dient to his honest will, what is she but a foul contending rebel and graceless traitor to her loving lord? I am ashamed that women are so simple” Kate asserts (103). She simply states that women should obey their husbands, for it is the least they could do. For he provides for her and looks after her and all he asks is for loyalty. Kate can not comprehend how that is too much to ask. She bows down to Petruchio while telling the other wives to “place your hand below your husband’s foot, in token of which duty, if he please, my hand is ready; may it do him ease” (103). Kate believed it was her duty as a wife to serve her husband the best she could and that would be all he would ever need. Loyalty was all Petruchio had wanted from the beginning but he had gained so much more.During Kate’s taming she strived to make peace with Petruchio so that they might live together side by side without argument. She merely wanted him to care for her and treat her like a wife. So kate figured him out and played along with him, but never intended to fall in love with him. In the play, Shakespeare never really said if she loved him or not. Her speech had such heartfelt emotion buried between each line that it is hard to imagine it was all an act. Petruchio may have wanted her to talk of being a proper wife but even he was amazed by her speech. At his command she spoke of loyalty, but from her heart she spoke of love. Work CitedShakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew. Ed. David Bevington. A Bantam Classic. New York: Bantam books, 1980....
