Literature Crossroad

First official post! :D

Yup, so for this post I’ll be making comparisons between the portrayal of power between Kate and Petruchio, based on an adaptation from the past and one that is more recent. I guess it can be linked to issues about social hierarchy, well more of hierarchy between a couple, since it involves power play between the male and the female. 

In the first video, the play was performed in 1976, a period where males still dominate females in a relationship. Through the entire exchange between Kate and Petruchio, it is clearly seen as Kate is being tossed and thrown around by Petruchio. Though there are times where Kate fought back (the instance where she kicked his privates XD),  she still doesn’t win Petruchio, who is clearly stronger than her in terms of physical strength. This portrayal of Kate losing to Petruchio greatly tells us about the way society works at that period of time, and also gives us a glimpse of the hierarchy present.

This mindset of male > female is contrasted greatly in the second video, in which the play was performed in 2010. In this version of “Kate meets Petruchio”, Kate still loses out to Petruchio (well duh, he’s a guy), but what’s different in this performance was that more “respect” was given to Kate, in the sense that she wasn’t thrown or tossed around anymore like a ragdoll. By comparing this to the production in 1976, it shows great contrast in how women are treated in the past and now. However, though the Kate in 2010’s production is given more “respect” by not being humiliated by being thrown by Petruchio, more modern ways of humiliation was used, i.e the part where Petruchio dips Kate’s head repeatedly into the fountain as part of the “taming” process. True, actions towards women can be assumed to be more “gentlemanly”, but has much changed at all?