It is about Katherine Minola played by Shirley Henderson who's shrill voice and ability to portray this single, appallingly bad tempered and ill mannered politician was spot on, clever and very humorous. Katherine Minola is known for all her bad personality traits and shows herself up in a restaurant when meeting with her mum and glamorous, beautiful sister Bianca, by shouting at the waiter and then tipping the table over causing a huge scene where everyone is looking in shock. In the time that this play was written, a position in parliament like the one that Katherine holds would have been laughed at and impossible. When she is told that her reputation and campaign will have a much higher success rate if she marries a man she was at first horrified, playing the independent woman that doesn't need or have time for anything or anyone besides her career. The Taming of the Shrew has a lot of feminist references and is about women and their different roles in society, the less confident woman who relys on a man and the self reliant, stubborn and strong minded woman who knows what she wants and doesn't need anyone else. The name 'The Taming of the Shrew' also implys how men put women in their place. Her will to not be married and the fact that she is a virgin reminded me a lot of Elizabeth's reputation as 'The Virgin Queen'. Queen Elizabeth was pressured at times to be married in order to become more appreciated however never gave in as she wanted to show her country that it was more important to her than any man ever could be, this is how I feel Katherine felt with her career at the beginning of the film.
The first thing I noticed was Katherine Minolas pale appearance and center parted hair which has huge reference to the Elizabethan make-up and hair styles, she also had no shirt on with her smart, square shouldered suit leaving her neck exposed and a sharp silhouette which shows Elizabethan styling inspiration. The colours she wore were very formal and smart, black and white mainly to show her seriousness towards her job and roles in life. All the colours in her office were dark, dark red and dark wood interior which looked quite old and like a room in the Elizabethan era would have been. Katherines sister Bianca is quite the opposite, she is a dark flowing haired beauty with a flirtatious personality, she appears to be the renaissance idea of beauty. There seemed to be sibling rivalry between the siblings and Katherine even faced pressure to marry from her family, and her sister claimed that she wouldn't marry until the day Katherine did in thinking she never would.
When Katherine finally gave in to the idea of marriage and had a proposal from Petruchio who is an Earl, she turned up to her wedding to be humiliated publicly by the outfit he chose to wear which was inspired by mens attire from the Tudor and Elizabethan era in a quite modern and ridiculous way, and to add insult to injury he was more than a little bit tipsy. The jacket he was wearing was velvet and in a rich, dark shade of turqoise with part of his chest exposed to show reference to an open neck collar, he teamed this with fishnet tights, high heeled boots and a garish shirt. He looked a sight!
On poor Katherines disastrous wedding day she wore a dress that didn't look very much like the typical wedding gown you see today, it wasn't very fashionable or on trend but did have an Elizabethan influenced look to it with the low, square neckline, raised collar and angular cut with the cinched in waist. The satin fabric also made it look like it could have been worn in the Elizabethan times. Her hair was neatly styled but her parting was slightly more side parted in this scene. The shade of the satin fabric against her dark eyes and hair made the paleness of her skin stand out particularly in this costume, she almost blended in with the dress!
Their honeymoon began even more terribly than the wedding but after a while and after her little breakdown it appears that Katherine is 'tamed' by her husband Petruchio, she becomes less vicious and stubborn and seems like a much kinder person, which is strange to watch as we have known only one side of Katherine Minola throughout the whole film. At the very end of the film she makes a very memorable speech in front of Petruchio, her mother and her sister about how her husband wouldn't expect her to do anything for him that he wouldn't be willing to do for her, and in that the battle of the sexes are over, Katherine is finally happy and equality is agreed upon. Her mother and sister Bianca looked shocked and confused the whole time as they couldn't believe what she was saying, the change in Katherine was almost unbelievable. At the end of the film she has less of her chest showing to show that she is spoken for, and also is wearing lighter colours such as the grey pictured below and is wearing a flower. The way she dresses shows how much lighter hearted she ends the film with compared to the beginning and the colours also portray this a lot in my opinion.
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