Brianna+Thompson

=__//**Honesty is Key**//__= Comparing "//Taming of the Shrew//" to //"Deliver us From Eva// "

Deception and honesty is a major component in both "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Deliver us From Eva." In "Shrew" Petruchio was paid by Bianca's (Katherine's sister) suitors to essentially tame and marry Katherine so that they would have a chance with her sister. In "Deliver us From Eva" Ray was hired to do almost the same job by the significant others of Eva's sisters.

Petruchio and Ray are in situations that are alike because they were both hired to "tame a shrew", however their similarities stop there. Petruchio has no hesitation when it comes to the task of "taming" Katherine. Through out the entire play, he never once showed remorse for being deceitful in hi attempts to tame Kate, nor does he ever reveal all that he did and his reasons for doing so. Unlike Petruchio Ray is hesitant in the beginning about being paid to deceitfully make a woman fall in love with him and as their relationship progresses, he shows signs of remorse for his deceiving ways and at the end he confesses all of his wrongdoings to Eva.

Deliver us From Eva shows what an ideal relationship in today's society should be like. **Honesty is key in a relationship and deception is something that is no longer acceptable, with that being said people feel more compelled to be remorseful when deceiving their significant other.**


 * "Sir, You say well, and well you do conceive. And since you do profess to be a suitor, You must as we do, gratify this gentleman, To whom we all rest generally beholding."** This is the agreement made amongst Bianca's suitors about paying Petruchio to marrying Katherine so that they would be able to wed Bianca. The reason this was necessary in the first place is because the father refused to let Bianca marry until someone married Katherine. From the time they first came across each other Petruchio deceived Katherine, because he came off as if he simply wanted her so bad that he had to have her when in reality he wanted her because of the money promised to him for their marriage. At some point he developed feelings for Katherine towards the end of the play.



The three men begin their wager by trying to sale Eva to Ray playing on her good looks and intelligence. He is hesitant once he finds out that he must break her heart. It is only when Ray sees Eva in action (her "shrewish side") that he calls Mike to tell him that he will take him up on his offer. Ray's initial reason for taking the job is because he wanted a challenge and when he was introduced to Eva, it was set-up so that she could believe he wanted to pursue her on his own and not that he was paid by her brother in laws, meaning Ray was deceiving her from the very start. However he didn't jump on the band wagon when the offer was first presented to him, is initial remark was "I'm a lover not a con man." He wasn't up for the amount of deception required to get Eva out of her sister's relationships. At the end of the movie he feels so remorseful that he is compelled to tell Eva the truth about the entire scheme, it is then that their relationship is real because each party is aware of what's going on. A real relationship can not be built from lies and deceit, but from honesty and trust.


 * "Thus I have politicly begun my reign, And tis my hope to end successfully...Another way I have to man my haggard, To make her come and know her keeper's call."** (Act IV Scene I page 151 lines 188-211.) This quote is from Petruchio's soliloquy. Here he explains that he has officially begun his act of taming Katherine and as you can see he's content with his course of action of using reverse psychology. Through out the rest of the book his attitude is the same way becoming more cruel as the days pass by depriving Katharine of food and rest in an attempt to make her nicer than she was before. His way of taming the shrew is one that entails a lot of deceit because she doesn't even realize she is being tamed. He's so ridiculously outlandish by behaving worse than she does that she feels compelled to tell him that what he's doing is outrageous, which is how he gets her to abide by his "laws."



Ray takes quite the opposite approach to taming Eva, he woos her instead of trying to use what is essentially reverse psychology like Petruchio. His decision to woo Eva is quite the opposite approach in comparison to Petruchio's. Ray wants to allow Eva to bring her out her loving side on her own, because that's what she wants to do and not because she's being conned into it. His approach, although it contains some deceit, is one that is more admirable in this situation because he isn't really taming her but instead helping her tame herself. Ray's taming makes Eva fall in love vs. the taming Petruchio did because his didn't make Katherine fall in love, it just made her submissive to him.

Deliver us From Eva reinforces the idea that honesty is key in "real" relationships. In Petruchio's case the relationship never had a chance because he was paid and not once did he see any wrong in what he was doing when he was deceiving Katherine. Ray epitomizes what an ideal person should be like, remorseful for their wrongdoings and be honest with whomever it is they were deceiving.