Love at First Sight... Whether They Chose it or Not

Comparing the Shakespeare play, “Taming of the Shrew,”

to modern day movie, “50 First Dates.”

By Ari Haven

         In the Shakespeare classic, Taming of the Shrew, and the modern romantic comedy movie, 50 First Dates, “love at first sight” is a common theme portrayed between the main characters of both texts. The two texts also show characters that attempt to keep the relationships from happening, but the soon learn that the power of love at first sight overpowers everything else. Taming of the Shrew shows Lucentio, a young man sent off to attend college, falling in love with Bianca, a young maiden from a rich family, the first time he sees her in town. Baptista, Bianca’s father, warns Lucentio that Bianca is not available for courting, but Lucentio doesn’t care. He decides then and there that he cannot survive without Bianca and, with a servant’s help, devises a plan to marry her.

         Similarly in 50 First Dates, Henry, a marine veterinarian working in Hawaii, is enchanted by a young woman’s beauty the first time he sees her at a local diner. We soon find out that the young women’s name is Lucy, and that she suffers from short term memory loss due to a car crash that she was in ears before. Lucy wakes up every morning thinking that it is October 13th, the day of the accident, and lives a normal day. Every night, her memory resets, and she doesn’t remember anything from the previous day.

         After their first encounter at the diner, Henry can’t stop thinking about Lucy. Lucy’s father and brother tell Henry to stay away from Lucy and the diner in which they first met, but Henry can’t give her up. So, he too devises a plan to see Lucy everyday even though her father won’t allow it. Eventually, Henry earns the respect of Lucy’s family, and works with them to help Lucy understand what happened to her. Everyday Henry explains who he is, and has to convince Lucy to fall in love with him (even though they are married). Although, the task of getting her to fall in love with him everyday is not hard because there was love at first sight when they first met.

         Both texts reflect that if someone interferes with love at first sight, the two people in love will just find another way to be together. This shows that whether lovers are in the Shakespearean era or modern day, the time period does not affect the strength of love.

“I perish, Tranio, if I achieve not this young modest girl.”

(Act. I, Scene I, Lines 157-158)

         This simple declaration of “love or death” from Lucentio speaks for itself. After seeing Bianca for the first time, he turns to his servant and dramatically states that he will “perish” if he doesn’t have Bianca. It is indeed love at first sight when Lucentio sees Bianca. This is a testament to the idea that a person in love will go great lengths in order to be with the person they love. Even though Lucentio has only seen Bianca for a few moments at this point in the play, he decides that the only thing that will stop him from marrying Bianca, is death. Lucentio and Bianca’s “love at first sight” can be compared to the first time Henry and Lucy met.

         As shown in the scene above, Henry’s first interaction with Lucy is a pleasant one. After seeing Lucy from across the diner and falling in love with her beauty, Henry walks over to her says hello. Lucy and Henry start chatting, and she invites him to sit down with her. They spend the morning sitting in the booth (pictured above), getting to know each other. She can’t help but fall in love with him, and he with her, so Lucy invites him to breakfast again the next day. In the time before he sees her again the next day, Henry is told by Lucy’s family and friends not to see Lucy again because she suffers from short term memory loss, and will not remember who he is the next day. He tries to stay away, but very quickly realizes he cannot live without her.

         The initial interaction between Henry and Lucy differs from the interaction between Lucentio and Bianca because Bianca and Lucentio did not actually talk to each other and Lucy and Henry talked and laughed together for the whole morning. However, it can be argued that both periods of time and interactions are considered love at first sight because it was the first time both Henry and Lucentio saw Lucy and Bianca. Whether they met for a few moments or a few hours, the power of love will not let anything get in the way.

“You will be a schoolmaster and undertake the teaching of the maid: that’s your device.”

(Act I, Scene I, Lines 196-198)

         This quote shows Lucentio’s effort at courting Bianca through a mischievous plot. They overhear Baptista saying that Bianca needs a teacher so she stays focussed on her studies instead of flirting with men. Lucentio pretends to be a school teacher in order to spend time with Bianca. This is his way of avoiding Baptista’s ban on courting Bianca. In this plan, Lucentio would get to “woo” Bianca in a private setting while pretending to teach her, without her father finding out. The optimistic outcome of their crazy plan ends up coming true. After Lucentio reveals his true identity to Bianca, she falls in love with him. They tell Baptista about their relationship only after their secret wedding, and he accepts their relationship because his daughter is happy. The “enchantment” of love causes Lucentio to do anything he needs in order to be with Bianca. Similarly, in 50 First Dates, Henry comes up with a plan to spend time with Lucy without her father knowing.

         Lucy’s father warns Henry to stay away from Lucy and the diner where Lucy and Henry first met. To get around Lucy’s father’s rule, Henry instead meets Lucy everyday on the side of the road while she is on the way to the diner. Since Lucy doesn’t remember who Henry is due to her memory loss, Henry comes up with a new plan each day to get Lucy to stop. One day he pretends there is road work so that Lucy has to stop. Another day he gets his friend to beat him up so that Lucy will stop and help him. Everyday Lucy stops to talk to him for one reason or another, and everyday he reintroduces himself to her. Although she does not remember him the next day, he gets a chance to talk to her and learn more about her each day and that is what he really wants. Eventually, Lucy’s father and brother find out about Henry’s scheme. Instead of stopping him, they let him continue seeing Lucy because they realize that Lucy is always happier on the days she talks to Henry.

         A large difference between Henry and Lucy’s relationship and Lucentio and Bianca’s relationship is that Lucy’s father found out before they got married and still allowed the relationship to happen. While Baptista didn’t find out about Bianca and Lucentio’s relationship until after they got married, and it is unclear whether he would have allowed it if he found out earlier.

         In the end, both Henry and Lucentio do not let anything get in the way of the person they love. They both weave a plan in order to get closer to Lucy or Bianca. The fathers of both Bianca and Lucy realize that they cannot get in the way of love, and that Bianca is happier with Lucentio and Lucy is happier with Henry even if it is not what they originally wanted for their daughters. This shows us that no matter what time period people in love live in, not many people will get in the way of love if it makes the people they care about happ. Love is timeless and will continue to conquer all.