Major Breakthrough

I HAVE IT! I FOUND A QUOTE FROM THE PRIMARY TEXT!
It's amazing what a little prayer can do when you're stuck on a paper. I really was lost in terms of grounding my argument in the actual text, when I remembered something.

The show got an impressive 3.2/10 rating from the audience.
Found on IMDB.

A few weeks ago a read an article on a reality show called The Simple Life all about Paris Hilton and Nicole Riche trying to act like middle class people by actually working for their money. The article commented on how the show shines new light on the behavior and "rules" of America's class system. A lightbulb immediately went off in my head. Shakespeare plays with the class system all the time, there has to be something I can use here. Then I remember Taming of the Shrew, with the whole story being framed be a joke played on a drunkard to make him think he was a Lord. Bingo:

In Shakespeare’s comedy Taming of the Shrew, a Lord discovers the drunkard Sly passed out in the streets of the town. He turns to his servants, suggesting a joke on Sly saying,

            If he were conveyed to bed,

                        Wrapped in sweet clothes,

Rings put upon his fingers,

A most delicious banquet by his bed,

And brave attendant near him when he wakes,

Would not the beggar then forget himself?

(Introduction, i, 31-36)

            This would merit entertainment during Shakespeare’s time because in an era of rigid class systems, a man who went to bed a drunkard would not awake a Lord. This fact is further evident when Sly awakes and responds to the servants addressing him. At the titles “your Honor” and “your Lordship”, Sly scoffs,

What would you make me mad? Am not I

Christopher Sly, old Sly’s son of Burton Heath, by

birth a peddler, by education a cardmaker, by

transmutation a berherd, and now by present

profession a tinker?

(Introduction, ii, 5-7).

            Today, in reality television, we see receive the same entertainment and pleasure in playing with the rules of our own class system, thought they aren’t as rigid as Shakespeare’s time. We see this in The Simple Life (2003-2007), a reality show about Paris Hilton, heir to the Hilton hotel fortune, and Nicole Richie leaving their money behind in attempts to work various internships along the east coast.

I don't have the article with me now, but after I'm done blogging this post I'm going to run home and grab it. I think I remember the author saying something about the girls not being able to really act like "middle class workers" and giving up on the jobs. It would be an interesting comparison to Shakespeare in the sense that both Sly and Paris and Nicki don't seem to fit into the class systems they're trying to fit into. It will make more sense once I have that article to back up my claim, I think. 

What do you guys think? Does it work? I mean, it's only one example of how both Shakespeare and reality TV comment on the societies to which they contribute. I'm sure I'll find more. 

I know it's not enough to completely ground my argument, but it's a start. For now, my hope and faith has been restored.