The Taming of the Shrew (“Shakespeare: The Animated Tales,” 1994) is an ugly portrait of courtship and marriage – but an insightful study of brainwashing.
Interestingly, the ending of this animated version, where the opening framing device is returned to at the end, seems to be borrowed from The Taming of A Shrew, a variant play of unknown authorship whose relation to Shakespeare’s The Taming of THE Shrew (where the opening frame is simply abandoned before the end) is a matter of scholarly debate.
And to get the taste of all that out of your mouth, I recommend a few scenes of my favourite Shakespeare couple, Beatrice and Benedick, in my favourite version thereof (and one of my favourite Shakespeare movies) – a mutual taming, without violence, domination, or dehumanisation:
There’s long been dispute as to whether Taming represents Shakespeare’s own views of women and marriage or not. But in my judgment, if those were his own views he could not have created the Beatrice/Benedick romance – as well as such other compelling, independent-minded female characters as Portia, Olivia, Cordelia, Rosalind, etc.
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