** (Act 2 x Scene 1 x, 178-188)

In the Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, there are two daughters of a man named Baptista. One Bianaca, a fair maiden who has smitten a specific three suitors, and the other daughter is Katherine, a foul mouthed, intolerable woman, who is very good at making herself not the most wanted wife in the city. The problem aries, however, when Baptista states that no one can marry the sweet Bianca until Katherine is wed, this is where Pertruchio comes in. Petruchio talks with baptista and Bianca's suitors and informs them that he will wed Katherine if he receives the dowry that comes along with her, and in doing so he states whatever she says he will just say the opposite to eventually trick her into marrying her.

Already we have here dishonesty and deception playing a large role in something bigger: to marry someone without any feelings towards the other for the sake of greed. Petruchio hasn't even laid eyes on Katherine at this point, but he has already declared he will marry Katherine, which in this day and age sounds completely insane because people believe marry is a product of love. Not in this case, this marriage is the product of dishonesty from, not only her father, but also Petruchio for he obviously is not marring Katherine for Katherine.

This sense of marrying for something other than love may seem like not a normal thing to do, but in Janine’s case in the movie, “He’s Just Not That In to You”, she forced her partner, Ben, into marrying her or they break up.



Ben took the route that seemed the most logical and obvious but later down the line he realized he wasn’t ready for marriage because he’s not completely in love you Janine. That’s when he meets Anna he falls for her and he realizes that his wife’s control has lead him to stray away from her and commit to an affair.

Janine’s control lead to Ben’s dishonesty, even when it came to Ben’s smoking habits she was forcing him to stop because she wanted to be in control of the relationship. The couple had just moved into a new house and were renovating, and it shows how much control she wanted over everything by the way she gave him no say in the designs and decorations.

However by the end of the play Katherine and Petruchio who already had gotten married, are now attending Bianca’s and one of her main suitors, Lucentio’s, wedding. Toward the end of the wedding the three men Petruchio, Lucentio, and Hortensio all decide to place bets on who has the most loyal wife and each man calls for they mistress. Bianca says that she is busy, and Hortensio’s widow says that he should come to her, but Once Katherine gets news that Petruchio called for her she brings her and the other two wives. At first it may seem like she has been “tamed” and doesn’t want any trouble with Petruchio, but she delivers a speech that suggest something else.


 * To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor. **
 * It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads **
 * A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, **
 * Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty **
 * To offer war where they should kneel for peace; **
 * Or seek for rule, supremacy and sway **
 * When they are bound to serve, love, and obey. **

(Act 5 x Scene 2 x, 145-173)

Katherine is saying that wives should not be so disobedient to their husbands for they should serve for them to show their love. At this point it’s apparent Katherine has fallen for Petruchio, even if he’s in it for control, this shows she has looked past the being controlled and the dishonesty from before and loves him. These are Katherine’s true, honest feelings for Petruchio, and just because they didn’t get married because of love doesn’t mean marriage can’t create love.

Unlike another couple in the movie, He’s Just Not That In to You, Beth and Neil, who don’t believe in marriage but are happily in love with one another. After 7 years, though, Beth begins to et the urge that she wants to settle down and finally nail down their relationship, but Neil is happy the way they are and doesn’t want marriage because he believes he can be committed to her and happy with her without a ring doing so.



But by the end of the movie Beth is going through many personal things, like her sister was getting married and the pressure of married was building up and she even argued with Neil and kicked him out the house. After some time apart she went to go tell him how much she missed him and how he could come back home, this is when Neil realizes he doesn’t want to be separated with Beth ever again and proposes and marries her against his believes. Neil’s honesty was, at first, the problem with him not wanting to get married, but he then came to the conclusion he loved Beth for Beth and if getting married proved that he was all for it. This is unlike Ben and Janine, even though Beth was using the fact that her sister was getting married, and Ben was married, and that they had been together for 7 years as a means of trying to control Neil into marrying her. This control didn’t lead to dishonesty but honesty.

These two pieces of entertainment are from very larger apart time periods but show that society’s take on marriage has ever so slightly changed if not at all. People see television and movies and plays portraying how marriage brings love and happiness and though this may be true in some instances, it also brings dishonesty and hate. The modern day look on marriage is more realistic though, these days people are getting statistics of divorces and a very larger portion of media, of movies for example, show a single parent raising a child on their own, or the parents got a divorce, or even the act of a spouse having an affair. Marriage is very sporadic, and statistics can’t always prove how a marriage is going to work out, but it is safe to say marriage brings out the true self in people.