Modern retellings of classic literature were all the rage in the ’90s, and 1999’s 10 Things I Hate About You is one of the most iconic. Based on the William Shakespeare play, The Taming of the Shrew, the teen comedy makes a lot of changes from the original text — and not just with the modern high school setting. Like a more recent popular Shakespeare movie adaptation, 2023’s Anyone But You (based on Much Ado About Nothing), 10 Things I Hate About You clearly nods to the works of the famous Bard while also taking plenty of liberties with the plot.

On his first day at Padua High School, Cameron falls in love at first sight with Bianca Stratford. However, Bianca’s strict father doesn’t let his daughters date. To placate Bianca, her father agrees that she can date when her older sister, Kat, does. Unfortunately, Kat has a reputation for being callous and unfriendly, and has no interest in romance. So, Cameron hatches a plan to get the school bad boy, Patrick, to woo Kat. While the movie’s premise is very similar, 10 Things I Hate About You diverges quite a bit from the 16th-century play.

8

The Taming Of The Shrew Is A Play Within A Play

The Movie (& Most Stage Performances) Leaves Out Shakespeare’s Prologue

Like many of Shakespeare’s famous works, The Taming of the Shrew is actually a play within a play. Most of what the audience sees on stage is being performed for the entertainment of another character — a tinker named Christopher Sly.

In the play’s prologue, Sly is kicked out of a tavern for being too drunk, and he pᴀsses out in the street. A lord walking by notices him, and decides to play a prank on the poor guy, dressing Sly up in fancy clothes and making his pageboy dress up as a woman. When Sly wakes up, the lord’s servants tell him that his former life was all a bad dream, and that Sly is actually a wealthy aristocrat with a beautiful wife. An acting troupe then pᴀsses by and begins to perform the play for Sly.

Also called an induction, the play’s prologue is a device used to segue into the main story. Since the introduction doesn’t really have any bearing on the rest of The Taming of the Shrew, most live performances leave it out entirely, as did 10 Things I Hate About You.

7

Katherina’s Father Wants Her To Get Married In The Play

Walter Just Doesn’t Want His Daughters To Date In The Movie

In 10 Things I Hate About You, Kat and Bianca’s dad Walter Stratford is famously (and hilariously) overprotective of his daughters. Along with refusing to let them date, he is always finding ways to remind them about the pitfalls of Sєx, like teen pregnancy. When he makes the deal that Bianca can date when Kat does, he does so because he thinks that Kat will never date. Once he realizes that he is sadly mistaken, Walter reluctantly accepts the fact that his girls are growing up and he needs to let go.

The father in The Taming of the Shrew is another matter. A man from Verona named Baptista rules that his younger daughter, Bianca, will not get married or receive any suitors until her older sister, Katherina (also called Kate), is married off. His reasons are very different from Walter’s in 10 Things I Hate About You, however. Baptista wants Kate to get married because she is disobedient and wild, and he wants someone else to take her off his hands. When a man named Petruchio arrives to court Kate, Baptista is all too happy to give his permission.

6

Cameron Would Have Had More Rivals For Bianca

In 10 Things I Hate About You, Cameron Only Has To Contend With Joey

In 10 Things I Hate About You, Cameron’s rival for Bianca’s affection is Joey, a popular himbo who makes his money by modeling. With the help of his friend, Michael, Cameron enlists Joey to convince Patrick to take out Kat so that Bianca can date. The problem is that Bianca prefers Joey to Cameron, and initially just strings Cameron along. It isn’t until she learns the truth about Joey that Bianca realizes Cameron is the one she really likes.

In the Shakespeare play, Cameron’s character is called Lucentio, and he has more than one rival hoping to marry Bianca. Two other men, named Gremio and Hortensio, are also trying to win Bianca’s hand. While Hortensio and Gremio make their own plot to woo Bianca, Lucentio gets help from his servant, a man named Tranio. As for Bianca, she has no interest in either Hortensio or Gremio, and only has eyes for Lucentio.

5

The Characters Don Disguises In The Taming Of The Shrew

Lucrentio Disguises Himself As A Tutor While Cameron Simply Becomes Bianca’s Tutor

Many of Shakespeare’s characters like to disguise themselves as other people, and The Taming of the Shrew is no different. As part of the plan to woo Bianca, hopeful suitors Hortensio and Gremio both pretend to be other people so that they can get closer to her in secret. Gremio disguises himself as a teacher, and Hortensio pretends to be a musician.

Meanwhile, Lucentio has a plan of his own. He has Tranio dress in Lucentio’s clothes and pretend to be him in order to entreat himself to Bianca’s father. Lucentio then disguises himself as a tutor, who is gifted to Bianca by Tranio while pretending to be Lucentio. Got it? Well, if not, it’s fine — the movie has none of that stuff, which was a wise choice. Although Cameron actually does become Bianca’s tutor to get close to her, there is no secret idenтιтy involved.

4

Joey Pays Patrick To Date Kat In The Movie

In The Taming Of The Shew, Petruchio & Hortensio Are Friends

While looking for someone to date Kat, Cameron thinks that Patrick Verona is the perfect fit. However, Patrick threatens Cameron when he tries to speak to him, so Michael gets Joey to do it instead. Joey offers Patrick money to take Kat out on a date, and Patrick agrees, even though the two of them don’t like each other.

The relationship between the mirror characters in The Taming of the Shrew is very different. In the play, Petruchio is actually good friends with Hortensio (who Joey’s character is based on), and tells him that he is looking for a wife. Seeing an opportunity, Hortensio tells Petruchio about Katherina. Even when Hortensio warns Petruchio about her violent nature, Petruchio isn’t deterred, and even considers it a challenge. For him, it’s like killing two birds with one stone — he gets to help his friend, and gets a wife at the same time.

3

Petruchio and Katherina Were Married Against Her Will

Patrick Charmed Kat In The Movie

It may come as no surprise that in William Shakespeare’s day, dating wasn’t really a thing. Instead, suitors would “woo” prospective young women, and with their father’s permission, they would get engaged almost immediately. Such was the case in The Taming of the Shrew, when Petruchio received permission from Baptista to marry Katherina after only meeting her once — and it wasn’t quite a successful meeting, at that. In fact, Katherina was unwillingly engaged to Petruchio, despite going through with the wedding anyway.

Thankfully, 10 Things I Hate About You does things differently. Patrick may have been paid by Joey to date Kat, but he doesn’t force her to go out with him. Instead, he charms her by showing interest in the things she likes, and is willing to embarrᴀss himself by serenading her on the soccer field. Later on, Kat helps him sneak out of detention so that they can spend time together, and she agrees to go to prom so she can be with him. That doesn’t sound like a woman who is being “forced” into anything against her will.

2

Petruchio Tortured Katherina To “Tame” Her

Patrick Cares Deeply For Kat & Shows It With His Actions

A big difference between The Taming of the Shrew and 10 Things I Hate About You is the romance between the main characters. Although Patrick is paid to date Kat, he ends up falling for her, and she for him. He is kind and respectful to her, making sure she is safe after drinking too much and using the money from Joey to buy her a guitar. After Kat learns that Patrick was paid to date her, she still like him despite herself. Patrick then apologizes and admits his true feelings for her, and the two end up together.

The play, on the other hand, is way more problematic. By today’s standards, it’s downright misogynistic. Instead of trying to win her over, Petruchio’s actions toward Katherina are not respectful or loving in the least. For example, Petruchio humiliates Katherina at their wedding by wearing ridiculous clothing, and later he refuses to let her eat. Then he makes her say things that aren’t true just because he tells her to — like that the sun is actually the moon. In short, he is cruel and abusive so that she learns to “behave” and act like an obedient wife.

1

The Movie Better Explains Kat’s Distemper

She Had An Unfortunate Past With Joey

During England’s Elizabethan era, women were expected to obey their fathers and husbands without question. Shakespeare’s Kate in The Taming of the Shrew is an exaggeration of a wild and disobedient daughter. She hits her sister Bianca and ties her up, and she tries to strike Petruchio when they first meet, indicating that she is violent and “untamable.” By the end of the play, she has willingly submitted to her husband’s authority and becomes the epitome of a “perfect” wife.

By all appearances, Kate has little reason to behave the way she does in The Taming of the Shrew. However, Kat in 10 Things About You has a good reason for being closed off to the idea of romance. In the movie, Kat tells Bianca that she and Joey dated when she was in 9th grade, and that she was pressured into having Sєx with him. After telling Joey that she wasn’t ready to continue having Sєx, he dumped her.

Although Kat’s behavior isn’t inherently wrong or bad, providing an explanation of her cold demeanor in the movie makes her much more sympathetic. Having her heart broken at such a young age by a creep like Joey is more than enough justification for Kat not to trust teenage boys again, and it explains why she acts the way she does. Furthermore, in a modern lens, 10 Things I Hate About You‘s Kat has become a cultural icon, celebrated for unapologetically being herself.