Katherine’s Act V Scene II speech in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew is intended to mock the ideals of the society. Even though the speech makes her seem weak she is really just acting the way she is to survive and get what she wants. One major theme to this play is transformation. Katherine’s transformation from a obstinate shrew to an acquiescent wife is Shakespeare illustrating that love can turn anyone into a new person.
Katherine’s speech in Act V is meant to be taken candidly by the other characters in the scene. Katherine is really just manipulating and telling Petruchio what he wants to hear so that she can get what she wants. In Act IV scene vi, Kate breaks and complies to play Petruchio’s game, even though she is aware that what Petruchio says isn’t true. Correlating to the theme of transformation this shows that Katherine had to change the way she acted in order to please her husband and receive .
Even though this speech makes Katherine seem weak, Katherine isn’t concern with what other people think of her. Katherine is doing what she needs to do in order to survive.
Katherine hasn’t been tamed she is just playing the part of the “obedient wife” in order to get what she wants from Petruchio. The was she was acting was not expected in society at the time. Katherine eventually realizes that if she is going to survive being in a marriage with Petruchio she is going to have to play along with his game. A good example of how Kate realizes how she can get what she wants is Act 4, scene 5, (the sun versus moon scene).
A major theme to the play is transformation. Throughout the play Katherine has learned how to transform in order to survive and learned how to love and be loved. Though she evolves in her ideas and actions, her personality is essentially the same as it is in the beginning but shaped by empathy and love
