| dc.description.abstract | Shakespeare stands as a historical figure, but his writing most certainly remains present in terms of its subject matter and ability to incite debate. As we try to understand the ways in which Shakespeare has been adopted and appropriated into culture and society, it is essential that we keep in mind the interrelation of texts over time and space. Julie Sanders rightly notes that "any study of Shakespeare's adaptation of sources indicates the rich intertextual readings such incorporation makes possible" (47). It is important to both recognize the sources that have contributed to a work and the ways that that work, in turn, is appropriated and included in works that follow. This paper seeks to trace the intertextuality of three widely consumed and popular works that take gender relations as their focus and which each contribute to conversation surrounding the idea of feminism. Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, John Fletcher's Tamer Tamed, and Gil Junger's Ten Things I Hate About You show how feminism and gender are still divisive, complicated topics, and also demonstrate how examining the ways in which plays and cinematic productions have approached the question of gender relations can lead to a better understanding of how the discourse surrounding gender has changed, or perhaps continued, over time. In a society where gender still defines relationships and the ways in which genders are treated, it is important to recognize the echoes of the voices of Katherine, Maria, and Kat and use them to inform and assess our own cultural understandings of what it means be a shrew, a woman, and a feminist. | |
