10 Things I Hate About You was an instant teen classic, adapting Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew for a 90’s audience. The film’s title comes from a bit of bad but sweet teen poetry written by the shrew herself, Kat Stratford. Julia Stiles’ moving reading of her character’s reinterpretation of the poem is the emotional peak of the film, showing us how love finds a way through even the thorniest paths. Let’s take a look at Sonnet 141 by William Shakespeare as well as Kat’s poem, which is oddly named because she seems to hate more than 10 things about Patrick Verona.
Do your own version of this homework assignment! I would love to read your own re-write of Sonnet 141.