"Come on, and kiss me, Kate."
In this final line of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio reminds me of the musical Kiss Me, Kate. The musical is a play within a play meaning there is a story surrounding the performance of The Taming of the Shrew and the characters often parallel one another. Kiss Me, Kate highlighted the comical and theatrical nature of The Taming of the Shrew which I find hard to pick up on just by reading the play. For instance, while reading the play, I distinctly remembered this part in Act II Scene i. Kate is first introduced to Petruchio and the following dialogue ensues:
Petruchio: Why, what's a movable?
Kate: A joint stool.
Petruchio: Thou hast hit it: come, sit on me.
Kate: Asses are made to bear, and so are you.
Petruchio: Women are made to bear, and so are you.
In the musical, Petruchio is rather comical and he pulls Kate upon his lap when he says, "...sit on me". The way Kate's dress and all its underpinnings fling about is hysterical. Kate is simply outraged at Petruchio's behavior as her beet read face fumes on stage. Simply having the stool on stage and pulling Kate down made the line even more funny. Moreover, Cole Porter masterfully uses lines from the play in the lyrics. The way he intertwines literature with his classical styling created absolute brilliance on stage.
Theatricallity is what brings Shakespeare alive for me! Seeing the action done on stage or even hearing the old English sung brings meaning to the iambic pentameter lines. If I could see every play acted out and read the plays, I would truly understand the comedic or even dramatic nature of Shakespeare's masterpieces.
