Adaptation Essay
How Katherine and Petruccio’s ironic relationship creates modern female power in BBC’s Shakespeare Retold
Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew has been interpreted in numerous ways. There is much debate about the central relationship between Katherine and Petruccio, and two common views are revisionist and anti-revisionist. BBC’s film Shakespeare Retold: The Taming of the Shrew takes the former stance. In changing the dialogue and blocking, the relation between Katherine and Petruccio is represented as ironic rather than abusive and constructs an image of modern female power not possible in Shakespeare’s time.
In the film, Katherine is fashioned as an equal, even a superior, through the addition of her powerful position in government. When Katherine tells Petruccio she’s pregnant, she says he will “have to look after them because I’m not giving up my career” (1:23:34). “Giving up” (ibid) implies a choice, and in adding her pregnancy to the plot, the film sets Katherine up as a modern woman with the choice to stay at home and raise the kids or choose her career as prime minster. The expectation of the man being the authority in the relationship is adapted into a more contemporary idea that women can hold the power and portrays the absurdity of women being submissive to their husbands. Similarly, saying Petruccio will “have” (ibid) to watch the kids characterizes Kathrine as having the authority to make decisions in the relationship without asking questions. Katherine’s possession of a powerful job constructs an ironic view of women’s relations to men by pointing out the ridiculous, atchaic ideology of men being the “superior” gender.
Similarly, Katherine’s power is increased in the movie because of the alteration of Petruccio’s monetary status. Petruccio says that he arrived in Padua because his dad died and “he was supposed to leave me some money, only he didn’t” (14:58-15:00). Instead of being a wealthy bachelor looking for a wealthy wife, Petruccio is relying on marrying well. In switching his characterization, the film increases Katherine’s position in their relationship by giving her the control. Ironically, she has more power than Petruccio does both in the movie and text, or that she could ever have in the original script. She has the status, wealth, and power to make her way in the world without a man, or hold her own against one, which was not as possible to imagine in Shakespeare’s time.
Even Petruccio’s most adamant power plays in their relationship are fashioned as moot in this film’s blocking and sarcastic representation of the original script. In arguing over the moon and sun, Katherine and Petruccio are placed in bed together, naked, after presumably having sex. They are on equal ground as they lay side by side in a vulnerable state, sharing the most intimate parts of themselves. Instead of yielding to the loving environment, though, Katherine ends the conversation with “well, I’m glad you think you’ve sorted that out” (1:12:33-1:12:35). This adapted line, loaded with sarcasm, uses “you” (ibid) to poke fun at Petruccio by singling him out as foolish for assuming he could tell her what to do. The irony portrays that although Petruccio “think[s]” (ibid) he can tell her what to believe, she knows what she believes. This dynamic is a clear representation of the avenues the film explored to increase the ability Katherine has always had in the text to think for herself despite men who say otherwise.
Lastly, Katherine’s increased agency is portrayed through the blatantly ironic modern interpretation of her final speech that flips binaries. At one point, she states that “day in, day out, he submits his body to painful labour... And all we do is sit in front of the telly all day, eating chocolates. I know I do, when I’m not running the country” (1:21:10- 1:21:20). Petruccio “submits” (ibid) himself to his family, in this case accepting his role as homemaker and Katherine sarcastically sympathizes with the “painful labor” (ibid) that is included in running a house. Katherine mocks the gender stereotypes further through the juxtaposition of expectation versus reality. The ideology that women “sit in front of the telly all day” (ibid) implies that women are incapable of working or even keeping the house. However, Katherine fashions the absurdity of such claims through the contradictory statement, where she only does that when she’s not “running the country” (ibid). She “runs” (ibid) and manages the entire country, quite the opposite of “sit[ing]” (ibid) all day. Rather, she assumes the traditional male role and in using this ironic, feminist twist, the film represents Petruccio and Katherine’s relationship as one that can withstand the changing ideas of gender norms in society.
In summation, The Taming of the Shrew can be read through multiple lenses. Although the script gives Katherine agency of her own, she was still confined to the ideologies of the time. However, in Shakespeare Retold, her power is restored and thus her relationship takes on a new light of equality and the possibility of female superiority that was hardly present in Shakespeare’s period.