The Taming of the Shrew (2005)

This adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' starring Shirley Henderson was released in 2005. However despite the 400 + years difference, Henderson's character Kate Minola bares a great resemblance to Queen Elizabeth I, one of the most obvious being their high status within society, Elizabeth being a monarch and Kate being a member of Parliament. However the resemblance goes deeper than this and both female leaders share a lot more than status. 

Firstly Kate spends the majority of her time in the film dressed in black, Queen Elizabeth often wore black garments as they were a sign of wealth and riches. It was a common style feature for rich Elizabethans  to wear a collar around their neck which, in this film, can be seen to be represented by Henderson's characters lapels on her suit jacket, which were often pulled up. The final physical resemblance both females share is their deathly pale skin, however in the Elizabethan era this was seen as fashionable, but for Kate it appears to be more of a defect from spending so much time in her office and not socialising. 

In addition to the physical resemblances of the two females, there is also many similarities in their surroundings. First of all Kate's office is painted a deep red in the 2005 adaptation, a colour associated with the monarch and royalty. Red fabric was very expensive in the tudor period, therefore as Queen, Elizabeth owned a great deal of it. Continuing on with their surroundings, their is a direct link between the two points in history as in The Taming of the Shrew Kate is taken to a Tudor built house, the era of Queen Elizabeth I. 

Queen Elizabeth I was known as 'The Virgin Queen' a strong independent women who never married as she claimed to be 'married to her country' however both herself and Kate were advised to find a husband in order to secure and support their authority. In the film 'Elizabeth' there is a scene where the Queen crosses a room full of male politicians. A similar scene is presented in The Taming of the Shrew when Kate storms across the lobby.

However the links between the two females do not stop there, there is also a number of similarities to Elizabeth found within the other characters in the recreation of Shakespeare's play. 

For example, Kate's mother continuously dresses in velvet and lots of jewellery, one of her necklaces looking significantly like something Queen Elizabeth I would have sported herself. This along with the mothers deep red boots help to represent a link to the monarchy and hierarchy that was also represented by The Queen. 

Finally in the 2005 adaptation, Kate's sister also bares reference to 'The Virgin Queen' through the large number of self portraits she has up in her apartment. It is well known that Elizabeth monitored the portraits that were released of her, but often had them done to represent various messages to her country about her status as Queen.

There are so many similarities between The Taming of the Shrew and Queen Elizabeth I it is hard to keep up, however both the Elizabethan links and the film as a whole were great to watch and was very captivating.