Katherine's Final Monologue In Taming Of The Shrew

One of the most wildly debated monologues in Shakespeare’s work is Katherine’s’ ending one from The Taming of the Shrew. Many have understood the final speech to be one of genuine submission while others read it as Katherine having control over the women in the room. It’s my belief, however, that this final speech is just Katherine getting in her two-cents in a way that won’t cause her to be tortured by her husband. Katherine hasn’t been wooed or changed into submission and in my opinion isn’t trying to get the upper-hand with the women in the room. She has been broken and is tired but not changed. Thus, she masks her true intentions with wit and subtext. This theory is supposed by many direct examples from the monologue itself.

Petruchio married Katherine to “tame” her as the title suggests. He subjects her to a series of torturous punishments until she

This, once more, reads as a sarcastic remark at the way Katherine was treated. She speaks of how women are deemed “foul” when they act out against their husbands. This very incident happened to Katherine when she was labeled as a crabby shrew for acting out. She is wittily commenting on her situation here and bringing up a valid point by masking. It appears as though she is saying something along the lines of “if a woman acts out, why she is nothing more than a villain to her husband.” But looking at the subtext I see that it could possibly read as “I acted out and this is how you (Petruchio) treated me for it.” To me, this reads as a masked, witty prod and not a genuine statement, establishment of power, or even a warning. Katherine has been broken but not changed so she still maintains her original ideology. She just doesn’t want to receive more grief by being